[Gleekr]

Have to thin out the herd and need some opinions- My cousin wants to buy my '85 454 that was running when pulled but needs rebuild not sure if I should.
The Monte currently has a recently freshened 404sb, with 9.5:1 Hypers, fact heads ported w 2.02's, and an Ultradyne solid cam (247/[email protected]), 1 3/4 headers and 2.5" exhaust with 295/50 Radial t/a's, th350 w 3500, 4:11 posi, 3750# with driver. The price on the car was too good to say no to. It ran 13.5 @ 105 with 2800 stall, 1 5/8 headers and 3:42's shifting at 5500 by the previous owner.
Needless to say I want more performance and have a orig bore 400sb (that someone else wants to buy) in the garage, and also a set of new vortecs and matching intake.
So gotta decide best bang for the buck, the car is already set up for sb should I stick with it and use the cash from the 454 towards some heads? (Wolfplace refers to the currents as el-crappos) Or suck it up test and tune while I save some coin to afford a complete re-hash and go BB. My kids have a nasty habit of eating...so it would be a while prolly 1-2yrs.
Ultimately looking for streetable low 10's....eventually, without giggle juice.
(Figuring on 434"sb or 496"bb by then)
Sorry for the long post- lookin for all advice.

 

[bowtie6872]

i'd hold on to the biggie
heres why..
10's and streetable is easier with a 454.( a 434 sb is pricy)
"kids need to eat" u'r looking at 1-2 years to get upthe money...right..
that 1-2 years to find all the parts u'll need to go big block...with out the "i need it now,pay the man for the part"
u'll get the same money from the sale of your sbc when you change over.. as the 454 today..
nothing puts you back into the seat harder than the torque of a big block..
and the 434 sbc will cost the same as the 454-496

unless you run solo cross with it..
you'll be happier with the bigblock...
oh
and other than gas milage,,

 

[Guest]

Ditto, 496 BB....

Got one too!

pdq67

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[Gleekr]

The money vs time is mostly a matter of me getting around to selling a bunch of stuff laying around...the wife is not being a roadblock, as long as I don't get too assinine n slowly accumulate parts "under the radar."
The biggest advantage I see with sb is that I already have a workable rotating until maybe 550 horse...which should be a REAL good set of heads, another 1- 1.5 points of compression, and a cam and intake change. Then I gotta really get out the wallet fo upgrades.
The BB- scat rotating, BB-O heads, and the other necessities...simple just more immediately costly.
But a g-note (Canuck-bucks) from a well-flogged small block (if I don't grenade it by then) would help ease the hurt.
Gas whut? I got the wife a 94 big-block 4x suburban to drive to get rid of that nasty term!! (N she loves it!- she really loves it!! lol) I really should be fixing its fuel leak right now too btw.

 

[twotone64]

(N she loves it!- she really loves it!! lol)

Good reference to "The mask"

 

[driver]

Big block has you almost there with-out a bunch of mod's.Small block will cost more to get there.

 

[LXS]

I vote BB to! Being that I love my lil small block, I still dream of building a BB for my 'Velle! Unless you plan on yanking that BB outta your wife's suburban, keep your current BB and sell the 400! :thumbsup:

 

[davis95]

Big block all the way. You can get what you want for now out of a small block, but in the future if you want more it won't be there. When you run out of cubes you're options become limited.

 

[Gleekr]

Big block all the way. You can get what you want for now out of a small block, but in the future if you want more it won't be there. When you run out of cubes you're options become limited.

You mean 10's outta the small block??

I vote BB to! Being that I love my lil small block, I still dream of building a BB for my 'Velle! Unless you plan on yanking that BB outta your wife's suburban, keep your current BB and sell the 400! :thumbsup:

Funny you should mention that...it is rusting away (although all too slowly for this purpose) 'n I saw this cool lifted one for sale in Cali! lol