What is a 454 small block????
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,713
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From: Shreveport LA
LA Events Coordinator
What is a 454 small block????
I was reading Chevy High Performance magazine today and they mentioned about a Nova having a 454 Small Block. How can this be? 
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 19,610
Likes: 778
From: Forked River NJ
434 is not uncommon and 454 with an aftermarket block. The biggest I have seen with a Gen 1 is a 488 ci SB using a Rocket block. Cost was about 25K for the motor but it produced a butt load of torque. There is a 500ci LS SB motors now also. Big cubes Big HP and Big dollars. 
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Race Director
Joined: Jun 2000
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From: FL
A "big block" is based on the Mark IV engine debuted in 1965 with 396 cubic inches. There were also 402, 427, and 454 versions from the factory.
The Gen I small block was superseded by the Gen II family (LT1, LT4) then the Gen III (LS1, LS6) and finally Gen IV (LS2,LS3, LS7, LS9 etc).
The Mark IV big block has grown into the Gen V and Gen VI engines, the most famous of which is the ZZ502 from the factory.
With aftermarket blocks, you can build a 454 "small block" or 540 "big block". You can go bigger with so-called tall deck blocks.
Good site for larger than stock engines:
http://www.ultrastreet.net/
BTW, saw a Chevelle with one of their 540's at a show today. Sounded wicked.
And here is your 454 small block, order today, ship Monday from Summit Racing.
600 hp, $12999.95
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/WR...1/?image=large
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,132
Likes: 14
From: A town SC
check the LS series heads theres a few stockers that will out flow ported BB heads and aftermarket,no comparison lets face it the LS series engine will out perform SB or BB. tha old stuff is old,cant beat the efficency of new technology...
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2000
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From: Who says "Nothing is impossible" ? I've been doing nothing for years.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,483
Likes: 1
From: Bay Area CA
Small block is a smaller block of steel.
Cubic inches is the amount of space that's bored out of the block to make room for the pistons. You can bore very large holes in a small block and put very large pistons in them to increase the cubic inches rating, resulting in thinner walls.
Am I right so far... experts??
Ahem... by the way... a big block is much
-er to look at under the hood of a classic vette.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,117
From: Crossville TN
If you want lots of power and you intend to drive in a straight line, you want a big block [BB]. If you intend to road race the car, your preference would be a powerful small block [SB] engine. Then there are some folks who just 'get off' on having the smallest high-powered engine around.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 5,403
Likes: 95
1rst, 2nd, 3rd generation small blocks use the same miserable
4.40 bore centerline, big blocks use a 4.84 bore centerline
the 2007 on up multi gillion dollar nascar engines has a 4.50
bore centerline.
big blocks in the aftermarket can be bought with standard 4.84, 5.0
5.2 bore centers, heads for a standard 4.84 bore center right off the shelf with 515 runner 570 cfm.
There are heads for wider bore center line BB that flow even more air.
theres a hemi style head for a big block with a 2.7 inch intake valve
The gap between what can be done with a SB and a BB just keeps getting worse.
to the above poster that thinks a modern small block can run with a big block not even a chance.
even a big cube small block of any gen is like the 5'11 weight lifter
pretty strong for his size until the 6'8 inch weight lifter walks in the room makes him look bad.
4.40 bore centerline, big blocks use a 4.84 bore centerline
the 2007 on up multi gillion dollar nascar engines has a 4.50
bore centerline.
big blocks in the aftermarket can be bought with standard 4.84, 5.0
5.2 bore centers, heads for a standard 4.84 bore center right off the shelf with 515 runner 570 cfm.
There are heads for wider bore center line BB that flow even more air.
theres a hemi style head for a big block with a 2.7 inch intake valve
The gap between what can be done with a SB and a BB just keeps getting worse.
to the above poster that thinks a modern small block can run with a big block not even a chance.
even a big cube small block of any gen is like the 5'11 weight lifter
pretty strong for his size until the 6'8 inch weight lifter walks in the room makes him look bad.
Last edited by Little Mouse; Aug 9, 2009 at 03:44 PM.
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2000
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From: Wichita KS
cc
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 6,231
Likes: 65
From: Seattle WA
St. Jude Donor '14
There is simply no replacement for displacement...but cubic dollars sometimes limits our choices 
In the end this is a lot more about your wallet than anything else.
As for the LS vs. GEN I debate, I have to laugh just a bit. The LS is so far beyond what a GEN I is capable of, especially dollar-for-dollar, that there's just no comparison. Retrofitting one is not trivial (or cheap) but there's not a better engine on the planet at the moment.
As for the aforementioned heads, let's do a little reality check:
The Little Chiefs 275cc flow 388/276 cfm @ .900 lift...and would be totally unusable on the street. A pair will set you back about $9,000.
The GMPP L76/L92 head flows 316/189 @ .600 lift, are totally streetable and sell for about $900/pair...1/10th the price for comperable flow numbers.
The GEN I is a great engine and you can make great power with one - but any discussion of LS vs. GEN I, old skool is going to come up way short. Anyone that would like to have a dyno competition - same displacement for a GEN I vs. an LS, winner take both engines, please PM me with the date and place
In the end this is a lot more about your wallet than anything else. As for the LS vs. GEN I debate, I have to laugh just a bit. The LS is so far beyond what a GEN I is capable of, especially dollar-for-dollar, that there's just no comparison. Retrofitting one is not trivial (or cheap) but there's not a better engine on the planet at the moment.
As for the aforementioned heads, let's do a little reality check:
The Little Chiefs 275cc flow 388/276 cfm @ .900 lift...and would be totally unusable on the street. A pair will set you back about $9,000.
The GMPP L76/L92 head flows 316/189 @ .600 lift, are totally streetable and sell for about $900/pair...1/10th the price for comperable flow numbers.
The GEN I is a great engine and you can make great power with one - but any discussion of LS vs. GEN I, old skool is going to come up way short. Anyone that would like to have a dyno competition - same displacement for a GEN I vs. an LS, winner take both engines, please PM me with the date and place
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 5,403
Likes: 95
There is really nothing much about the LS engines that could really be called modern the pushrods date back to the late 1800s so does two valves per cylnder, the deep skirt cross bolted block is strait out of the 1963 big block ford, the heads with non siamesed intake and exhaust runners along with the four bolt head pattern mostly a copy of 1960s on up fords. the oil pump same design as ford has been using
since the 60s. fuel injection nothing new only thing in the modern world about the whole engine is the computer. Everything else in it was copied from engines in production in the 60s.
when chevy was making the engine they ham strung the thing with the same 1955 4.40 bore center.
head wise for the early engine you can by just simple 12 degree heads that flow the same 390, bare cost on them is 1900.00, by comparison if you must have canted vavles then the price goes through the roof.
since the 60s. fuel injection nothing new only thing in the modern world about the whole engine is the computer. Everything else in it was copied from engines in production in the 60s.
when chevy was making the engine they ham strung the thing with the same 1955 4.40 bore center.
head wise for the early engine you can by just simple 12 degree heads that flow the same 390, bare cost on them is 1900.00, by comparison if you must have canted vavles then the price goes through the roof.
Last edited by Little Mouse; Aug 9, 2009 at 07:08 PM.