Soon I will be dropping in a 454, new tranny, and rear-end in my car. I am somewhat hopeful it makes enough power that the suspension won't be able to hold it (if that makes sense). I currently have the stock SS (F41) suspension. My question is, how do you know before-hand what you'll need to upgrade for the suspension, or do you not know until you see what kind of traction problems you have? Does the F41 suspension have any well known 'weak points' if you will? Or are there always things to upgrade that are better than the factory? Thanks for any advice.

It all depends on what your goals are. If you plan on running mostly bracket races then you would need some bolt on upgrades even with a small 396 like I have. If you are just going to cruise around town then a simple set of hop stops, boxed arms, sway bar, and the correct springs (none of this lowering spring crap either) will be the best you can do.

Dropping in a 454 says nothing. What are the specifics, because any ol 454 with no gear/converter can be just as big of a dog as any other engine/combo. My 396 started out running 9.30's @75mph, and has now gone a best of 7.39 at 93. There is a big difference in the traction problems we had a 9.30's and what we have done to adjust to our current combo.