Advice for my 454?

[93FatBottom]

So I'm prepping the 454 to drop into my K20, and I've gone over the basics, new oil pump, new rear main seal, pan gasket, double roller timing set and gasket for the cover, new freeze plugs, etc etc. But then I began considering if my heads were good, or restricting like those god awful heads off my TBI 454, so I pulled the block and the head casting numbers.

Block: 14015445

Heads: 14081045

The motor came out of a 1984 Winnebago motorhome, 30k original miles, the motors clean, oil was clean, filter element wasn't half bad, I think this motor is still fresh and good to go. It's going into a 1980 Chevy K20 on 40 inch ground hawgs. I good power to spin them 40's with ease, but I don't want no race truck, Just a good strong 454 to perform nicely in the truck. I'm planning on a new cam in the future, but for now I just want the motor to be strong-stock, reliable, and not have any reason to yank it out any time soon. i can do the cam with the motor in the truck. I'll also be doing a new oil pressure sender so I don't have to worry about that. I have new motor mounts, so I don't gotta worry about that, new flex plate and bolts, torque converter bolts (though I'm running the original torque converter from when the truck had the factory 400 small block), so I'm not anticipating any future issues anytime soon. I'm keeping all my air injection crap for when I need to smog it, but for now I'm axing the smog pump and the exhaust manifolds, running hedman long tube headers off a 1978 K20 that I scrapped years ago (does anyone know what kind of shop I can bring the headers to to be cleaned and coated? They're rusted to hell inside and out, and I want them clean and ready to go when I bolt them up) so I only need the belt for the alternator and the power steering pump.

Also, does anyone have any recommendations in terms of my heads and rotating assembly? I just want to keep the motor good and strong. I'm told my heads are crappy, but I don't know what to change them out for. I want to run regular pump gas 87 octane, gas is expensive enough haha. I won't be doing a tear down until way later down the road. The only plans for the near future is basic maintenance and a camshaft upgrade so I get good torque but make her scream through the RPM band. Thanks in advance guys!

[Liddy71]

a set of 781 would be what you need, I am not sure the heads you have are clled peanut head not made for performance

[93FatBottom]

Hmm... really? I had looked up the casting number I was told my heads were open chamber large oval ports, they just didn't flow as well as the 049's or the 781's. 781's are what I originally planned on swapping them for, but then I was told mine aren't peanut ports so I was re-thinking that for the time being. I'm told with port work and bigger valves these heads are good, but with the proper pistons, and I don't want to tear this thing down until she's ready for it. No use in fixin' what ain't broke, right? Though if I could find a good set of rebuilt 781's for cheap, I'll swoop on em and that'll be a perfect excuse to do my new intake and carb, head gaskets (obviously) and really help her breathe.

I now have an exact date, March 2nd, I need the truck on the road, registered, insured, ready to go. Which means I need it on the road for testing and tuning by February 15th. So I can spend the last of those days replacing any parts that need replacing, bearings, u-joints, bushings and any other steering or suspension parts that might be wore. I have a camping trip to go on

[BigBlocksRule]

Those are peanut port heads. They'll be your best bet with low compression but they tend to run out of steam around 4500 - 5000. Horsepower TV did a build with one and an RV cam, dyno'd at just over 400hp with a ton of torque.

[93FatBottom]

Thank you for the reply, that sucks haha. I was so excited when I was told I didn't have peanut ports...

Hey does anyone know about the motor mounts? I'm told that my 1980 uses different bolt locations for the mount but they aren't drilled? The small block to big block are different mounts but I'm told it'll bolt up. What's your take?
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[baclay9]

To turn those 40's I would stick with the peanut ports. Your not looking for a race truck. You want stump pulling power and the peanut ports are great for that. They will make great power up to 4500-5000 rpm. Just build around that RPM range and you will have a great motor.

[baclay9]

I bolted a 468 right into my truck that a 350 came out of with no issues...

[JMS-1]

I just swapped out a set of large ovals for a set of peanut port and gained a huge amount of low end torque even though I lost a little compression. Make sure you have a good valve job and the right cam and it will run good.

[74 stepside]

According to Chevymania.com, you have oval port open chamber heads. I think you be just fine with what you already have. No sense buying another set of heads when you have decent heads already. I had 4 pair of peanut port heads for sale dirt cheap for a month. Not one person intersted. I scrapped them.