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So my uncles taking off to Florida, he's offered me,for free, a mkiv 454 from a 72/73 square body pick up. The truck was said to have been built to be a "sleeper". It's been decked, it's 30 over, has an Elgin 1070p Hydraulic Flat Tappet Camshaft, 224/234 @ .050, .528/.552, 114 LC, ls6 crankshaft, heads are from a 67 Corvette, flat top forged pistons,Carrillo Connecting rods, its 9.25:1 compression. Has all receipts and paperwork from back in the day (1990ish) when it was built by a friend of the family. Has not ran since 2005ish... Is this worth taking and using in another vette or some other project?
Yeah but it's a truck block and it needs rebuilt and I'm newish to this and I've only ever rebuilt one engine before and that was the BB in my 68 vette and wanted to know if this motor was worth the work and expense.
If you want an old school 454 big block this one has some good parts in it. For $3k rebuild you could have near 500hp.
Or could just freshen hone & rings for $1000 or less.
Carrillo rods - yes.
LS6 crank - forged - yes
454 Truck block - may be a 4 bolt since truck - if not doesn't matter - 2-bolts are good for 600HP if studded
9.25 CR - low - old school - run 10.5 $400 - bore $300
67 Vette heads - closed chamber - higher compression - oval ports make more power in a street engine till 600HP
If you want to spring for new AFR ovals, instant 60-80 HP vs those old heads. You could push 550+
Elgin cam old school but reliable - keep lifters sorted - may be possible to re-use
That's about the biggest cam I would put in 9.25CR, may even run better with less
The guts are probably worth $2-3k
Might even run fine with some Marvel Mystery oil to loosen up the rings...... run a borescope in to see the bores
Last edited by leigh1322; Nov 24, 2023 at 03:09 PM.
Free 454? Absolutely. Every time. As many as you can get.
That's a pretty good street cruiser the way its set up, but a bigger cam and some aluminum heads would really kick it up a notch. You can't go wrong with a 454.
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Mark 4 blocks are all basically the same whether its a 427 or a 454, The difference is the crankshaft and the rotating assembly as the 427 is internally balanced the the 454 is externally balanced. All the parts you have are great except for the heads, just soak the rings to get them to let go, get rid of the heads and get a good set of small chamber aluminum heads. I think the only ones with a 100cc chamber I can find is the Edelbrock ones. They are expensive but everything else was free. IF you go with new pistons and rings get a good set of domed pistons so you have a wider selection of heads. I had those heads on a 396 and they sucked, as soon as you bolt on a good set if heads its a whole other motor.
Ok so I'll take it, it turns over by hand....so do you guys know about other gm motors? He's giving me a "blue printed" Pontiac 400 from a 70 Pontiac lemans, last ran 1996 and a Oldsmobile 350 from a 68 Cutlass, last ran 2010. All these turn over by hand.... I'm turning into an engine and parts hoarder I guess.
I remember when it was in the car, got replaced by a 455, I was like 10, I remember a lot of burn outs and a couple of street races with my uncle. The engine block is a pretty gold color tho!
Damn, if you were closer I'd take the 400 off your hands. A 70 400 is a great engine
That's how it all started. My uncle had a 66 tempest custom that originally had a 326 in it, it's got a gto hood and interior, he restored it in 1996. I inherited my dad's 68 Corvette a couple years ago and my wife really wanted to have a car of her own so we bought my uncles 66. It's got a 400 in it from a 73 Catalina. He offered us that lemans motor.... and then the olds motor and the BBC a long with so many other parts. I'm glad the BBC is worth keeping a hold of. Now I'll have to start searching for another car.
Decent enough for a mild street cam.
Vaguely like an L46 cam, but for a BB. Low 400-425HP with that CR?
Should pull hard to 5300 in a 454.
But your DCR is pretty low with that CR and that lazy IVC. Might even run on regular!
If you really want it to run, it needs more cam.
But it needs more CR to run more cam,
Tighter IVC, more CR, more lift, faster ramps, more duration, more rpm, open chamber, unshrouded valves, +100HP.
It's hard to get compression in a BB with flat tops.
I would assume Oval port heads, at around 113cc, but you should check casting #.
The 60s closed chamber ones may be down at 98-101cc.
The early closed chamber ones have very restrictive valve flow, especially for more cubes.
So you really need to check casting numbers, and chamber size before you decide how to re-fresh it.
Ovals, if ported well, can go 550-600HP.
But AFR ovals are stronger right out of the box.
My concern is it could be either 9.5 or 8.4 CR now with flat-tops.
A 0.19" domed Icon 779 would get you to 10:1 CR when run with 113cc open chamber heads, and make a huge power difference.
Here are some K-B Hypereuretics you could get you into the 10.5 CR range with the small CC heads. Only a .113" dome.
Last edited by leigh1322; Nov 26, 2023 at 06:32 PM.
Decent enough for a mild street cam.
But really needs more CR to really run hard.
I would assume Oval port heads, at around 113cc, but you should check casting #.
Ovals, if ported well, can go 550HP.
But AFR ovals are stronger right out of the box.
My concern is they may think it is 9.5CR but it may be 8.5CR with flat-tops.
I don't even know how you would get 9.5CR with a 454 with flat-tops.
If you have vette heads, ovals, they are likely 113CC. And you may have 8.4 CR with flat-tops like these 780s, .
A 0.19" domed Icon 779 would get you to 10:1 CR and make a huge power difference.
He said the block had been decked and shaved? The numbers on the heads are 4903490
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Free big block
