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how can i get more power from my 454?

I hope that the room pictured is a teardown only room. :eek: Assembling a motor in a room that dirty would scare the crap outta me.
 
Y
I hope that the room pictured is a teardown only room. :eek: Assembling a motor in a room that dirty would scare the crap outta me.
Yeah that is more of a storage area/ tear down / project dropoff area. no building happens in that half of his shop. He had so many projects going on it was the only place to take it apart .
 
Y

Yeah that is more of a storage area/ tear down / project dropoff area. no building happens in that half of his shop. He had so many projects going on it was the only place to take it apart .

Okay, cool. Kinda scared me for a minute there.....
 
The guy at the machine shop said something about it getting pinched by a rod bolt.
 
How did you wear the crank that badly?

Martin
Yeah the machine shop said it was likely nicked by a rod bolt or something. I personally wonder if there was just a little residual material in the motor from when I lost the cam and it made its way to the crank and messed up the bearings.
 
My machine shop just called to tell me my options and I'm wondering what your opinion is.
Parts and labor:
$1,000 for the exact setup I have but new.
$1,700 for what I have but a full roller cam setup.
$3,000 for the 496 stroker kit with a full roller.

He's really pushing the roller setup at $1,700 just because of all the issues it has had.

What's your opinion. It's a ton of money but I absolutely want it done correctly.
 
How much of a power bump are you looking at w/ a roller setup? Did it have enough power previously? If it was adequate before, it should be adequate w/o rollers - as long as you trust his rebuilding skills. Seems like you've had a bad run so far..
 
How much of a power bump are you looking at w/ a roller setup? Did it have enough power previously? If it was adequate before, it should be adequate w/o rollers - as long as you trust his rebuilding skills. Seems like you've had a bad run so far..

To be honest I have no idea what power it should have it has NEVER run correctly since the first performance build.

Everyone says it should be 400hp+ with my exact same setup.

Rollers I wouldn't gain much if any power but I won't burn another cam and we could squeeze a little more cam out of it.
 
No reason not to go with the roller set up, but no reason to go with it also.


Who is the machine shop ?

Lol that was absolutely no help lol.
South valley machine in salt lake city is doing the build this time. He has never done a "complete" build for me (just bits and pieces here and there ) but he came with some really high recommendations. And all the machine work he has done for me in the past has been great.

He is hooking me up because we have become friends and he feels bad that this motor has been apart 4 times. He wants to do the build A to Z to make sure it's perfect and he can slap a warranty on it.
 
No reason not to go with the roller set up, but no reason to go with it also.

Rollers I wouldn't gain much if any power but I won't burn another cam and we could squeeze a little more cam out of it.

I disagree, a roller cam with the same duration will have more area under the curve. Rollers have more aggressive ramps and will make more power, everywhere.

I would do the roller setup in a heart beat. You won't regret it.
 
I disagree, a roller cam with the same duration will have more area under the curve. Rollers have more aggressive ramps and will make more power, everywhere.

I would do the roller setup in a heart beat. You won't regret it.

See the machine shop is saying little to no noticeable power gain however I will have almost zero risk of wearing out or burning up a cam. He's really pushing it like it's the best way to go.
 
If you go roller, go hydraulic not solid - solid requires frequent valve adjustments.

What are your old cam specs?

Roller will allow more aggressive profiles so you can spice it up a little if you wanted. Shouldn't cost any more (changing specs).
 
Yes the roller will be able to make more power easier, however $700 worth of more power. I guess it would depend on what you are building it for. How much power does it have now vs. how much more will you get with it roller.

South Valley is a good machine shop, think I know the guys who run it.
 
Cams should not wipe out. They should last 100k or more miles, they were built that way for 80 years. So I don't think you should look at the rollers so much as a longevity thing, as a power thing. That's why I asked if you thought it had enough power on a good day or not. Rollers can give you more power - or less parasitic loss. But a tappet should last 100k, if it doesn't there's something wrong. It's 700 more for rollers, so do you want 700$ more power..?
 
Modern oils are not made with flat tappets in mind. They have very low levels of zinc and other lubricants needed for them to survive. You can use additives at every oil change, but how long before the enviro-nazi's make it so you can't get those anymore. Roller cams are worth the peace of mind, imho.
 
Cams should not wipe out. They should last 100k or more miles, they were built that way for 80 years. So I don't think you should look at the rollers so much as a longevity thing, as a power thing. That's why I asked if you thought it had enough power on a good day or not. Rollers can give you more power - or less parasitic loss. But a tappet should last 100k, if it doesn't there's something wrong. It's 700 more for rollers, so do you want 700$ more power..?

It is definitely a longevity thing. Today's oil is not up to the task of flat tappet camshafts.

With the troubles that have already been had with this engine, I would go roller cam.

The longevity factor being the main reason, the slight added power is just a nice bonus.

Martin
 

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