[Reaper-nova]

Good day,
I'm looking at replacing the engine in my 74 nova. I reached out to a shop and they had just finished a rebuild on this 454. Now I'm fairly new when it comes to engine components and understand the jists of things. Just curious if someone has some more insight on whether or not this build will be good enough for a daily driver and take to the strip once and awhile.

GM crank and I beam rods;
Forged Flattop pistons;
Crane cam .560/.580 Lift 264/269 dur;
Crane 1.7 roller rockers;
Edelbrock hardened pushrods;
Oval port high perf heads 2.19/1.72 inch valves open chamber;
Edelbrock 2740 torker 2 intake;
Cloyes double roller timing chain;
Melling high volume oil pump;
Tall aluminum valve covers;
Chrome chevy oil and timing covers;
Quick fuel carb 750cfm brawler; and
Long tube headers.
Purposed 475 hp 500 torque

Itll be paired with a
Turbo 400 w/ 2800 stall
Stage 2 shift kit / Kevlar clutches/ billet shafts/ clutch hub

Also looking at a 9inch rear thinking 4:10 gears but what do you think?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Moosecountry]

big cam for a daily driver maybe, need all the specs.
what heads have that valve size configuration (wrong)
small carb ok
junk intake
flat top pistons wont work with most heads
if they are open chamber you wont have any compression ratio.
closed chamber likely under 9:1
Dont buy that bag of mix mash parts

 

[ericnova72]

PRetty much agree with Moose^^^

Would need to know a lot more about those cylinder heads, as there are darn few factory heads that will give decent hot rodder compression on a flat top 454.
Flat top 454 is just a bad place to start from, since the choices in closed chamber cylinder heads to go with that flat top piston are really limited.

Open chamber flat top piston 454 and compression ratio is in the toilet. 7.63:1 compression if the block wasn't zero deck and heads not heavily milled.
Even at zero deck it still only gets up to 7.9:1, and you can barely mill enough to get that up to 8.5:1 off the heads.

What's the "@ .050" Duration for the cam??

 

[lmsport]

Change the heads, the cam and the Pistons and you will have a good engine.
Look at the Brodix Race Rite heads for a street engine.
Hydro roller is the only way to go with a BBC.

 

[Reaper-nova]

Thanks for the info guys, looking at aluminum heads. How about the gear ratio in the back?

 

[lmsport]

with a th400 you won't like driving over 60 mph with a 4.10 gear.

think more like 3.08 or 3.36

 

[curtis73]

Looking at that combo, I'm praying that the shop built it to a customer's spec and they didn't come up with that combo on their own. I honestly would question the abilities of a shop if that is the engine combo they came up with.

Unless they are one of a few head castings, compression is likely 8.5:1. That cam is massive by street standards (unless they're using advertised duration, in which case it's not a 450hp motor), and they paired it with one of the worst possible intakes. That Torker is pretty awful. Tiny runners don't flow much to support high RPM power, and the single plane means it can't equalize vacuum pulses to support low end torque. The carb is also not my first choice, but it could work OK.

It's a big mismatch. About the only thing in that combo I would want is the short block and maybe the heads. Pair it with a mild cam and mid-low 3-series gears like 3.08 or 3.42s, a stock or slightly higher stall converter, and THEN you have a street motor.

 

[Moosecountry]

gears dont go with the engine so much as the cars purpose. A 3.36:1 gear is a little steep for a mild 454. What size tires?