Chevy 454 rebuild with 8v71 blower

Nah cant afford to change engine again!

May sell the blower as I've not decided if I'm definitely fitting it

caggiano said:

I can use larger head gaskets in order

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What ?


Oh the head gasket in the first post ?

Yeah you can buy thicker head gaskets to increase the volume of the compression chamber, i.e. +13cc, +18cc, -12cc etc

Its so you can change compression a little without having to deck the block or skim the heads, if I was to put the blower on I'd be fitting studs anyway when the time comes so would replace with copper gaskets at +15cc probably to get down to 8:1 ish

zen said:

why no lpg???it loves boost..and 64p litre

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Lpg would help make it more useable for sure. I spoke to a guy years ago with a blown 454 in a 69 rs camaro. He said it did 4mpg so cheaper fuel is always a bonus there! Good on you for going for broke, live fast die young in a good pair of shorts and all that ive seen 460 fords in model t roadsters with no seatbelts. Oh and its illegal not to fit an open header bypass on a bbc ; )

No doubt he had a very heavy right foot though!

ronsealdeath said:

Lpg would help make it more useable for sure. I spoke to a guy years ago with a blown 454 in a 69 rs camaro. He said it did 4mpg so cheaper fuel is always a bonus there! Good on you for going for broke, live fast die young in a good pair of shorts and all that ive seen 460 fords in model t roadsters with no seatbelts. Oh and its illegal not to fit an open header bypass on a bbc ; )

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That is very close for a stock big block(454) 6-8mpg is the average for them especially in trucks with big tyres. in a go fast car (camaro) can see the 4mpg

Ok onto what I bought yesterday, heres the back of the disco. That cast iron inlet isn't going on, I just got it free with the engine so I can take off the vac ports and a couple of other bits needed for the dizzy like the clamp down.














Whats inside the box is far better though, especially the HD push rods and brand new Edelbrock manifold














Tub of bolts for the heads, main caps, exhausts, water pump etc








Cloys double roller HD timing chain










Brand new genuine GM rockers with nuts








Clevite shells for the mains and rods









This is the head porting....no idea on the standard size but this is the discovery wheel brace and its not exactly small itself so these have definitely been made a little bigger given theres room either side of the brace!








Block has been grease coated inside the bores I think in order to prevent rust given that theres a good line of this stuff all round the heads











The inside of the block also looks good and clean

:5bdrool5::5bdrool5::5bdrool5::5bdrool5:

More pictures!

robbh said:

:5bdrool5::5bdrool5::5bdrool5::5bdrool5:

More pictures!

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Snigger I'll take more when the rings arrive and I makes a start on putting it together!

Looks nice How heavy is it when fully built up?

Heavy! The cast iron inlet is like 30kg so I've saved a bit of weight


I think it'll be about 290kg built up, they're 685lb's (310kg) built up using iron parts so I should lose a good bit with the ally intake.

Will also be less if I use an ally water pump and steel exhaust instead of the cast iron one

jesus.. size of them ports!

Oh yeah its been worked nicely!

I'll check valve size when I put the head gaskets and pistons in/on but I reckon they'll be enlarged too given they're on twin springs with dampers

certainly looks in better nick than the caddy lump...have you checked the bores yet?..i assume it has a new cam.

Has two cams with it, one already broken in which I'm tempted to use as it wasn't in the motor for many miles and one brand new one of the same grind that needs breaking in but means I'll have to remove the inner springs from the heads and then reinstall after which is quite a lot of work!

Bores not yet as the heads are partially bolted on, but they have been grease coated for storage and the inside looked very good when looking through the block into the cam area

Found out with a little bit of closer inspection I actually have single springs with a damper set up and inner boot which was what was throwing me. Means I can just install the new cam and not worry about removing anything.

Got the piston ring off the old piston without breaking them so they will be sent off down to real steel to get matched to a new set (get the part number off them then order somewhere cheaper)

Need a new set of head bolts or studs, not decided yet but bolts will suffice at my engines level so probably them as they're $120 cheaper

Red molly is on order, engine paint has been purchased, was going to start painting today but decided to wait until its got the crank and pistons inside so I don't scratch it up removing the sump and moving the engine about etc

Also brought the 8v71 inside! Its a lot beefier than the old 6v71 I had

Oh. My. God.

This is like some mad scientist freaky ****.

Thats Going to be HEAVY !!

True but the engine isn't going to care!

These things get 15mpg in a 3 tonne american truck, and this will still be a little lighter than one of them

A little ....

I'd hope to still be about a tonne lighter even with my new rear axle weighing in at about 325kg