hi i just recently bought a Chevy 454 big block engine in hopes of putting it into a 70 chevelle.
the guy i bought it from inform me that the engine came out of a mid 80's dually truck. Besides that i really don't know anything else about the engine, i have tried doing some research with the engine casting number but to no avail. On the actual block i noticed it had 7.4 liter. I was hoping if you guys would be kind enough to give me a little bit more information on the actual engine & maybe some advice on how i could transformed it from a low hp high torque engine to a respectable muscle car engine. The engine casting number is
believe is

140154451

Thank you for your time, your patience, and your information.

I think you may have added an extra number. This is what I found:
14015445...454.......78-90...2 or 4 bolt
From http://www.mortec.com/bbc.htm

Welcome aboard.
Top right in pic is the location of the EngineID
http://www.yearone.com/updatedsinglepages/Id_info/gm_engine_id/gmidimages/endinedetail1.jpg

Some later blocks have the code stamped directly above the timing cover and not on the pad as shown.
Get & post the code -looks like T1022TGF -(your numbers/letters would be different).

i think i found the numbers, but i still cant tell the difference, or what engine it is.
i think i did add a extra number i think your right about the casting number

and the number that was above the pan was this

t0503uba

UBA = 83 ,454 ,from C-20 & C-30 Truck , 230hp ,RPO code LE-8 ,w/Manual Trans , 4-Brl

is this engine any good for my chevelle?
is it possible to get 500 hp from this block?
would you rather work up the stock 350 or this 454??
is this engine 2 bolt or 4 bolt?

is this engine any good for my chevelle? YES
is it possible to get 500 hp from this block? YES
would you rather work up the stock 350 or this 454?? 454
is this engine 2 bolt or 4 bolt? Probably 4 bolt -does it have a large & small port above the oil filter ?

=0( sorry, im such a moron when it comes to all this, i love muscle cars, but ive never worked on one, never was exposed to to that culture, my dad has a 68 and ever since i was little i told myself i would buy one as soon as i had that opportunity. so all that to say this sorry that i dont know my stuff, i dont even know where the older filter is so i cant answer that question. i know im a wreck please bare with me lol.

if this was your block mike, how would or what would you do to the engine to get it to 500 hp? if you have the time can you give me the steps and and part models you would use? thanks alot i really appreciated.

Get the head casting numbers
http://www.yearone.com/updatedsinglepages/Id_info/gm_engine_id/gmidimages/enginedetail3.jpg

Oil filter is on the drivers side of the block ,back ,bottom.
Above the boss there's either 1 small port (pressure sender port) or 2 ports -1 small 1/4npt and 1 larger 3/8npt used for the oiler cooler on the 4 bolt blocks.

kool thaks.

any way you can guide me in trying to reach my goal of 500hp?

steps, products you sugest?

and how do you get a 454 to be a 496? do you just switch the cam?

Identify the heads first so you can get your current compression ratio up with the right pistons or a head swap.
454 to 496 is a crank and piston swap.
Example of kit:
http://www.speedomotive.com/ps-80-7-chevy-454-to-496-thru-506-forged-piston-crank-kit.aspx

Andrew,

You could visit your local library or book store and get a "How To" book on the BBC.
As Mike said, a 454 is a 454 block with a .060" over bore and the 4" stroke crank gets replaced by a longer 4.25" stroke unit, longer connecting rods, and specialty pistons.

You keep saying 500 horses....pretty easy to do. A 454 has very good manners at the 450 horse range so think carefully about your intended usage of the car. Probably the best thing I can advise you on is that the components of the engine should match the set-up for the rest of the car, and your desired usage. Cruising, burning the tires is no issue at all for a 450 horse engine. Driving to Riverside with a 500 horse engine probably will cost too much

Just about any 454 is a great street engine. Even the truck head engines with 236 or 360 peanut port head castings make great street engines. But tell us what heads are on the engine....

