Im a little confused in the road ahead of me and my 68 SS. Right now her heart is a 396(not original)It has good power, burn through 3 gears and chirp 4th. But of course it's never enough. Is it worth the money to buy and build up a 454 or just buy performance products for the 396 and risk blowing it up? I'm not looking for an answer because, for this question, there isn't one. The car is a true SS but not an original engine.

So basically im looking for advise, coments, and/or maybe a little direction

Well, I just spent almost 3k on my 396 a few months ago... pretty happy with the performance, but I'm always thinking what if I would have done that work to a 454 (really thinking 468ci+ now)

Its all personal preference, and the availability of bbc's in your area and the prices:)

Good luck

The added cubes of the 454 will be worth it. Torque is king and cubes = torque.

Just put 396 decals on the air cleaner. No one will know the diff.

Have fun!

The answer to that question totally depends on what type of performance and driving you plan on doing with your car.

If you plan on a fair amount of street romping and track time why not the 454 (58 more cubes is better) but if you are only going to flog it once in a while and see no track time or limited track time i would tweak up the 396.

If your bottom end on the 396 is sound with good oil pressure,good ring seal,no leaks along with decent large oval port heads (9:1-10:1) i would add an aftermarket edelbrock performer rpm for Q-jet or holley (750 cfm vacuum for auto trany or dbl pump which i prefer for faster responce in a stick car),K & N air filter (Flows better than paper/900cfm),headers,flowmasters thru stock 2.5 inch pipes out the rear,along with a decent fairly stout hyd flat tappet cam or solid cam if you dont mind valve adj from time to time.

Cam profile would be in the approx range of 222-230/226-238 dur @ .05,.525-.550/.525-.550 lift,& a 110-112 deg L/S angle to keep it very streetable for enough idle vacuum for the power brakes etc. My 396 with 228 @.05 with 112 L/S angle idled at 12 inches @ 900 rpm. This was just enough for the power brakes becasue they were just starting to get a little stiff at idle but were ok,any less idle vacuum would have killed the power brakes.

You may be able to get away with a few more deg int dur @.05 with a soild cam so keep that in mind,UDharold (now at Lunati Cams) could set you up with a great cam weahter hyd or solid flat tappet so give him a call if going for a cam change or for that matter the 454 build up if you decide to go that route.

Just as long as your running decent compression (9:1-10:1) this could easily get you in the approx 375-400 h/p range which is more than enough to have fun with on the street but still be very driveable along with lets say 331's,336's,or even 342's in the rear for the milder 396 setup. I would not go with 373's unless your not on the open road much or at all and are going to the track because they eat up a lot of fuel,motor can run a little hotter and they just wear out the motor & accessories (alt,water pump,fuel pump,etc) quicker.

The point here is what do you want to do with the car (fun 396 or racer 454) and after that the question is what gear,trany,and motor combo are you currently running so we can give you better advice on the subject and are you planing on any gear changes etc that could change our advice to you if your going the 454 route?

Scott

Marilyn,
The 454 has the potential to make more power than a little old 396. Since you alredy have the 396 it can be built to provide the power you desire without having to invest in a new block/crank. My 402 runs plenty strong with excellent street manners. there are some others here that have proven the baby big block to be a respectble performer with proper parts selection/tuning. JMHO

i never thought i'd recommend a 396/402 to anyone, but in this case i think you'd be better off keeping what you have. if you wanted more power without cost being a factor, then i'd say go with the 454. most 402's run about the same as comparably equiped 383 or 400 sbc's, no comparison to a 454 with the same parts. the 4" stroke makes a huge difference with the 454. unless you are really wanting to add a considerable amount of power for a street/strip car, without $$$ being a factor, then tune on your 396. .02 ;)

Well since your a fellow 68 SS-396er,
It depends on if your gonna race or not.

My best time with my 396 powered 68, is 13.533 @ 106.24 mph. I think I can improve on that with tuning, and driving technique.

And don't let anybody kid you, a thirteen second street car is plenty fast, and more than enough to get you into trouble. :D

If you have your heart set on a 12 second or faster E.T. by all means step
up to a bigger big block.

(There are several guys on this board going 12s and faster with a 396/402, but its easier with a bigger engine.)

Its simple, a bigger engine has more power potential, and will make more power than a more radical small engine. For the small engine to make as much power, it becomes harder to live with.

The chevelle has 3.73 gears with a M-21. It will be almost purely street but I want her to hold her own.
Andy M

Hi, I'm a little partial to the "baby rat". I drove this car on the street up to last winter. It's now a race only car that can go back on the street with just bolting up mufflers. Check my signature for more info. on a 396 graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I love my 396. It has closed chambered oval port heads. 10.5:1 Cast pistons, cast crank cut .010 under 2 bolt mains, Isky Hydraulic cam, Holley 850 dp on a torker II intake, and with 4.11 gears will drive on the street nicely and still run 12.10 quarter mile. I like bigger displacement but the point is you could just freshen up what you have get good performance out of it and save your money for a big engine later.

Don't be in too much of a hurry to get rid of the 396, as they have plenty of potential to go fast. You might perform upgrades to the 396 that would also work on a 454. Like head work, intakes, tires and so forth. At the end if you are still not happy with the 396's performance then all you need to build is a short block.

Like "Swheaton" said, it depends on what you plan to do with it. Being an "old fart" my craziness is out of my system and I'm content with my 396.

horsepower equals money. Whats your check book say? it took me nearly $7 grand to get a 454 and get it over the 500hp mark. this could be done with a 396 yeah, but i think you would lack the torque you want. (i love the feeling of being smashed to the back of the seat...thats the fun!)

Marilyn,
I'm doing just what your pondering. I'm taking out a 396(not original)and building a 454 with 400-425hp for 3k. I mostly wanted a well mannered street car but also wanted something i could easily do 13 sec with at the track. I'm also putting in a 200-4R tranny. Gonna change my limited slip to a posi but not sure of gearing as of yet. Like the rest of the people have mentioned its up to you. I changed my 396 cause mine was getting pretty tired and there is more power available in the 454.

Andy, you can find good two bolt oval port 454s cheap. Build a low rpm (under 5500)torque monster and have a ball. It will feel like mllion dollars and last longer than a smaller engine that you'll have to turn tighter to get the same results. Especially with a stick.
500 ft/lbs is easy to make with a 468 inch motor and won't cost that much.