Building a 454

[Jonesz0003]

I have a 1991 SS 454 and i was wondering if it would be easy to get 400HP out of it and about how expensive it might cost, anyone have an idea or thought on this. Thanks for the help in advance

 

[Cajun4x4]

400 at the engine or the wheels?

 

[jcro61]

id assume wheels, easy, yea. expensive? that's relative.

 

[99z28monster]

about the time you start making 400hp to the wheels it will be time to start replacing other parts as well. Such as the tranny or beefing it up, I am not sure if they came with 4l80s or not. Do you have a good exhaust system to back up the mods to your motor? A good rule of thumb is that you should be able to make 1 hp per cubic inch of motor. Now getting all that to the ground is a different story. Can it be done easily in my opinion yes it can. Many small block chevys with 350 cubes or less are making 400 hp so you have the size advantage. I would suggest a good set of heads with a cam matched to them. Pick the cam based off of what you want out of the truck. Such as will you daily drive the truck, do you want a certain sound etc. Once you have the heads and cam covered you need a good flowing intake to feed them, and a free flowing exhaust to to get the exhaust out as fast as the air is coming in. You basically want to get more air and fuel in and get that increased amount out quickly once it is burnt. I am not up to speed on the fueling capabilities of the fuel system on your truck so I am not sure on that area. I would suggest an adjustable fuel pressure regulator. Also larger injectors to go with all the increased air. Its going to cost a pretty penny but it can be done and fairly easily.

 

[6chevy9]

i would start getting the truck ready for that kind of power before you get the motor built. like the exhaust and trans and everything else mentioned above.

 

[Cajun4x4]

454 SSs came with th400s... like has been said, a good set of aluminum heads, a cam, long tube headers, maybe some port matching on the intake, larger throttle body, larger injectors and a TBI chip should put you in that region

 

[jcro61]

My old IROC had a 350 with headers and exhaust. Did some of the "free mods" and some other lil stuff. Long block untouched. 3.27 gears. Car had major torque. It ran like a bat outta hell and was super fun. It prob made like 200hp to the wheels on its best day when it rolled of the factory floor. Point is, high hp numbers arent everything. which leads me to this question. Why do you wanna upgrade your motor?

For my very personal opinion.
If you def want to go into the motor..
I would invest in a good tune up. Cam, Intake Manifold, TBI Mods , and exhaust system. Get the truck dyno tuned. I think that will give you more than what you need.

I think many people say I want x amount of horsepower but dont really know how much said amount is.

 

[Jonesz0003]

400 is just a goal number, so when i start to get into the truck i have something to work for on a performance base. And i want to upgreade the engine so that it is running upto its optimun performance. I was planning on doing a 700r4 to put behind it cause i love that tranny and it has overdrive for crusing. thats whats in my camaro it its does great witht hat power. I was looking at magna flow for the exhaust cause i love the sound of it. I was prolly going to run turn downs on it and dump it after the axle with an X pipe. i will look into a cam,intake, and head combo that works well and is matched then. Will the lower end handle the power, what is a company sells stuff for TBI's and will the 700R4 bolt up to the 454??? Thanks for all the imput it has helped alot, i apperciate everything

 

[Cajun4x4]

a 700r4 will bolt right up to your 454 now you may have to play with flywheel/torque converter options to get they to match up

 

[Jonesz0003]

Awesome, thats good to know, i wasnt even thinking about the flywheel but i will have to talk to summit or someone to figure would a combo that will work