Some BB questions

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Jan 13, 2002 | 10:40 PM

stickben

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Instructor

Joined: Mar 2001

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Some BB questions

I may have a chance to aquire a 454 BB somtime in the not too distant future :D . I have a few questions. The engine is out of a 1979 chevy chyenne truck. Is there any design differences in the 454 from a truck vs a 454 from a corvette? What kind of modifications would I have to make to fit it into my car? I know its in good running order right now, but im assuming i might want to rebuild the engine, what should be done to it?

Thanks very much,

ben :D :D :D

Jan 13, 2002 | 10:49 PM

Aaron-74

Drifting

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Re: Some BB questions (stickben)

I really don't think there is anything that needs to be done to swap a BB in (talking about motor mounts) But that's what I think. I'm not real sure.

But, for the rebuild, it would be wise to replace all the bearings and oil pump. Get a nice hyd. cam. Get the heads ported/polishes with a 3 angle valve job topped off with 1.7:1 roller tip rockers. Edelbrock Performer RPM Air-Gap intake with a nice Holley 750 carb. Ceramic coated headers. Flow-Master mufflers. MSD dist/6AL/BlasterSS. Check the conidition of the piston rings and cylinder bores. Other then that, just plain BOIL some BFG's. :cheers:

[Modified by Aaron-74, 8:50 PM 1/13/2002]

Jan 13, 2002 | 11:01 PM

zwede

Race Director

Joined: Sep 1999

Posts: 11,360

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From: Plano TX

Re: Some BB questions (stickben)

Heads may be 'peanut port' style, and worthless for performance. Peanut ports are much smaller than oval ports.

The accessories will not work if it uses a long water pump. You will have to get Corvette brackets.

Truck intake will probably be too tall for your hood.

Jan 13, 2002 | 11:45 PM

bence13_33

Safety Car

Joined: Aug 2000

Posts: 3,909

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From: Clymer PA

Re: Some BB questions (stickben)

There really aren't too many differences. As some people have already pointed out the heads do have the "peanut" ports which are quite a bit smaller than the regular oval ports. You will probably want to scrap these heads because there really isn't much performance to be had. The pulleys, brackets and water pump are most likely for a long style water pump. If this is the case, they will be of no use to you because you will need to use a short style water pump. If you are going for a slight performance rebuild, the pistons are probably no good to you. They are most likely dished pistons yielding around 8.5:1 compression ratio.

Truck engines are usually run pretty hard, so there is probably a significant ridge on the cylinder walls. You will either need to use the ridge reemer or have it bored out. Hope I helped. :cheers:

Jan 13, 2002 | 11:47 PM

73 LS-4

Melting Slicks

Joined: Jun 2001

Posts: 2,340

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From: Moro IL

Re: Some BB questions (stickben)

Well there's tall deck blocks and short deck blocks with BB's, you can check this with the casting number on the block, your looking for a short deck. I think most of the light duty trucks had the short deks and only the heavy duty models had the taller decks but I could be wrong. As Zwede said, the trucks normally have the small peanut ports, which are pretty useless in a performance application, so new heads and intake would be in order (and the other why I'm in there's) unless they were changed sometime in the past.

:cheers:
Pat Kunz

Jan 14, 2002 | 12:29 AM

bence13_33

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From: Clymer PA

Re: Some BB questions (73 LS-4)

73 LS-4:
Actually you really only need to worry about a tall deck with the 427s. There are very few production tall deck 454s....I believe they were made after 1990. Mortec shows three tall deck 454s. The only way to be sure is to check the casting numbers.