Thread: 454 engine rebuild

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Hi, i recently purchased a 79 TA that has a 454 mark 4 motor in it, and a 400 turbo tranny.

i was told the engine needs some work and emailed the owner about the issues and he sent me this:

"this is what i know:

the car rolled off the assembly line as a '79 trans am. i put a '77 front bumper and hood from a formula on it, pulled the Olds 403 motor and BOP turbo 350 and replaced it with a Mark 4 chevy 454 motor and a Heavy Duty Turbo 400 trans.

the 454 spun a connecting rod bearing. the block is a good 2 bolt main, casting number from block is 14015445. with a new cast crank turned 20/20. i bought a pair of 336781 Big Oval Port heads that will make power up to 6500 rpm.

you will need to buy 2 connecting rods $2 a piece from WAM. also needed is a complete overhaul kit from Summit racing. you will need to buy a camshaft, rocker arms, and intake manifold.

i have all brackets, accessories, headers, B&M flywheel, and ARP head bolts.

any more questions just send me an email. later"

he has since not repsonded to any emails so i decided to look for help elsewhere.

Im new to engine rebuilds, i have redone interiors on cars but have yet to really tackle any serious engine work and this is why i bought this car.

I have looked on summit racing for parts however im really unsure as to what i need to get, im especially lost in the engine rebuild kit area as there are so many and they are so differently priced.

the car will be a semi daily driver however i want to get it as close to 13's as i can, while still keeping the pricing low.

im unsure about the actual headers so here is a pic, and if i need to post a pic of a specific area of the headers or a serial number let me know however here is the pic:

Might be best to get the engine on a stand and take it apart and do some checking on the internals before you order any parts. You'll want to make sure of the bore size and condition of crank and other pieces to see what work they will need. Lots of experienced folks around CHR to give you advice on the rebuild.

Runnig 13s in a big block powered TA should be easy with a mild street build. Take the block, heads, and crank to a machine shop and have them checked before you buy parts. A good machinist will give you and idea what condition the main parts are in and tell you if it's worth rebuilding and what machine work will need to be done.

well like said you need to have all parts check out by a machine shop with a good rep on the rods they are a bit more then 2.00 each after what happen .i would have all rods recond with new rod bolts .buy a master kit i have them made for engine parts i want in the kit .i would look at a set of hyper piston and just good machine work on the bottom end .on the top end the 781 heads are good you will want to loose the 5/16 guid plates jump up to 3/8 guid plates and pushrods rebuild the heads and loose the EX rotators and jump up on the cam to a hyd roller cam . a bit more money to do this if you do not have the money for the roller cam wait till you do this is the only way to build a bbc they love to eat cams