Pondering is my pass time,

My main concern and goal is getting it going with what i have but i cant stop thinking back burner style about the engine i do want and what that will actually be,

I am rry5ing to apply measure twice cut once to engine selection so as not to be disappointed so Pondering is a good thing...

 

You have a good foundation. I am in the process of putting together a 467 for my 71. I choose to spend a good amount of money putting a lot of parts together. I am hoping to have some clips and pictures by next year. My build is as follows.

1978 454 block bored 60 over.
AFR 265 heads with CNC chambers
Straub roller cam for AFR heads
Morel lifters
Edelbrock RPM air gap oval
Stewart Stage 2 water pump
Scat rods
Eagle crank
Wiseco Pistons 21 cc dome
Hedman headers
Ram twin disk clutch

Everything is at the machine shop now, so will know the bearings other odds and ends when I get it back. I think the only thing left is to order pushrods once I measure for them.

 

I bought a set of ported 215 heads with 2.19 valves already in them. Still the shop said 800 bucks for guides and seats. I found a guy who'll do 11-32 liners for 100 bucks and I can buy all new valves. I have a seat grinder so I can do that myself if I can live with non-hardened seats. Still I will have near 500 bucks in these heads. If the right set of alum heads falls in my lap, these will continue to gather dust.

 

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php

Search this website for some good combos. I suggest an LS7 style build. You can use the heads you have. I did and the car ran 10.70s.

 

When it comes to cylinder heads the 781 and 049 heads are great starting points. If you want to attack the low hanging fruit, I would sooner spend money on a converter. M2 cents fwiw...

 

Nothing wrong with doing research before spending money. You might want to check out the message boards at Team Chevelle. There are a lot of guys running Big Blocks over there. Just keep in mind what compromises you will have to make in intake manifold selection. Chevelles don't have the hood clearance problems that the Corvette has.

 

im doing rpm with Holley double pumper. What are you using as your air filter to get under an l88 as far as drop down air cleaner. I really like the air cleaner that is mounted to the bottom of the hood do you guys know what that is?

 

So what is max cam for 454 with 781 heads without having to add higher stall??

 

Not a very good picture but there is my 70 that I am almost ready to start building. I’ll post some photos of the 454 that I just took apart today to get ready to take to the machine shop for boring and cleaning etc.

 

Looks tired in there lol

And done

 

She was an oil burner for sure!! But you've got a good foundation. is it a 2bolt main block? No need worry one way or the other.

Something to watch out for if you're going to move to 2.19" intake valves (or larger). The forged 11.0 compression type pistons were designed for them..but the lo-po small dome ones were designed for 2.06 valves. Usually not a problem as far as depth...but can get into "radial clearance" issues around the edges of the valve pocket. Easy enough to fix during mock up...but you need to check.

Unless you're going really high on HP...the 1.72 exhausts will work fine...but the 2.19" intakes will help. If the seats are worn upgrading to a larger valve helps put everything back in the right place. I wouldn't worry about hardened seats. You won't need them.

As mentioned, it's easy to get a lot of $$$ moving if paying machine shops. Sometimes shopping for a new/better set of aluminum heads is a better bet once you start changing guides, valves etc. Stay away from most import stuff....but there's others out there.

Something else to think about. See that shiny spot in front of the cam bearing in the timing cover area? That's where the cam gear rides against the block. That ones looks OK in the pics...but often get really bad and chews up lots of metal. A quick simple fix is to drill a small 1/8" hole directly in the face that intersects the oil gallery running between the cam bearing and the #1 main. It will provide pressurized oil to the back of the gear and not lose any pressure because the oil pump and lifters (flat tappet) will be pulling the cam back against the block. The next way...and even better is to utilize those two bolt holes on either side to hold a cam thrust plate like the later GENV engines used. You must order a "stepped" nose cam for a GENV engine to use it..but you're ordering a cam anyway...so no big deal. The retainer plate is a stock GM deal and eliminates cam thrust bearings etc if you decide to use a roller cam.



JIM

 

I like what I see a lot! You can do a lot with that, and the heads are PRISTINE do not ruin them with hard seats, get with a shop that absolutely knows how to do a valve job.

 

it might be cheaper to go get a pair of alum edelbrook heads,then reworking the old iron heads

 

LOL...Mark is drooling on virgin iron!!


JIM

 

send them iron heads my way!

 

Jim, its beyond virgin....very rarely do you see them that desirable, and 75 percent of them I start with are virgin but can have problems, that one doesn't have problems! Of course the cam tunnel is always a consideration.

 

Mark...I'm heading to PRI in Indy tomorrow. Will be meeting up with Mike, Doug Flynn, Chris Straub, Scott Foxwell and many others.

When are you going to make it???


JIM

 

I never have time, but I always wonder how other people have the time, I've done something wrong. Enjoy, come visit when you can!

 

You gotta plan for it. Good networking and for you it's a tax writeoff!!

Always cool to relax a little and see what everyone else has up their sleeve or new.


JIM

 

I hope im not high jacking but curious what you guys see as the best gm iron bb head for just a street beast....