Most power out of a 454? PROVEN combos????
 

A buddy is looking for more HP, whats a rock solid PROVEN combo that makes the best power in 454 platform? no strokers, 454 parts.... just curious to see whats been done??

get you some peanut butter ports from motors by shooter,check out his web site.

Sounds like the ticket!!

i think 9.5 or 10.1 with some afr 265s and a cam from bob with a good intake manifold and a 850 carb would make some decent power.

I am putting together a 454 +.030 stock stroke engine. Wiseco pistons w/+21cc domes. K1 rods and AFR 305 rec. port heads 114cc cnc chambers. Should end up 9.5 - 10.0 comp. Cam is 231/235 x 578/618 112* Undecided on the intake and carb. Gil exhaust w/Hardin aluminum risers, wet. May just run the Q-jet and stock intake for a bit unless a good deal comes around before it goes in the water.

Jeff

454's are tiny. Dont waste your time.

I highly recommend going with some peanut port ovals, with small block chevy sized valves. A 4.250 bore is tiny, and you don't want to shroud the valves with anything larger than a 1.72 intake valve. Its the only way to go on a 454. Also, keep the valve lift to around .480, anything more is a waste unless your building a 540 with cnc heads. Run the 3/8 chevy rods, and keep the rpm to about 4600RPM max, and dont you dare bolting on a set of heads with more than 230cc intake runners.. Enjoy your worthless big block that makes .7 HP per ci. Your probably better off building a 305 small block with an RV cam.

Hahaha best post ever ^^^^

This isn't exactly what you are doing but it's close enough that if you copied it it would work fine for you and it produced a real 530-540 hp.

427 bored .60 over so 439 c.i.
Marine Kinetics Cam- 234/241, 112 separation with .63/.61 lift
AFR 265 ovals w/cnc chambers
Scat H-Beam rods
Stock Forged GM 3.74" crank
10.4 compression
Pro System HP 950 Carb (830 cfm)
Weiland Stealth Intake
Stainless Marine Exhaust, then Keith Eickert Exhaust. Eickert provided 1 more mph and even better mid-range response.
Gil 10 Qt oil pan
HP 500 thermostatic oil filter head.
Block bore notched

There you go- that is the entire build. It was one he!! of a little engine. I've never experienced throttle response like that engine provided. Right now I'm modifying my 420's with 741 cams and Brodix BB-2 Plus heads. It's going to be interesting to compare these two engines, as the power output should be close. However the 439 had the perfect head and cam combo, the new set up not so much. I'm very interested in what the difference in port velocity is going to make.

Stock 454 mag bottom end with dart 308 rectangles , 8.5:1 compression with the 121cc chambers, crane 741 cam, 525hp at 5700rpm. Pretty decent for a set of off the shelf iron heads and minimal compression

This, on a stanard 454/330 but it WILL shred bravos....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Air-Filter-R...3D321439794087

Gota get me one of those contraptions, will it help me throw a rooster tail?

Dude, you will be able to wash down the golden gate at half throttle.........

now we have the new speed secret!

Sweet...10 are still available....I'm seriously considering buying all 10....

One for the boat, 1 for the Stang, 1 for the Superduty, and the wife will have to work for it if she wants one on the Highlander....

I figure I can sell the remaining 6 to family members after they see how bad a$$ these are and turn a nice profit...

+1

Is that a coffee grinder with a built in filter?

Dude the acceleration from that will have you spilling coffee on your lap faster than you can sue McDonalds......

But how will you get the Bravo to fit inside that thing to shred it?

Oops - my mistake! I thought this was a garbage disposal.

Dont laugh my buddy at work has won and believes that it has added 40 hp, on his 5.0 F150 that he also thinks has a mustang engine lol

Or you can put all 10 in-line for 10 times the power.....:party-smiley-048:

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, can handle that kind of power!!!

Time to find a new friend!

It's like the Tornado had a baby with a K&N filter. Man, that and some Slick 50 and you'll have to run a #6 drive min.

How many RPM's does he want to spin? What's the goal? I've run a 454 in variations from Merc 420"s to high strung 6500 RPM 600HP. I really like my current engines now.

Can you tell us more about your combo specifics and how they ran, how the boat ran, changes made, etc? I know you have some good info to share

Boring thread. Nobody wants to hear about an old little 454 making 600hp N/A, 800hp blown.

Now,, if you really wanna get some erections started, let's talk about a stroked out LS engine making 550hp. Omg the possibilities are endless !!! Amazing!

anyone else feel that sarcasm?

