I found a BBC in a large van body truck, GVW is about 18,000. It has no numbers on the block like the cars do. The heads say hi-perfx but I didn't get the casting number of them. The water pump is bolted on flat like the B,O&P's. Is this a "tall deck"? Does anyone know if the heads are the same as the regular BBC's? Thanks, Rick....

You found a tall deck truck engine. Don't waste your time with it. Great for pulling a load but lousy for high performance.

As far as the heads go, most early heads had HIPERF cast in them. Again, they are a waste of time.

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There was a time when tall deck blocks were popular for building racing engines, especially for drag boats, because they could be stroked and use even longer rods that a regular BB. A regular BB intake would be used with aluminum spacer plates between the manifold and the heads. I don't know how well these setups worked, but a lot of racers had them. That was some years ago.

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Check it out carefully, we have a fleet of 1 ton 4x4 Chevy trucks and they all have passenger car engines in them. the TBI models were 4 bolt engines I haven't seen the inside of the vortec engines yet. Even some of the 18000 lb trucks could have the short deck, all the tall deck motors I have seen had the truck heads on them.

454's never came as tall decks right? only 366 and 427. I believe that a 427 tall deck would make a great street or drag engine, the tall deck is much like a bow tie block ie thick cylinder walls, four bolt caps external oil cooler lines In my part of the woods people will give you a 427 tall deck because they belive they are junk ha ha. It can be bored .125" just add a 454 crank(4" stroke) and 6.135+.400 rods and bame you got a 476 inches or you could go with a 4.250 stroke shorter rods you got a 505 cubic inch monster for next to nothing.
just my $.02

Rick,
It is pretty easy to tell the tall deck motors. Just look at the distance from the top water pump bolts to the block deck surface. On the short deck blocks, the top bolt is only about a 1/4" from the deck. On the tall decks it is more like 3/4". Like SS says, the tall decks are all 366's or 427's. If you can get it cheap enough, the crank is usually steel and can be used in any block to make a nice 427.

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Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md

rick my current 454 (461) is out of a 72 trk. it bears the numbers for id behind the alt. my car has the hi perf. heads, "hi perf" cast on to them and they are rectangular ports. that might be what you should look for. the basic truck, hi torque, mules i think would have round ports to make low end power. your find is likely to have 4 bolt mains too. not a boat anchor in my book. john

sorry rick just another thought, are you sure it's a 454? does it have an externally balanced crank? it's pretty hard to tell them apart, save the folks on this site.

john

"Truck block" does NOT mean pickup trucks. The tall deck engines came in the "medium duty" trucks. (C-60 two ton style) Tall deck 454's were produced for a couple of years around 1985. 366's were ALL tall deck units, with (I'm told) THIN cylinder walls. (Can you confirm, Bill K?) Tall deck engines came with tiny "peanut port" heads, but there's no telling what got swapped onto the block once it was out of warranty...

A note about the tall deck crankshafts:

THEY MUST BE REBALANCED TO USE WITH PASSENGER CAR PISTONS!!!!!

Standard pistons in a tall deck block weigh a ton because they are extra tall to accomodate a fourth ring. That is why the block is taller- the pistons are taller (and heavier!)

tall deck 454 in 85? never heard this. schurkey that's why you use +.400" rods and use standard short deck pistons.

Well guys all this talk about tall deck has really peeked my intrist. I now own 4 of them. they we in school busses. Turbo charged and natural gas. I got them COMPLETE. I mean turbos and all for a VERY good price. they even have the High amp alternators, pumps for the air brakes, and computer to run the injection.
I was thinking about building one for a drag car. I wanted to run a long Rod and keep the streel 427 crank they have. I was alos planning on boring it out a bit, say .090 or so.
Any additional info yu guys have one these things would be really help full. Drop me a line. thanks.


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RYAN REEVES
rreeves@lightspeed.net

Oops posted twice, sorry




[This message has been edited by RRCHEVL69 (edited 05-06-99).]