Thread: BB 454 Advise/Help Needed

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We have a 1974 camaro with muncie 4 speed and 3.73 gears. We have a BB 454 (2 bolt main)with about 2500 miles on it that we are building for the car. It has (L2377 F) .030 over, was told that should be a 9:1 flattop. It has a cast crank, stock rods, looks to be arp bolts, 781 castings (no port work). Was looking for some CAM and intake advice. If anyone is running a similar combination please let me know what CAM and intake is working for you. Will be a street/strip application.

Keep it simple and go with an Edelbrock Performer dual plane intake and a 268ish duration cam.

you may have less cr than that ? so you can not go wild on the cam had the same type of 454 on the street but with the 65 bath tub chamber O ports.heads. LS 114or 525/525@226/226 Ls 112 howards cams or the 268 comp. i would not go more than that .you have no cr. if you have the room run the air gap intake

What lift can your heads handle?Better yet just dump some nitrous down it.

you will find that your pistons can not take much valve lift.

I have a torker 2 cam and intake on my Nova . It has a decent idle and runs 2500-6500 very strong . The big block's seem to take more cam than the smallblock chevy's , even a 272 or 280 cam would be o.k. in that 454. I run 3.73 gear's with no problem . It's all up to you

I ran a Comp Cams Magnum 292 in my A-bone 454 with oval port heads, 4:10 gears and 9.0:1 compression. It ran like a scalded cat - very low 12's, high 11's on sticky street tires. It can be a bit extreme on the street, and the mileage sucked. I don't agree that the comp 268 is the upper limit. I ran a lot more than that with no problems at all. The Comp Cams 280H is not out of reason with the right intake, gears, carb, and timing.

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

I ran a Comp Cams Magnum 292 in my A-bone 454 with oval port heads, 4:10 gears and 9.0:1 compression. It ran like a scalded cat - very low 12's, high 11's on sticky street tires. It can be a bit extreme on the street, and the mileage sucked. I don't agree that the comp 268 is the upper limit. I ran a lot more than that with no problems at all. The Comp Cams 280H is not out of reason with the right intake, gears, carb, and timing.

well if the pistons are not fly cut you will not get any thing bigger to fit and he did say it is a flat top with open heads you better look this up it is not 9to1 on a good day and on the cam i have ran a lot bigger cam s then your 292. i have run cams that have at .050 270to 286 now this is at .050 with 748 lift .if the pistons he has are flat tops he will not be at 9to1 and them pistons will not like much lift .BUT hey i know this. but go a head tell him to get a bigger cam and when he dos not have the room for piston to valve .or no cr to run any thing much bigger you two guys can give him a hand gettting thing to fitoh i did not look up the pistons #no. but if it is a flat top with them heads the cr is about 8to1 to 8.04 but i do not know how thick the head gaskets is or if it has a O deck so i will stand with my first post

He said he had 9:1 CR, and I took him at his word. I didn't tell him what to run, I only told him WHAT I RAN, and it worked. I'll add this info for clarification. I had the 3964290 heads, which with a little milling and flycutting in the pistons, put me a little over 9.1, with adequate valve clearance for the 292 cam. It was easy. I'll also add that it might be worthwhile to look for some better heads for a street-strip car. We'll all be well served to think of the motor as a system. So, I'd also think about losing those '79 smogger heads for something with 96.4 CC chambers.

there is not one thing wrong with them heads at all . he needs to take the flat tops out and get some thing with CR . and yes if he is asking on a cam i do not assume he is aware of the work involve in getting things to fit. like fly cutting the pistons. he ask what cam would work? and if any one used it. with9 to 1 pistons? they are not . i have uesd them many times and a 268 will fit with out any of the work . and i knew that cr he had 8to1 less there has been alot of cutting of the deck and heads .on fly cutting you did not say about your cam? i know this . he may not? so at this point i would assume that he did not know he had no CR ?so checking valve to pistons he may not know? i know what them pistons will take for lift. fly cutting may not be a big deal to you .but if some one is asking dont you think you should tell him ? i think he may want to know that the cam he buys will not fit? less fly cuting is part of the deal if you think of motor of a system. i think the engine is part of the system to . he has no cr and no room for your cam to work so he will need new pistons or a small cam he did not say he was going to use diffterent heads or pistons BUT he did not say that . i am guessing he wanted to dump big cam in this a go racing seeing this engine has 2500 i would bet he was not thinking of getting new heads or pistons but hey i could be wrong