489 stroker? or 454 + tri-y headers + Total Seal Rings?

[Blazer79]

My 454 finally died last weekend, spinning a bearing Previous owner was a wrecker and was in service for who knows how many thousand miles. I bought it from him 10 years ago and did countless trips of 4x4, so I'd say it's fair to have a catastrophic failure now.

I've been researching, and have always liked the idea of having a 489 stroker. But now that I started shopping, stroker kits are so expensive. Summit carries SCAT cast steel kit for $1,400. I also need a pair of headers, so if I go with the cheapest ceramic coated headers, it'd be about $300 more. So I'd be spending about $1,700.

On the other hand, I can buy a hypereutectic 454 kit from summit for $480, get a set of Doug's headers for $570 and a set of total seal rings that give you a little extra hp for about $200. Thats $1,250.

I already have a Comp cams 4x4 K-kit, and a set of 049 with enlarged valves which would go into either of my choices.

So I now come asking for your help and recommendations. Which option would be better? What would you guys do? Does a stroker kit really give you that neck-snapping power? Or is it just too expensive for what you get in return? Are total seal rings worth it too?

Any other ideas are welcome.

 

[80' 427]

I seriously doubt better headers will make the difference and I have seen little to no difference with total seals.

Go for displacement and cheap headers. Later you can change headers easy if you find the money.

It depends on what you want. I would just build a nice 454-468 if it was me but I really like my simple cammed 454. In fact my back up is a gen VI 454 getting only a marine cam and 049s. It already has 100k but I am willing to bet there is another 100k+ in it. The cylinders measure good and the bearings are great.

 

[howdiy]

I can't really see needing much more power than a decently built 454

I can't see spending 600 dollars on some headers for a budget build. I just bought the Jegs 100 dollar headers and they fit pretty decent after some minimal tweaking. Take the money saved and bump the compression up some, there is no way your gonna to feel much of a difference if any with the cheaper headers.

What cam do you have, there are a few 4x4 cams.

 

[thatK30guy]

Biggest question is what do you do with the rig?

Daily driver? Off road play toy? Hauler? Pull sleds?

You don't need a 489 for anything like a daily driver. If the truck is mainly for play, then build this motor. Otherwise stick with a mild 454 up to 468 cubes for anything else.

 

[thatK30guy]

My 454 finally died last weekend, spinning a bearing Previous owner was a wrecker and was in service for who knows how many thousand miles. I bought it from him 10 years ago and did countless trips of 4x4, so I'd say it's fair to have a catastrophic failure now.

I've been researching, and have always liked the idea of having a 489 stroker. But now that I started shopping, stroker kits are so expensive. Summit carries SCAT cast steel kit for $1,400. I also need a pair of headers, so if I go with the cheapest ceramic coated headers, it'd be about $300 more. So I'd be spending about $1,700.

On the other hand, I can buy a hypereutectic 454 kit from summit for $480, get a set of Doug's headers for $570 and a set of total seal rings that give you a little extra hp for about $200. Thats $1,250.

I already have a Comp cams 4x4 K-kit, and a set of 049 with enlarged valves which would go into either of my choices.

So I now come asking for your help and recommendations. Which option would be better? What would you guys do? Does a stroker kit really give you that neck-snapping power? Or is it just too expensive for what you get in return? Are total seal rings worth it too?

Any other ideas are welcome.

Oh yeah, take into consideration that you won't only be spending $1700 for the above listed parts. You will be spending a lot more than that. You have to look into the cost for machine work to the block, etc. You will be looking at around twice your said budget if you go stroker, if not more.

Do a mild rebuild with the current cube size and/or slightly overbore and save the money from the crank kit from Scat to spend for the machine work on the 454.

 

[k20]

well really your going to have to do machine work either way, either in cleaning up the bores on the 454, cleaning up crank journals, etc. Some of the machine work will go away (such as crank work) with a new stroker one. Really the only 'added' machine work will be clearancing the block for the crank since you plan on new pistons, rods, etc either way you go (or thats how I read it anyway).

www.flatlanderracing.com is where I ordered my 496 stuff from years ago. Called them, and made my own stroker kit for several hundred cheaper than what summit/jegs wanted for the parts.