Hey I'm the first to admit the LS is a fantastic engine. As much as we all like them, I haven't seen many used cigs , fountains, scarabs, sonics, or formulas with a pair of them sitting in the bilge. Although sooner or later I think we will. But that's another thread :)

i remember a thread about them some years ago.if i remember correctly a lot of people feel that they won,t make the torque like a big block.at the time i also felt that way but i,m not so sure anymore.i believe they will replace the bbc in the not so distant future.

Not sure really, Bigboat28 get in here!

If you spin them to 6.5-7k then going with a lower pitch prop will make up for the torque difference.

My original engines were Merc 420’s, stock flat tappet cams, pocket ported GM rectangular heads. Boat would run 71mph every day. (might have been more than 420HP)

After I dropped a seat and took out an engine. I replaced the TRW 2399 pistons with SRP 212137 small dome pistons. Replaced the GM heads with Jim Valako’s Wedged Merlin steel heads. Compression was bumped to ~9.8:1. (heads were cut) I replaced the cam with an UltraDyne soild roller 252°/264°, 108° Lift 0.632”/0.632”, Isky Red Zone lifters and 1.8IN and 1.7Ex roller rockers. On the dyno the engine pulled 564TQ @ 5200RPM and 590HP @ 6500RPM. (Still pulling a little bit of power, but I stopped the dyno there) Boat would now run 76-77mph every day. (93 gas)

Next, Valako had Dart cast 7 sets of their PRO1 heads replicating his hand porting with the elevated floors, his port geometry and his combustion chambers. He asked me if I would like to buy couple of sets for R&D purposes. (these heads were also put on a pair of 575sc’s 750HP, Jims N/A 565 787HP, and some 572’s with Vortech superchargers 1050HP) These heads netted me 9.7:1 and had 2.30”IN and 1.87” EX valves. With another pushrod change I bolted them on the existing short block. Boat would now run 78-78.7mph. (89/93 gas whatever was available)

Next phase: I did not want to spin these engine 6500RPM’s and 4800RPM’s to cruise with small props. So I decided to put smaller cams in, have Valako do another chamber port (I believe 128cc’s) to get my compression down to 9.0:1. I got in touch with Bob M. and we decided on a cam. I wanted to make enough power N/A and when my balls were big enough I would slap on my B&M 250 blowers and run some mild boost. With just a cam change, chamber port, new timing set (old set did not work with Bobs cams, GEN V blocks) and another pushrod change, I currently still run78-79mph a @ 5500RPM’s. I have run with some friends that said we were running over 80mph, but I could never confirm it. (I am still running the solid Isky Red Zone lifters on hydraulic roller cams and 1.8/1.75 rockers) (87 gas)

So, to summarize.If I was to do this all over again I would have bought 1 set Great heads to start off. None of my components would work from head to head. Valves springs needed to change with cams, valve stem lengths and diameters changed. Springs, pushrods and top of the line valves are not are not cheap to just keep replacing. Keep the TQ and HP splits closer, build as much power at a conservative RPM range. I went from spinning 24” props to 27” props at the same top end just different RPM’s.

Sorry for some errors and run on sentences. I wrote this off my phone. Hard to proofread.

Wedged Merlins and the PRO1's.

Good post Rookie. Lots of info there

You know rook that nice long post is exactly why OP started this thread. He wants to know what works well for a long time without going back to the well. Somebody already mentioned stock 365 mag all forged bottom end. Iron heads. Merlin or dart. Cam is his own choice. But stay conservative. GM goes 550 lift max for a reason. But ditch the oe valvetrain components for the best he can afford.

Not a 454, but not that far off - I'm running a 489 with flat top pistons, AFR 265's, Dart single plane oval intake, Holley 800, and a Marine Kinetics hyd roller with very mild specs - 226/230 on a 114, .596/.610 if I recall correctly. On the dyno it made 585 HP at 5400 RPM and 604 ft/lb of torque around 4000 RPM's. Very broad torque curve, with close to 600 ft lb available all the way down to 3000 RPM. Similar combo in a 454 would probably run quite well. I'm not sure how much HP and torque you would back off with a 4.00 inch stroke - wouldn't guess it would be more than 30 / 40 HP. Or you could go a little more aggressive on the cam and spin it a little higher and probably be close to or above 600 HP. With that cam I am probably just starting to tickle the potential of those heads. Bob M. told me that those heads will easily support 625+ HP.

Hey Rookie, just curious what keeps those wedges in place?

Rookie would have the definite answer, but I think I recall seeing pictures of a set that was using some type of mechanical (i.e. screw or bolt) retainer.

The wedges are first expoxied in, then drilled and tapped from the bottom then affixed with a bolt that is red loctited or expoxied in. This is the process for steel GM and steel Merlins. He has wedges for both.

Thanks!