What kind of gearing do you have or plan to have?
Do you have a 12-bolt diff under the car already?
What transmission?
Who will be doing all the work?

the casting number on the head was 346236

how would i know if i have peanut ports? i dident know any forge peanut shape ports inside the engine block, but when i just looked into the headers, i noticed two circles inside the rings, or whatever you called it was like this weird material im not sure if thats consider peanut headers or whatever they call it. sorry i dont know the lingo.

thanks alot george for your info, like i said before i apologize for my ignorance, right now im like a kid on Christmas day i just bought my dream car yesterday, ever since my dad bought his 68 all ive known is that i wanted a chevelle with 500hp, i don't mean for my questions to get redundant. i have all these questions, i dont mean to frustrate any of you i just really have no experience with how any of this stuff works, so please be patient with me.

as far as my intentions for the car, i just want it as a weekend driver, and i just had a baby so basically my longterm goal is to give it up to my son when he graduates h.s. but for now i would just like to have it to cruise around.

im not sure if i have a 12 bolt diff, i will find out tomorrow, i have to call the guy because i have no clue, as far as the gearing, sorry once again i dont know what that means. lol, and i guess i want to keep it automatic.

thanks alot guys for you help

Ah Andrew.....
Much to learn.
At the top of the ENGINE area is a thread called BBC INFO started by my bud Darryl "FRYNTYR" Berg. I have added some pictures there.... Please drop in there for some info.

BBCs have been around since 1965
There are three basic kinds of intake ports
Rectangular also called High Performance
Oval port or Large Oval
and
Peanut port, or small oval.

IN the later 1970s the BBC only appeared in trucks so GM revised the cylinder heads to make best performance under 3000 rpm.....towing or load hauling. The heads work ok on a street cruiser car. Your head 346236 is a peanut port, called so due to the intake port being the smallest size. Roughly ping-pong ball intake passages.

The oval port heads have runners the size of a plum.
Rectangular port heads are larger and really do have a rectangular shape.
There is a picture on the BBC Info thread I took of some intake manifold port sizes.

sweeet elco, i had a 84, which i sold not too long ago, but if looked like yours i would of kept it lol.

thanks for the info, george ill go check out the thread right now. quick question, i dont have to keep those peanut heads right? because i was planning on swapping them out for some aluminum's headers, i just dont know which ones or how or whatever. =0)

You do not have to keep the heads...any of the other ones will bolt on.

I suppose you meant to write ALUMINUM HEADS, not Aluminum Headers.....
Lots of choices out there,,,,,,WOLFPLACE in N Calif is offering a discount through Christmas if you have extra $$$$, believe he mentioned Dart Pro1s.
Way overkill for a street cruiser.

236 PP heads will work, they make great torque. If you do not want to go above 5000-5300 rpm, run the heads you have. They have open chamber configuration and produce a whopping 7.9:1-8.2:1 CR.

One option is to go to closed chamber heads to gain compression.
The early heads from the 1960s have small chambers.....so I used a set from 1968 with 101cc chambers on my 1977 shortblock to bump the CR up to 8.8:1.
A 66 head has about 98cc that you can mill to 94-95cc no problem for even more compression.

If your stock pistons are tired, bad bores, have your block machined, get domed pistons..... The 781 and 049 oval port open chamber heads are excellent castings.

Which thread are you gonna run on here?

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=250385

i went online in search of some heads, which only brought out some more questions,

whats the diffrence between close & open chamber heads? which ones are better? or have better peformance? and since im planning on swaping out the pistons should i also just swap out the crank and make my 454 a 496?

Probably 4 bolt -does it have a large & small port above the oil filter ?


I've always found this interesting because I have seen numerous blocks (mine included) that disprove this. Sure fire way is to pull the pan.

