opinions 454 performance

[68black_betty]

i plan on throwin a supercharger on my engine this january. right now im building my engine up so i have a strong powerplant to hold up with the supercharger on it. i bout to put on a holley 750 double pumper with an edelbrock performer intake manifold. im looking for suggestions on where or who to go to to get the best set of ported and polished heads. and if anybody has any reccomendations for a carb or intake that you think would be better please let me know thanks

[tonypaul]

What kind of supercharger are you planning on? One that is belt driven or a manifold style? The intake and carb would be the least of my worries right now, I would be concentrating on the correct pistons/rods/cam and heads right now. I wouldnt spend alot of money on a carb or manifold until I decided which supercharger I was going to run, that way I could get the right one thats going to work with the supercharger set-up.

Without not knowing what your engine specs I doubt anyone could give you a recommendation on what to use..... Give us some specs and I bet someone here can offer some advice.

[68black_betty]

im plannin on a belt driven weiand not sure which model yet. i have a 454 comp cam hydraulic lifters 5/16 pushrods, flat top pistons with roller rockers. as for which heads im not sure yet, lookin for suggestions on heads and where to go to get the best deals

[tonypaul]

What is the lift and duration of your cam? Which "flat top" pistons do you have? Just wodering why your wanting to supercharge a big block, are you going to be racing? For what the system cost, and the tuning, the blow thru carb, plus all the other goodies you need your looking a $4000.00, plus the cost of building your engine maybe another $4000.00 worth of "good" parts so the engine will stay together. Thats atleast $8000.00 for a engine, now you gotta think about a transmission, driveshft, and a rearend to handle it. So throw atleast another $2000.00 for that, but it will be more it always is.... So your atleast at $10,000.... Thats some serious bucks to throw in a big heavy truck!!

Me- I would keep it simple. Get a cam/ head/intake kit from Edelbrock or another well known manufacture were all the componates are matched to worked together for around $4000 or so for everything. You can get 400 to 500 hp easy out of it and spend the rest on other goodies for your truck... Try Summit or Jegs for your best deals.

Im not trying to shatter your dreams, Im just speaking form my experience. I have dumped tons of cash on everything in the performance book. I spent triple time building and rebuilding instead of driving and washing and waxing...

[Pont406]

It might be 10k for a race deal but for a street it will be a lot less. No need to buy a new blower. I see low miles complete set ups for 2-3k or less. No need for a fancy heads if it's a street deal. Are you building street or race motor?

[junkyardjohn]

Originally Posted by tonypaul

What is the lift and duration of your cam? Which "flat top" pistons do you have? Just wodering why your wanting to supercharge a big block, are you going to be racing? For what the system cost, and the tuning, the blow thru carb, plus all the other goodies you need your looking a $4000.00, plus the cost of building your engine maybe another $4000.00 worth of "good" parts so the engine will stay together. Thats atleast $8000.00 for a engine, now you gotta think about a transmission, driveshft, and a rearend to handle it. So throw atleast another $2000.00 for that, but it will be more it always is.... So your atleast at $10,000.... Thats some serious bucks to throw in a big heavy truck!!

Me- I would keep it simple. Get a cam/ head/intake kit from Edelbrock or another well known manufacture were all the componates are matched to worked together for around $4000 or so for everything. You can get 400 to 500 hp easy out of it and spend the rest on other goodies for your truck... Try Summit or Jegs for your best deals.

Im not trying to shatter your dreams, Im just speaking form my experience. I have dumped tons of cash on everything in the performance book. I spent triple time building and rebuilding instead of driving and washing and waxing...

PRETTY DARN GOOD ADVICE. I BEEN BUILDING HOTRODS FOR 35 YEARS. UNLESS YOU'VE GOT CUBIC DOLLARS.... KEEP IT SIMPLE. FOR ABOUT 5 GRAND YOU CAN BUILD A STUMP PULLIN NATURELY ASPERATED 454 THAT WILL FLY. JOHN

[tonypaul]

Originally Posted by Pont406

It might be 10k for a race deal but for a street it will be a lot less. No need to buy a new blower. I see low miles complete set ups for 2-3k or less. No need for a fancy heads if it's a street deal. Are you building street or race motor?

You might find someone else's worn system for 2-3k with no warranty, no tech advice, but I doubt you will find one with BBC brackets and carb setup. Most are pulled off Mustangs, camaros and other EFI motors. I bought a brand new Vortech system for my Avalanche truck, after breaking my transmission twice, and rear end once, and having to send the unit back twice in 2 years for a rebuild I said forget it and took it off. To me it wasnt worth the money for the power it put out.... With the supercharger on, professionaly tuned, a upgraded exhaust and fuel pump- I gained 61hp to the wheels on a 2008 Avalanche with 43k miles. I spent almost $5000.00 on everything and I got the supercharger at dealers cost...

On a carb setup- just beware its requires professional tuning also. Special blow through carb, a carb hat, a expensive fuel pump, regulator, plus you really need a good fuel line feed system with expensive fittings, and a wide band system. Everything will be different on your engine- the timing, the plus, fuel pressure, and must be constantly monitored.

If someone has money to burn, go for it!

[Pont406]

Last time I looked weiand only makes roots blowers. You are talking about Vortech blower. That's completelly different set up. You can get boost referenced carbs or update current carbs. No difference in regulators. I never seen boost reference regulator on a roots set up. Fuel system will need to be updated anyway.
Yes, tuning is important. Keep compression under 8.5 and limit boost to 6psi to start. Find a good dyno shop in your area. It's not that complicated.

[88fordf150]

Here's my 454 with lots of money.

[88fordf150]

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[Pont406]

88ford,
that's a nice set up! Details?
Here is mine. Might get some passes soon.

[88fordf150]

Originally Posted by Pont406

88ford,
that's a nice set up! Details?
Here is mine. Might get some passes soon.

I'll start at the bottom. Doubled Keyed GM Steel crank, 4 Bolt Billet Main caps with studs, H-Beam Eagle Rod, Speedpro Forged Blower Pistons, Plasma Molly Rings, Bottom Balanced , The Biggest Hyd. Blower Cam kit CompCams had, Stainless Valves, Roller Rockers, Heads ported and semi polished. The Blower is a GM 6-71 I got of ebay and converted it for gas, had the case machined and total rebuilt it. The carbs are Edelbrock 600's setup for blower useage.

How do you like you truck with that blower? Mines going in my 69 short box, It going to be a street pounder.

[68black_betty]

ok guys thanks for all the tips, just the other day i decided not to go with the supercharger, im just gonna stroke it, and take the money i would spend on a supercharger and really build up the heads and the internals, i do plan on racin itnot a full blown drag racer but just a truck to take to the strip and put up a respectable time. oh and tonypaul its not a big heavy truck, its pretty much been stripped down and its weighin just over 3300 pounds lol