bbc 454, need tranny advice

tomorrow i am checking out a 1981 454 for sale. it's selling for $500 CDN, which i think is a good price.. every other 454 is around $1000.

95% chance its a 2 bolt main, but i dont really care.

anyways, i am wondering what kind of transmission i will need to sport this motor?? in the future i will mod the motor to 600hp. what kinda of auto tranny should i get? and what kinda standard tranny can i get? are there arny old 4spd standard i can get?

im sure a T-56 will work, but for me to get one is over $2,000.. ane i know older auto's i can get for cheap.. but i really like the idea of an old 4spd stick

thanks

Two choices
1. Powerglide
2. T400
Both will support that kind of HP and will take a butt load of torque. If I had to chose between the 2.... I would go with the T400

if you're dead set on a stick, the old muncies were used behind the high horse engines in the sixties, the M21 and M22 but the M22 is stronger

There is also an M20, that is a lot more common. It has wider ratio spreads between gears. An M22 has straighter cut gears and sounds like a gear drive. M22's are also quite rare and overpriced. Plus you need a manual linkage for the clutch, which is a rare one year only item. So I'd say go automatic or T56 if you want a manual.

Martin

If you need an automatic, go with a TH400. You won't like the PG on the street.

$500 isn't a bad price. How complete is it? You're going to want all the accessory brackets. Nothing from a SBC will fit on the BBC.

My engine is only a 2 bolt. I've studded the bottom end just to be safe but never had a problem.

One of the first things you're going to want to do is check the casting numbers on the heads. The best ones to find are 781 although there aren't too many "bad" BBC heads. 049 would be the next best choice. If the engine has the tiny peanut port truck heads, through them in the dumpster. There's no performance value to them at all.

the one i checked sold.. but he had another one forsale

think it was a 79.. somewhere in the 70s.. complete from intake to pan.. engine is bored .20 over.. everythin is in good shape.. piston skirts are not to good.. he told me something about it having better heads.. i remember him saying somethiing about peanut ports.. and he said this block had more power cause of the heads..

he said he'll give me even a better deal on machine work since ii'm buying it from him.

Don't mistake the peanut ports for the large oval ports. Peanut ports are designed for truck engines. They build a lot of low end torque but provide very little top end HP.

Oval port heads are the best choice. Even a mild port job on oval port heads can easily handle over 500 hp. All oval port heads use small valves. The open chamber heads can easily have larger valves installed to boost performance.

The huge rectangular port heads, most common are 990 castings, are overkill for most engines. I wouldn't even consider using them unless I had 502+ cid and/or spin the engine over 7000 rpm.

My engine uses Merlin oval port heads with 2.19/1.88 valves.