Wildfire

Having read every post available, I put together the following ideas. Voice your opinion and give some good advice. If anyone has any parts laying around, let me know! Thanks in advance. The one post I couldn't find is the famous "330 on 'roids".

What I have:
Gen 5 454 - 330hp
Heads - 1014156 casting - peanuts at 118cc
Unknown hours, but the cylinders look good
Don't know what the bottom end looks like yet
Stock cast iron exhaust manifolds
Stock Q-jet carb
$1,500 cash left
Magnum 25 - 6000lbs of wave crushing deep-V

Some ideas:
Edelbrock Air Gap or Performer - $250 new
Holley carb and electric fuel pump - $200 used
Cam/lifters - $???
Rockers - somebody mentioned aluminum scorpions - $???
D.U.I. distributor/ignition - $310
Rings and bearings $???
Exhaust - $???
Head work - $???
One wire alternator - $???
Starter - $???

What am I missing?????

I have the tools and experience necessary for bolt ons. I do not know how to do rings and bearings. Dennis Moore's book should be here this week from Amazon.com

I would like to hit 400, reliable horsepower at less than 5000 rpm. Next year, we can go nuts with a major rebuild, right now, I just want to splash the thing!

BTW, Blownformula (George) is a super nice guy and I recommend him to anyone looking for advice/parts.

floatingphil

My uneducated/unprofessional opinion would be to use your money to purchase a good set of complete cylinder heads and put the engine back together for this year.

crmax

get ride of the peanut heads and get the heads used on the fuel injected 454 (310 hp) those will get you 30 hp alone. you should be able to find a set cheap. spend as much as you can on the bottom end (forged pistons, rods shot peened)

formula31

Cam and heads are almost a must. The peanut port heads will really limit what improvement you will see from that engine. Also a better exhaust is needed to really get the best from the cam and heads. The last thing I would spend money is on is ignition. As long as your is functioning OK, and your gonna stay below 5000 rpm, what you have is good enough, you wont see any gain from an aftermarket ignition. That goes for the roller rockers too, buy them if you need them, which will depend on the cam lift.
Unless you do a lot of hunting, your not gonna get cam, heads and exhaust for $1500. If you plan on a major rebuild in the future anyway, why not just find a used procharger or whipple, stay low on the boost, and you will be money and speed ahead. If it blows up? then do the major. All in all, the bottom end machine work really has to be done or you are flirting with disaster. But thats another grand or 2 depending on how picky you get. Ive also been a strong holley supporter but I am presently working on Quads to see if they really will perform as well as my holleys up to 450 hp or so. If I were you, and I have been, I would put a blower on it and run it.

Budman

If you are planning to rebuild it next year anyway, I would just button it back up, and spend the money on exhaust this year in anticipation of bigger things to come. If it is an older boat, and it has seen any salt at all, the stock exhaust is probably pretty tired by now anyway. The exhaust will multiply the gains that you will get next year.

As far as next year is concerned, save your money up and try to get a 502 crate motor. You will be far ahead of where you would be trying to hop up the 7.4, and you will have a spare engine if you sell the boat or blow something up. I tried the 454 hop up route, and so far have been disappointed with the results.

Scott

I am not an expert but I think I would keep that wheel and tire out of it, you may gain something iinstead of just spinning your wheels

Sorry someone had to

Cord

iTrader: (2)

There is another option. Run a mild flat tappet cam-something that is very mild with a wide lobe seperation. Have the stock heads, block and crank checked over. Hopefully they won't need much work because of the budget. You could easily sink all of your money into those components. Keep your stock exhaust-you don't have enough money for even a set of used gills. The stock ignition and distributor are fine as you won't see any improvement with the aftermarket stuff. Don't waste your money on a alternator either as it's frivulous. The same goes for your starter. The stock one is just fine for this application. If you can afford them get some forged pistons. Your target goal will be 420 hp naturally aspirated. This is really easy to do with a mild 454. Now go onto e-bay and buy a used 174 blower for a big block. You'll also need a new carb. There are dozens of Holley's on e-bay. Look for one in the 850cfm range. By keeping the rest of the components stock you'll have the money for a small blower. This one aftermarket componenet will kick your power over 500hp. That IS the cheapest way to build a 454.

Wildfire

Thanks for all the input so far.

A couple of things, I'm working in the barn this week. Next week you'll see the shop. It is being built as we speak. Neither the golf cart tire or dog will be involved in the buildup. The baby swing maybe...

The two rusty hunks of metal by the couch are the starter and alternator. I have a starter, alternator and distributor off the SBC, but am not sure if they are auto or marine.

Other than exhaust, is there anything you would recommend for now assuming I get a bigger (500cu+) longblock next year?

Budman

Unless you can find a smokin' deal on some used exhaust, I would guess that this alone would eat up that $1500. If you opt for new exhaust, go for something with a true tube header, like Lightnings or CMI. IMO, just upgrading to tuned manifolds does not buy you as much of a gain as a header design.

madbouyz

Hey Scott ..

Glad you're back on the project....

Are you really going to connect this to a vintage Volvo drive ?