Thread: Potent 454 street machine combo advice

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Hi everyone, I need to help my friend get the rest of his parts for a mean street machine. It's a '70 El Camino, wide sticky tires and rearend set up to hook. He has a 3.55 rear gear and a 4 speed but might change to an automatic and about a 2400 stall someday. The engine will be a 454 bored .060", forged flattops, zero decked, stock rods but steel eagle crank, 4 bolt mains, plasma moly rings. Heads are '67-'69 427 closed chamber and are all gone through competition valve job with new stainless valves and new bronze guides and Harland Sharp 1.7's. Static compression will be around 9.5:1. What I need to know is what cam, intake and carb would you guys recommend to complete this combo for a potent 450+ h.p. street mauler that will have a decent idle and vacuum. He doesn't want it to be a chore to drive on the street and take all the fun out of it. I was thinking about a range of 225-230 dur. @ .050" on the intake, does that sound about right? And a performer or an RPM? Also what oil pump would you recommend? Please advise on these parts.

Thanks,
rskram

Sounds like a pretty nice combo. I dont know how many parts were purchased so far, but for a street machine, or anything but a strictly race engine, you dont need a forged crank, or even 4 bolt main in a 454 block..2 bolts are plenty strong enough, and so is a cast crank. Stay away from Eagle stuff in my opinion. I would go with a better rod, maybe scat 4340. Cam duration you mentioned is not bad. You can go a little bigger, maybe 230/236 dur. at .050, mid .500 lift, and if you want a little smoother idle, go with a 112 or 114 LSA. Hydraulic flat tappet is the most economical. Go with an Edelbrock Performer RPM or Air Gap, and a Holley 3310 (750 vacuum secondary) HEI ignition is reliable as any, and pretty inexpensive. Stock oil pump is always a good bet, they work fine. John

Okay, thanks for the info.

rskram

John is the man at this stuff so his info should be right. Get us some pics of this engine and car if you can, sounds interesting. And, WELCOME TO THE BOARDS!!!

I built this two years ago in a 68 Nova. The car was a monster !
JE flat tops,zero deck,702 heads cc'd @99, Comp XE274H,RPM Intake,700dp,hooker comps 2"primary,TCI sat night converter,3.08 gears. It almost had a smooth idle.