454 needs more power

[68bigblock]

I'm not sure of the tire size off hand. It has coil springs, and it's a short bed. Its been lowered a little. I'm not impressed with the "burn-outs." it has a hot rod style, at 45 mph I'm right 3000 rpms. I'm not a fan of that. At 65 mph I'm around 4000 rpms. So it sounds like I'm really on it. But top end might be 80 mph.
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[Captainfab]

It sounds to me like you have more of a gearing problem than an engine problem. If you're turning those kind of RPM's, you have some really low gears. Depending on what size tires you have, I'm guessing 4.56-4.88's. I would suggest determining what gears you have before tearing into the engine. Without knowing what cam you have, are you sure you need the 2500 converter? If not, you need to switch to a stock or closer to stock converter, and possibly 3.42 or 3.08 rear gears. Form the way you are talking about your truck being slow, I think this will get you closer to having the truck you want. But then again there are a lot of unknowns about your engine.

Originally Posted by 68bigblock

I'm not sure of the tire size off hand. It has coil springs, and it's a short bed. Its been lowered a little. I'm not impressed with the "burn-outs." it has a hot rod style, at 45 mph I'm right 3000 rpms. I'm not a fan of that. At 65 mph I'm around 4000 rpms. So it sounds like I'm really on it. But top end might be 80 mph.
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[68bigblock]

That does make perfect sense. Thank you. Ibought the truck with alot of unknowns, where as I didn't buy it from the person who did work to it. I bought from a lot. But hopefully in the next few months I'll be able to tell you all everything that's in it. The only way to learn is to get in there and turn a wrench.
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[LONGHAIR]

You don't need more power, you need less gear. It will be able to go faster with less RPM with a higher gear. You are wasting the power you have over revving.

[prostreetC-10]

Originally Posted by LONGHAIR

You don't need more power,

Sorry but that is a completely inaccurate statement. It is not possible to NOT need more power.

[fastwillie 696969]

Originally Posted by prostreetC-10

Sorry but that is a completely inaccurate statement. It is not possible to NOT need more power.

i concur
stick a blower on it and be done LOL

[LONGHAIR]

Originally Posted by prostreetC-10

Sorry but that is a completely inaccurate statement. It is not possible to NOT need more power.

You still need the right gear to take advantage of it.

[prostreetC-10]

You said you were watching the NHRA not that long ago. You don't even really need the right gear if you have the right clutch! I realize we are getting carried away too.

[68bigblock]

What gearing would be recomended? I'm not sure what's in it exactly but I do know they are welded. Would 3.73 be a good one or is that still to low.
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[Captainfab]

This \/ \/ \/

But like I said, that depends on the size of the tires also.

Originally Posted by Captainfab

It sounds to me like you have more of a gearing problem than an engine problem. If you're turning those kind of RPM's, you have some really low gears. Depending on what size tires you have, I'm guessing 4.56-4.88's. I would suggest determining what gears you have before tearing into the engine. Without knowing what cam you have, are you sure you need the 2500 converter? If not, you need to switch to a stock or closer to stock converter, and possibly 3.42 or 3.08 rear gears. Form the way you are talking about your truck being slow, I think this will get you closer to having the truck you want. But then again there are a lot of unknowns about your engine.

Originally Posted by 68bigblock

What gearing would be recomended? I'm not sure what's in it exactly but I do know they are welded. Would 3.73 be a good one or is that still to low.
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[68bigblock]

Ok thank you, I guess I over looked that on accident. Well I'll be home tonight, so I can start tearing into it first thing in the morning. I will post my results later this week, thanks to everyone for your help!
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[LONGHAIR]

Get rid of the welded spider gears no matter what gear ratio you decide to run. That is nothing but a failure looking for a place to happen. Solidly locked axles are no good on the street anyway. They are hard on everything in the driveline, tires, etc. and just plain dangerous in the rain.

[Camaro_nut2001]

Originally Posted by prostreetC-10

Just remember a 750 quad and a 750 edlebrock are different creatures. You can get away with it but it's not idea. The quad gets its rating from the huge secondaries. The primaries are quite small and where you stay most of the time.

Be real careful of your cam selection! Go too big and you are pissing against the wind. You comp and valve train won't support anything real big. It doesn't take much to get good power for the '73+ low comp 454s. put a 260-268H comp cam, dual plane intake, 600ish carb, good HEI, 1 5/8th - 1 3/4 headers.......most importantly have your timing and carb correctly set up and she should do just fine. You can run a lot of initial timing in those low comp motors. Don't be afraid to run 18* or a little more for initial and 34-36 all in.

My thinking exactly. Raise your gear up a little, maybe a 3.42 no more than a 3.73. On a side note, check your suspenion, brakes, driveline etc.... out good first and foremost. You got to think safety first. Our trucks are 40+ yrs. old & 80mph is fast on a worn out front end. JMO.

[Camaro_nut2001]

Originally Posted by prostreetC-10

Just remember a 750 quad and a 750 edlebrock are different creatures. You can get away with it but it's not idea. The quad gets its rating from the huge secondaries. The primaries are quite small and where you stay most of the time.

Be real careful of your cam selection! Go too big and you are pissing against the wind. You comp and valve train won't support anything real big. It doesn't take much to get good power for the '73+ low comp 454s. put a 260-268H comp cam, dual plane intake, 600ish carb, good HEI, 1 5/8th - 1 3/4 headers.......most importantly have your timing and carb correctly set up and she should do just fine. You can run a lot of initial timing in those low comp motors. Don't be afraid to run 18* or a little more for initial and 34-36 all in.

My thinking exactly. Raise your gear up a little, maybe a 3.42 no more than a 3.73. On a side note, check your suspenion, brakes, driveline etc.... out good first and foremost. You got to think safety first. Our trucks are 40+ yrs. old & 80mph is fast on a worn out front end. JMO

[rusty048]

Tall gearing is good. Mine will do 80mph in 2nd :-)
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[rickpilgrim]

Our trucks if used for towing have 4.11 gear w under 400 cid and 3.73 if over 401 cid. If your not twing much 3.42-3.73 with a 454 works good. And non lockup stall converters generally don't work as good in trucks as they do in cars because of the weight factor. Closer to stock will give you better performance in that area IMO