I've got the chance to buy a 454 engine, to put in my Camaro. The engine was being built by one of my friends and he's run out of money to build it. So, I can get the whole set up block, heads, crank, pistons, intake (except cam and rods) for $800. I'll have to go get a few of his parts (like flywheel and a few other balanced parts) from the machine shop that was doing the work so that figures to be ruffly around $400 more. As is I'm looking at $1200 for the motor and I've got the resources to put it together. I'm not sure what the specs were on his heads so I don't know what cam I'd need to get and what power range I'd be looking at. So I'm hoping I can be around $2,000 to $2500 for the motor with it running.

Question #1 What kinda range of HP /Torgue can I expect out of a Carbed 454? Say from the mild to wild setups, whats the range that I could see between the two choices? I'll probably end up somewhere inbetween mild and wild so I'm just trying to see what my possibilites are?

Question #2 If I can get it bought and put back together for $2500 or less is it worth it for the kinda power I'd see verses spending $5000 plus on a 383 LT-1

Question #3 I know I'll have to change out the trans and rearend. So, I'll be going with a 12 bolt for sure. What are my trans options? I was thinking about a TH400 but I wanna make sure that whatever I buy can hold up to the 454. Right now I've got the T-56 but I don't think that could hold up.

 

Is this for the street? You know the 454 will not fit nicely under the cowl of a 4th gen. Some cutting will likely be required for a carb and air cleaner to clear. You will almost certainly need a different hood. Servicing the distributor will be very dificult. Removal of the distributor will require pulling the engine. That means you wont be able to ever remove the intake manifold either, because that requires removal of the distributor.

Without spending a ton of money, you wont like the results if you are expecting a releable drivable street car.

You're opening a huge can of worms. The accessory brackets from your LT1 will not line work on the BBC 454... everything will need to be redesigned. Alternator, Power Steering, A/C....

 

Yeah I would stay away from the 454 if it was me. You would be way better of to build up your LT1.

 

and stock the t56 is designed for 450lb ft of torque, with a few simple upgrades it can handle much more.

so i wouldn't worry about the trans too much if you go mild on the build.

there are quite a few guys on here who have put a big block into a camaro. is it hard to do...kindda. worth the bother...depends on what you want out of it.

but remember it will probably weigh 200lbs more than the LT1...which can adversely affect handling and launching.

 

talk to this guy he put a 454 in his camaro

here is his page on the buildup

 

I've already got a cowl hood so the clearence on the hood wouldn't be an issue. As far as the alternater and power steering will all come with the engine so I shouldnt have issues there. Basically I'll take everything LT-1 and computer related out of the car and replace it with the Big Block stuff. I know the difficulty will be there but $ for $ and HP for HP which route is best. If I go this route it will see some street driving and some strip. I hardly drive the car as it is now with the stock LT-1.


teke184, Thanks for the links.

 

for $3600ish, you can get a iron 408, or few hundred more, get the aluminum 402. check out victory racing, ask for nick for some cool options.