Thread: 454 for 72 Vette: 496 worth it?

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1972 corvette 454 rebuild, I am getting ready to do a rebuild on a 454 for my 72 corvette. I do not want to change the stock appearance which limits me to a cast iron intake and exhaust manifolds with a Q jet carburetor. I also need around 14” of manifold vacuum; with these limitations would it be worth while to do a 496 build? Would there be any gain using a 427 390 Hp aluminum manifold which I can paint orange over the cast iron The car has a 4:11 rear end gear with a manual trans.

Thanks Ed

Of course, no replacement for displacement. Run the aluminum manifold tool

well your not saying much has for what your looking to see for HP and $$ ?? cast parts or top of the line parts any way you go for the build if cast steel parts or forged it is not much more money to build the 496 . then a 454 using the same quality parts if your buying all new parts any ways then a 496.if your 454 needs a bore/crank or re grind and a full re build its not much more going to the cast steel crank and hyper piston s to build a 496 its not hard to sell someone on the 496 and i build more of them then 454s less they have a 454 that just needs a re ring job both engine will get you down the road but its hard to turn down more CID for about the same money???