Ryan ,the Probably comes from the usage in the C20/30 as they usually had the 4 bolt blocks.
Yes,I've drilled the cooler ports in 2 bolt blocks to use a cooler and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
I didn't base the "Probably 4 bolt" on the cooler ports alone.
I'm sure he'll be pulling the pan as he's asking what to do in the other post.

if i the pan is already pulled because i bought the engine out of the car already, how can i tell where the holes are located? and your right mike it came out of a c30

i went online in search of some heads, which only brought out some more questions,

whats the diffrence between close & open chamber heads? which ones are better? or have better peformance? and since im planning on swaping out the pistons should i also just swap out the crank and make my 454 a 496?

Almost all aftermarket heads are going to be designed for open chamber usage but can be used with the closed chamber pistons in some applications
Get open chamber pistons that will give you the compression you desire.

If you decide on a 496 I would highly recommend you look at a complete rotating assembly with everything not try to piece it together
I see more people thinking they are saving a couple of bucks buying from all over the map by price alone & ending up with crap that will not work as a unit
I also recommend that you use a 6.385" long rod (stock is 6.135) so you can internal balance the assembly with the longer stroke

You do not have to keep the heads...any of the other ones will bolt on.

I suppose you meant to write ALUMINUM HEADS, not Aluminum Headers.....
Lots of choices out there,,,,,,WOLFPLACE in N Calif is offering a discount through Christmas if you have extra $$$$, believe he mentioned Dart Pro1s.
Way overkill for a street cruiser.

.

=
Not Dart, Brodix & yes I have them for a very good price through the end of the year
And the Brodix RR is definitly not overkill for a street crusier it is as close to a true "bolt on" head as I have seen & is not only excellent for pretty fair performance it also fits right into the milder street performance venue considering we are talking about a 270cc port ;)

Here is an example of a very mild setup I did for a Blazer a few years ago,, check out the torque curve,,, and the cam :)

Stock bore 454, 9.8 compression,
Sealed Power L2465F pistons,
Brodix RR oval w/CNC chamber, Comp Pro mag rockers
Ede Air gap intake, Holley 770 street Avenger carb
Isky 221/232 - .527/.549, 110 sep hyd flat tappet
91 octane pump,
36 degrees, HEI

-------- CHP CTQ
3000 285.5 505.6
3500 349.3 524.2
4000 401.9 527.7
4400 454.3 542.3
4500 462.6 539.9
5000 491.0 515.7
5300 505.8 501.2
5500 499.1 476.6
5900 490.1 436.3

Can regular people with regular jobs afford to dyno test their freshly rebuilt engine? Is the biggest advantage of dyno testing is being able see how much you produce? How much does it cost to test and tune?

Wolfplace,
Wow! Great numbers on a small cam.
Perhaps I should have been more clear....'overkill for a street cruiser' change to 'overkill for a limited budget street cruiser' but as you have shown...the performance with a modest cam was great!

Andrew,
Sure, you get numbers on a dyno...
Not stupidly expensive but certainly not cheap
When at the dyno, you make tuning changes, make other runs, make more tuning changes to dial your combo in.
Some dynos are correct; Wolfplace, Vortec Pro, CStraub, a few other
Magazine articles want to sell big numbers and products.

Important to remember the power on the dyno and the power to the ground will be considerably different. We had a chassis dyno at a club event back near the beginning of the year.....we had a few guys see considerable power gains switching from VS street carbs that were NOT anywhere near dialed-in to a really spiffy Holley DP belonging to TC guy FRYNTYR then doing another stint on the dyno. Others changed jetting, made more runs.

Just a quick question. Have you ever driven a high horsepower car? Only reason Im asking, if you havent driven a big block chevelle, and decide to just go and drop a 500 horse rat motor, you may very well end up hurting yourself, someone else or your car.
Remember basic physics. every action has a equal reaction. So 500 horse chevelle, will get up and go, but does your car have the brakes, suspension to turn and stop? Anyone can drop a monster motor into a car, just make sure the rest of the car, (and owner) can handle it safely and sanely. Other than that, go out and have fun. But if your going to want to "see what it runs" just do it at the strip. Jim

quick update, i was finally able to take some video of the chevelle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oblwup9BhE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjIRkWENUxM