I’ve been on the lookout for a 454SS for quite some time now. Not many come up for sale here in Alaska, and the rare ones that do? Let’s just say they’re not worth their asking price. Anyway, I stumbled into a deal that was too good to pass up: I picked up this 96-98 Chevy SCSB 2WD today for $100! It’s obviously missing a few parts, but the chassis is extremely clean, and the cab and doors actually turned out to be in good shape as well.
The plan is to make it a realistically close clone to a 454SS, but do the upgrades that Chevy should’ve done originally! I planned on a cab swap initially, but this one is clean, so I may slightly deviate with a 96+ interior, but stay with the red interior like the originals had. The rear axle will be a 2WD 14 bolt from a light duty 3/4 ton, which I will order the correct 454SS axle shafts for.
As for the powertrain, I traded a 1999 Astro Van that I’ve been using as a storage unit, for a Gen VI Vortec 454 and 4L80E. The transmission will be converted to 2WD. The 454 has a rod knock, so it will get a forged rotating assembly, head studs, MLS gaskets, possibly a cam, and I would like to either convert to a 411 PCM or go with an aftermarket EFI controller such as the Terminator X or HP EFI, and boost it with a single turbo. I think 600HP, possibly even 600RWHP, should be easily obtainable at around 8 psi with this setup, which is really a stupid amount of power in a truck this light, while also keeping some semblance of reliability and allow it to stay on pump gas.
