454 mag: blower or heads and valvetrain?
#1
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It looks to be about the same price ($5000) to add a blower or go with AFR heads/roller cam/lifters/pushrods/rockers for my 454 magnum carb'ed motor.
Right now it has 20 hours on it since a rebuild. Has Dana exhaust and edelbrock air gap performer rpm intake.
I was looking into the procharger setup and the whipple charger as alternatives too.
I don't really like how the procharger "hangs" off the engine, but it will fit under my engine hatch.
The whipple looks the best, but would require cutting a big hole in my engine hatch and adding a scoop, plus painting it, or spending more $$$ and adding EFI at the same time. I have no idea how I would do that though.
Adding heads and valve train would easily fit, but I don' t know how much more power I can expect over my stock engine.
92 octane pump gas is not problem, I trailer the boat.
I spend most of my time cruising 3000-3500 rpm with the occasional WOT run for a few minutes at a time.
Or I could just give up and swap in a different motor like a merc racing 500EFI or 525EFI takeout...
I'd like to hear from those who have done one or the other- not looking for an offer to buy anything from ya'll yet (sometimes I get a sales pitch, not advice)
Right now it has 20 hours on it since a rebuild. Has Dana exhaust and edelbrock air gap performer rpm intake.
I was looking into the procharger setup and the whipple charger as alternatives too.
I don't really like how the procharger "hangs" off the engine, but it will fit under my engine hatch.
The whipple looks the best, but would require cutting a big hole in my engine hatch and adding a scoop, plus painting it, or spending more $$$ and adding EFI at the same time. I have no idea how I would do that though.
Adding heads and valve train would easily fit, but I don' t know how much more power I can expect over my stock engine.
92 octane pump gas is not problem, I trailer the boat.
I spend most of my time cruising 3000-3500 rpm with the occasional WOT run for a few minutes at a time.
Or I could just give up and swap in a different motor like a merc racing 500EFI or 525EFI takeout...
I'd like to hear from those who have done one or the other- not looking for an offer to buy anything from ya'll yet (sometimes I get a sales pitch, not advice)
Last edited by zimm17; 04-12-2006 at 07:58 PM.
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Unless you're going to really spin that 454, you won't see much hp from the AFR heads. The GM rect port heads are already too big for a 454. The only improvement is on the exhaust side and that won't make that much hp. The blower on the other hand can get you a 50 % gain easily.
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I once had a pair of 454's (actually 468cid) engines in my 32' Active Thunder. They had a Dart single plane intake, Holley 850cfm carbs, Merlin OVAL port cast iron heads with 2.30" intake valves and 1.88" exhausts and were nicely ported in the bowl area/short side radius, Crower solid roller cam with about .650" lift or so, 9.5 comp ratio, and they made something like 600hp @5500-5700rpm, and about 590lbs of torque. So it CAN be done, but they were high maintenance engines!
I would rather go with a hydraulic roller cam, and a supercharger on a 454cid engine---they'll be a lot more user friendly and you'll make more power.
I would rather go with a hydraulic roller cam, and a supercharger on a 454cid engine---they'll be a lot more user friendly and you'll make more power.
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Supercharger + blower cam. A roots blower would probably be more economical and easier to set up. And I like the look of scoops!
Gary
Gary
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Cool- so something like a blower shop 6-71 with a pair of holley marine four barrel carbs? Any recommendations for carb setup?
Another issue- would I be able to keep my closed loop cooling system intact? I don't see where the thermostat housing fits on a blower intake.
I have a picture at http://zimm17.com/id27.html
Another issue- would I be able to keep my closed loop cooling system intact? I don't see where the thermostat housing fits on a blower intake.
I have a picture at http://zimm17.com/id27.html
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The thermostat mount usually come out the front of the manifold on larger blowers. BTW, Merc and Hawk use a 177 for 5psi on their 454 motors, although they do spin them kind of fast.
A 177 or 250 should be more than enough fora 454 and will be lower profile.
With the 177 you can use a single carb, a merc-like cam and more or less copy their old 525sc. One of the best motors they made.
A 177 or 250 should be more than enough fora 454 and will be lower profile.
With the 177 you can use a single carb, a merc-like cam and more or less copy their old 525sc. One of the best motors they made.
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Tyler Crockett can sell you an excellent blower package for the boat. My 454 mags, 600+Hp, head work(I went with Brodix custom ported BB-2's although he said he could rework my stocks with close to same power) These motors idled like EFI. He sent me all the components including the right carb, I put them on. Anyone would be happy with these engines!
#9
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I started out with a 365 mag with merlin heads and a HYD roller.Made 762Hp on 93 at 6700rpm. You could make a cheaper packaged with less HP and be very reliable.Not sure about the cooling system fitting though ?
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