Street-able NA 454 7.4L build

Amsterdamned96 · Sep 1, 2024

Necro'ing my old thread as i'm putting the engine together. The last photo showed someone incorrectly gasket-matching. Peanut heads fit well into the square intake manifold, using square gaskets.
There's so much valuable information from senior-members of the forum in here regarding my engine build. Seriously lacking some follow-up on my behalf;
I'll be posting my cylinder head specs along with the Elgin's cam (Pink paint, iirc it's an RV cam essentially just same LSA "High" lift) the heads have been ported and polished into a slight teardrop to benefit somewhat from the large ports.
The injectors are 36lb/hr and previously supported by two inline 45 psi pumps.
I'll be sure to add photos of my engine build, has anyone had luck making a cam-bearing tool at home? Or piston-ring pliers?

n2xlr8n · Sep 1, 2024

It's a long-known "low-buck trick" to use square port intake manifolds on oval port heads. It works.

Would I use it on a 13:1 540? No, but we're talking about budget tinkering here.

Mark @ VortecPro would be the guy I would email if I were building something along those lines- few in the BBC community can do more with less reliably than he- he's been around a long time. He used to hang out on Speed talk, so you may be able to search threads there for his wisdom.

Schurkey · Sep 1, 2024

n2xlr8n said:
Mark @ VortecPro would be the guy I would email if I were building something along those lines

Schurkey said:
I know a guy who has made serious power with peanut-port heads. Buying a set of his peanut-ports will cost serious money. (Plus shipping to Spain.)

VortecPro - Racing & Machine - Homepage

Amsterdamned96 · Sep 2, 2024

I'm having to make a con-rod jig to remove a press-fit pin out of a hypereutectic flat-top, off of a bent connecting rod (due to hydrolock) out of flatstock as well as a stand for the heads so that I can work on them comfortably. I'll measure the combustion chambers if I get the chance. I was going to resort to simply slapping the heads back on despite the fact that the springs have sat compressed quite sometime, I'll give them a wash with brake cleaner and a brush to remove stubborn dirt.
I don't have the budget to buy a different pair of heads or even swap the cam at the moment. I'll be sure to try to contact VortecPro once I have my questions formulated. Thank you all for your consideration.

Please let me know what your thoughts are on valve-springs that have sat, last someone reassured me not to worry about them but I doubt sitting compressed for years would do the spring tension/resilienve any good. Worst case scenario, I'll add a lever to the workbench-support for the heads to remove the springs and swap them out.

n2xlr8n · Sep 2, 2024

Amsterdamned96 said:
I'll be sure to try to contact VortecPro once I have my questions formulated. Thank you all for your consideration.

Please let me know what your thoughts are on valve-springs that have sat, last someone reassured me not to worry about them but I doubt sitting compressed for years would do the spring tension/resilienve any good. Worst case scenario, I'll add a lever to the workbench-support for the heads to remove the springs and swap them out.

Or you could lurk on Speed-Talk forum and search his posts. He was / is? involved in many many BBC conversations there.

Re: BBC valvesprings. BBCs are the diesel engines of the gasoline ICE world- I'd make sure they had seat pressure and leave it at that, unless you're putting a camshaft in it that requires a certain seat pressure.

BTW- my neighbor has a 33k original mile (runs and drives) Gen IV 454 (along with the T475) he wants to sell for $1000.00
The catch? One has to remove the 1987 Allegro motor home it's attached to. Killer deal for someone looking for a cherry BBC.

Street-able NA 454 7.4L build

Amsterdamned96

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n2xlr8n

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Schurkey

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Amsterdamned96

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