Oh and Wes I must disagree, a 489 or larger is definately required for a daily driver haha

 

[thatK30guy]

I was meaning that the way he sounded with $1700, that was his amount he wanted to spend. But with machine work and the added cost of the stroker kit, it would be much cheaper to stick with the 454 and build that instead.

But what do I know? I'd rather have a 496 or bigger and use the truck as a toy and daily drive a beater of some kind, like my '98 Jimmy.

 

[k20]

Yeh way I read it, it was more, ok I know Im going to have to spend XXXX amount one machine work and other crap, is it worth the extra $$ to have a 489 or bigger.

 

[thatK30guy]

I haven't gotten the chance to experience anything bigger than a 454 yet. I'm still waiting for a chance to test drive an '01 or '02 K2500 with the 8.1 engine.

I've had quite a few 454's and have only been impressed with one of them as far as a stock mild motor goes. My current '85 is an ok engine but its the worst at sucking gas of all the BBC's I've had thus far.

 

[63chevyll]

for a few hunsky more, all your questions will be aswered.

 

[Blazer79]

Thanks for all your replies guys. My truck is for trail only use. It has 39.5" Iroks, Dana 60, 14 bolt, about 10" of total lift. So abviously its not a daily driver.

63chevyII: I did consider the supercharger, but I knew my engine wouldn't handle the extra power. It didn't even handle its maybe 200hp that was putting out now. So I knew I had to rebuild before attempting something like that.

thatk30guy: There's an 8.1 engine that's been sitting for a while in a junkyard here. I considered it, but I needs an ECM. But then I did some research, and I quote from wikipedia:
"Power output ranges from 225 hp (168 kW) to 450 horsepower (340 kW) and torque from 455 lb·ft (617 N·m) to 490 lb·ft (664 N·m)".
So it's really a lottery which one you get.

80' 427: I'm sure my engine had more than 300K miles. So I'm sure yours has a long way to go.

As mentioned, a 489 kit is about $800 more expensive. I can probably get the block machined for about $200 and the crank for another $100. So that means the 489 kit is $700 more expensive than the 454 kit.

I'm still wondering if those extra 35 cu. in are worth those $700. But right now I'm leaning more towards making a standard 454 rebuild and not even spend on the rings and expensive headers and use that for something else. As a friend told me: If your tired 454 has been providing you with a great off road experience, imagine what you can get with a simple rebuild with the better cam and better heads. That made me think about it and save the pennies instead. Howdiy pretty much summed it up.

I still can be convinced back to the 489 though.

Thanks for your replies.

 

[folkenheath]

You should be able to get the SCAT 9000 cast steel crank for about $300. How much will you spend turning your currenty crank? You need new pistons anyway, so some KB hypers for a 489 won't be much more. The only real additional expense of the stroker is the balancing, you would want it balanced. That might be a couple hundred bucks. And your current rods will either need reconditioned with new bolts or not, that shouldn't change either way. I say stroke it, big tires and heavy trucks love more stroke. But I might be a little biased too.

 

[80' 427]

Just as a fyi my 80k 7.8 to one peanut port 454 in my k30 got second at the local truck pulls. It lost to a built sbc on methanol. I still think for the most part even a low compression 454 with a good cam, intake and headers will surprise most owners. Mine will idle up a hill a 500 rpms or drag a sled turning just under valve float for momentum. For the money I spent I love my pos 454 in the K30. When it blows up I will just build a slightly better version. FYI the 2001 8100 my dad owns in my favorite truck ever. I was thinking of buying a 2wd 8100 and SFAing it. Still can't see spending that much but man does the old mans truck run and pull.

 

[ryoken]

spend your money are your rotating assembly and heads.... headers can be coated later, some Hookers, Hedman's, etc, $200 tops.....