[Joshr84]

Hey I just bought a 71 Pontiac Ventura.. It has fresh rebuilt 454 in it. I'm looking to get some power the car runs awesome and the engine was just redone. So I don't want to tear it apart looking for some info on some good top end performance. The engine has full length headers an edelbrock intake and a weber carb and arp flat top pistons. With 8.5-1 compression. Any suggestions would be appreciated thinking about aluminum heads not sure what ones.

[techinspector1]

1. Check the cost of BBC aluminum heads.
2. Check your bank account.

[rgtrough]

With an upgrade to your heads, either port work of your existing ones or an upgrade to alum, the heads and cam as always are the key. A little port work will open thing up and get your stock ones flowing. Though you won't build big hp your torque will increase and you will feel that on the street.

[whyholdback]

Cost-no-object, I'd say the Edelbrock 99-cc heads, to give some flow and lose some weight while adding enough compression to use a healthy cam.

[Joshr84]

Will those heads work with flat top pistons I've heard certain heads won't work with the flat top pistons and would need to get dished piston

[cdminter59]

The Edelbrock 60499 is an oval port head with flat top pistons would give you around 9.4 compression. This would be enough to use a Hyd. roller cam from Comp cams. The kit part # is K11-450-8. You can go to their website for all the info. Here's some info: lift .578 duration 232 @ .050. Need 9.5:1 compression, headers, aftermarket intake, and 2500 stall converter. The rpm range is 2500-6200. You could go cheap and use a Hyd flat tappet, but I would not on a motor of mine. The oil today does not have the additives and you would have to add ZDDP to your oil. You have a break-in period of 20-30 minutes at 2500 rpms. With a roller lifter cam you do not. BTW building a big block high performance isn't cheap. These heads are $946 each at Jegs.

[Joshr84]

Thanks for the help.. I have about $3000 I want to put into it just want more power for the street. I'm not going to race it just want something that will hang with all the new muscle cars out there

[topwrench]

Originally Posted by cdminter59

The Edelbrock 60499 is an oval port head with flat top pistons would give you around 9.4 compression. This would be enough to use a Hyd. roller cam from Comp cams. The kit part # is K11-450-8. You can go to their website for all the info. Here's some info: lift .578 duration 232 @ .050. Need 9.5:1 compression, headers, aftermarket intake, and 2500 stall converter. The rpm range is 2500-6200. You could go cheap and use a Hyd flat tappet, but I would not on a motor of mine. The oil today does not have the additives and you would have to add ZDDP to your oil. You have a break-in period of 20-30 minutes at 2500 rpms. With a roller lifter cam you do not. BTW building a big block high performance isn't cheap.

First of all the above is some really good advise,ut I dont know what you wanna do,how much power do u now have would be a good strting point,a lot can be done with cast heads,if you wanna go with Al. check the patriot heads they r a good deal.
My advise to you would be to have a starting point.
Find out how much H.P. you have now,if there is a rear wheel dyno available get that done before you start doin anything,I would also try to find out,what cam.what pistons(cast,forged or hyper) what crank,try to get in touch with the engine builder to find out.
I recently got a 454 for a build that was a fresh(never started) rebuild and found the cheapest of the cheap parts in there,on a 4 bolt main block too...
3gs can do alot but it wont build a race motor.
Start with the heads better flowing heads do a lot!
More compression can be had by milling n more flow by just port matching and porting an polishing,cheapest starting point too!

[cobalt327]

The engine is part of the deal, be sure the rear end is up to the task- you could have a 8.2" rear end under it. If you have the 8.5" corporate rear end, it's stronger and if the diff and axles are changed, it will be able to take the BBC's torque, at least until it hooks 100% at the track. You need a driveshaft loop, too.

[Joshr84]

My goal is around 500hp a car that will run a low 12 high 11 at the track and still be pretty streetable.. I dont really have a budget for the future but right now I just want to spend around 3000 on it and hoping to achieve those results. I don't think it's to unrealistic

[techinspector1]

Originally Posted by Joshr84

My goal is around 500hp a car that will run a low 12 high 11 at the track and still be pretty streetable.. I dont really have a budget for the future but right now I just want to spend around 3000 on it and hoping to achieve those results. I don't think it's to unrealistic

3000 won't buy much. I suggest you spend your time putting the car on a diet. Remove everything that's not absolutely necessary for the operation of the car on the street. Lighter is quicker. Also, pay attention to Cobalt and use some of your cash to upgrade the rear. Most fellows don't understand that the rear differential and suspension was designed at the factory to transfer power efficiently from a stock motor. Once you add some beans to the motor, you have to pay attention to getting them to the ground.