Peanut port 454 build assistance/help

[95burban]

Personally I would keep the peanut heads, torque makes things fun. Sure it will fall on its face in high rpm but you’re not building a high rpm engine. The extremely small cam in these motors makes them horrible.

Back story…
Long time ago a friend had a 454ss truck. It was a 90 so it had 4.10 gears and a th400. He swapped the intake and tbi with an air gap and a 850 quick fuel. It had decent sized cam and a full exhaust. Truck had tq for days, rolling burnouts, awesome throttle response, just an all around fun cruising truck that would make you laugh like a girl.

 

[coloradoceltic]

Should a just rebuild it stock with a few exceptions? If so which particular exceptions? Like what specific can would be great for towing and just general pep around town? What pistons in conjunction? If that makes sense. I have read the Haynes like a 1000 times while doing repairs, and watched a tone of videos on the subject, but I'm just kinda lost in the specifics.

 

[coloradoceltic]

WHAT VEHICLE? Low- or high-pressure TBI?

Thousands of years ago, one of the Chevy magazines had an insert that detailed a Vortec-head conversion on a peanut-port engine.

Dead-stock Vortec heads gained horsepower and torque, although the gains were fairly mild. About 35 hp if I remember right. Downside is that the article was very poorly written. Not sure I trust much of it.

I put Vortec heads on my boat 454 (peanut-ported Mk IV) and ran it that way for a few years. It worked, but it was nothin' special. The Vortec heads are a straight bolt-on, nothing special needed provided you select the correct gaskets, the pushrod guideplates are the right size for the pushrods, and the valvesprings and such match the cam. Two details are that you'd want to scrap the valve rotators in favor of rotator-eliminator shims. My heads had rotators on both the intake and exhaust, so I needed 16 shims. The other is that in stock form, the Vortec doesn't have adjustable lifter preload. This "can" be OK, but most folks change the rocker bolts for special studs and nuts to make the system adjustable again.

Does Colorado have emissions testing? If so, you're going to need stock-appearing parts, or a blind guy doing the testing.

Colorado does have emissions, but they don't seem to give a hoot one way or another about the older vehicles since they can't plug odb2 into it. They just put the exhaust hose.in the I'm engine bay and send you on your way.

 

[Cadillacmak]

Personally I would keep the peanut heads, torque makes things fun. Sure it will fall on its face in high rpm but you’re not building a high rpm engine. The extremely small cam in these motors makes them horrible.

Back story…
Long time ago a friend had a 454ss truck. It was a 90 so it had 4.10 gears and a th400. He swapped the intake and tbi with an air gap and a 850 quick fuel. It had decent sized cam and a full exhaust. Truck had tq for days, rolling burnouts, awesome throttle response, just an all around fun cruising truck that would make you laugh like a girl.

I agree with the peanut port heads, they work good for a truck motor.

 

[Cadillacmak]

I am not just talking out my backside, put a peanut port in my daughters 74 and its a fun truck!

 

[Schurkey]

Should a just rebuild it stock with a few exceptions? If so which particular exceptions? Like what specific can would be great for towing and just general pep around town? What pistons in conjunction? If that makes sense.

454 responds well to more compression--the OEM pistons stink. Flat-tops on SBC work OK depending on combustion chamber cc, flat-tops on 454 are "not enough" even with 100cc chambers.

Camshaft will require computer tuning, which will be a good idea no matter what. But that's beyond my ability.

I have read the Haynes like a 1000 times while doing repairs, and watched a tone of videos on the subject, but I'm just kinda lost in the specifics.

Put the worthless Haynes manual in the fireplace, download the REAL service manual set from the links in the Sticky thread section of the Engine forum.

 

[Minn95Dually]

Well, if you are going to rebuild it isn't it relatively the same $$ to go 496? That will cure alot of issues regarding power.

 

[Schurkey]

Well, if you are going to rebuild it isn't it relatively the same $$ to go 496? That will cure alot of issues regarding power.

There's the cost of the crankshaft, and the cost of the aftermarket balance which might not be needed if he's just freshening-up the 454. Pistons/rings/cam/gaskets/bearings are maybe about the same