Trade a 350 for a 454?

[rharp]

I ran into a guy in a local truck club that has a 1981 Chevy truck with a factory 454 with less than 50k original miles. He is wanting to trade it for a small block so he can modify it with less money. I have a bare bones 350 crate engine from either AutoZone or OReilly's that has less than 15k miles on it. It's nothing special and doesn't have a ton of power or anything. It's just a decent running engine. I've been wanting a big block to put back into my '69. Were the '81 454's decent? Would this be a decent trade if it's in good shape? We were going to try to coordinate a time to meet up and hear each other's engines run.

[Ft.ValloniaStreaker]

It's a gen IV motor still running a carb with HEI, new enough to run on unleaded. I'm running a '78, if you've got the itch scratch it! Try and get the radiator when you swap, you cant run enough water with yours. Have fun that's what it's all about. If you paint it orange and call it a 396, 95% of the people that see it won't know the difference anyway.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Sounds like a great deal. I had a '67 K/10 Suburban with a late '70s 454 the PO had shoehorned in.
Advantages: Big Horsepower; Major Torque; Coolness Factor.
Disadvantages: Very Thirsty [6 City, 8 Highway]; Fuel Sensitive [ran good on reg Chevron, or premium from other gas stations]; Excess Vibrations [doghouse would shake like a gogo girl at 80 MPH]; Heavier stress on front end [P/S almost required to pull turns]; Brakes stressed [longer stopping distance, hard to stop with stock front drums -- just select softer impact target]; Heavy stress on driveline components [Powertrain would beat u-joints and differentials into submission.]; Hard to pass emissions [if required].
Other than that, good luck and have fun.

[Thorkle Rod]

Agree, and the rear tires wear out a lot faster

[cooperhw]

I would say it's a fair trade. 350 is cheaper to do stuff to, but the big block has a coolness factor. Gotta put a cam in it, at least. Not big horse power, but neither is the small block. eat more gas.
Me, I would do it.

[rharp]

Originally Posted by Ft.ValloniaStreaker

It's a gen IV motor still running a carb with HEI, new enough to run on unleaded. I'm running a '78, if you've got the itch scratch it! Try and get the radiator when you swap, you cant run enough water with yours. Have fun that's what it's all about. If you paint it orange and call it a 396, 95% of the people that see it won't know the difference anyway.

I'm actually running the radiator from my 396. Would they be about the same size? I assumed they probably were.

[rharp]

Originally Posted by cooperhw

I would say it's a fair trade. 350 is cheaper to do stuff to, but the big block has a coolness factor. Gotta put a cam in it, at least. Not big horse power, but neither is the small block. eat more gas.
Me, I would do it.

This is kind of where I'm at with it, too. I still have my matching 396, but its on it's last bore, so I don't want to abuse it. I've got it prepped for long term storage and it's going to stay that way. If I did this trade, I'd probably take the RPM intake off the 396 and put it on this 454. I just spent $2500 on switching to disk brakes, rebuilding a '72 front and rear end and putting them under my truck, 4/6" drop, and new wheels and tires, so the cam is going to have to wait. But I definitely miss having a big block. My 396 flat out RAN and it didn't have anything too special done to it.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by rharp

I'm actually running the radiator from my 396. Would they be about the same size? I assumed they probably were.

I'm in AZ so I put a 4 tier core on mine.

If your '69 was originally set up with the 396, then you can forget about front end stresses. My '67 was originally a 283/SM420/T221/3.73 truck with all around drums. PO put in a 454/TH350/205/3.73. I added posi to the rear diff. As far as dropping the front-- I'd put the BBC in first, then see how it sits. Personally I don't prefer dropped trucks.

[MARKDTN]

There's a reason that he wants out of it. An '81 454 is a boat anchor(230HP/360torque). Myself there is no reason for a big block anymore (unless you are restoring something that had it) but no way I would swap one in. You have to deal with mounts, exhaust, cooling, springs.... Would you get his exhaust manifolds and all accessories? If you have a/c the compressor is probably in the wrong place and you would need BB brackets at a minimum or might have to change the main hose. Edit-I see you have a BB already so that would help a little.

If I wanted big power, fuel injection is the way to go and will give you BB power on 6-cyl economy-and much easier to cool. TPI on a stock 350 bottom end will really wake it up. a '91 Corvette was 250HP and 350 torque. LSx swap . A 5.3 is 285 to 295hp and 325 to 335 ft-lbs torque depending on year. A 6.0 is 300-367HP and 360-380 ft-lb torque depending on year.