school me on 454 swaps

[Jims86]

Comparing them stock to stock, a 454 will out pull a 350 in ANY occasion. Low, mid, or high. For me, difference in MPG has been negligible.

Yeah, but could you imagine towing that ************ at 70 mph, and coming to a curve in the road, and there is a DOT truck stopped in the lane?


whoa, Wait......

 

[bucket]

The 350 will wind up a hell of alot faster.
Yes a Big Block Has more Grunt, but with how much added weight 300lbs roughly.
Its not worth the added weight for the little grunt you would gain. A stout Smallblock will run circles around a bigblock.
Alot of times when people go bigblock for the power, is cause they need the extra block so they can bore out farther then a small block will take.

That's B.S.

Have owned more than a few trucks, a stock peanut port 454 will run circles around a 350 truck (of the same size) any day of the week at any speed in any weather conditions, no matter what the price of tea is in China.

And I said stock to stock. Not modded to stock. You're acting like those Cummins guys that compare their hopped up trucks to a smogger 454 truck...

Yeah, but could you imagine towing that ************ at 70 mph, and coming to a curve in the road, and there is a DOT truck stopped in the lane?

whoa, Wait......

Lol

 

[donut]

x2. Big blocks were the "tow mules" before turbo'd oil burners became the rage.
Easiest way to do the swap is if you've got all the accessories that go with the BB. Wrecked or rotted donor truck will do wonders.

Why can't you tow with your current setup? Tires to tall (making effective gear ratio cruddy)? Rebuilt 350 cammed to make power at to high an rpm? Unless your boat is a navy destroyer, you should be able to pull it even if you pull the wheels off the trailer. (wouldn't be pretty though.)
I'm not around near enough to know your current specs.

 

[hirschdalechevy]

That's B.S.

Have owned more than a few trucks, a stock peanut port 454 will run circles around a 350 truck (of the same size) any day of the week at any speed in any weather conditions, no matter what the price of tea is in China.

And I said stock to stock. Not modded to stock. You're acting like those Cummins guys that compare their hopped up trucks to a smogger 454 truck...



Lol

Agree 100%^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Most of my old trucks are big blocks and all of them have stock early model oval port heads ,(big ovals) with mild cams and they all run super hard and would destory a 350 hp small block in , towing , drag racing , freeway passing , all while getting the same mileage and the great part is you dont have to do much to them to get great power and torque.

I built a 74 long bed , 4sp. manual , 4.11 gears , locker in the rear , 6" lift , 36" tire's and my 454 I put together was a o deck , 9.5 to 1 , 268h cam , with thorley headers , eddie intake and a jet q-jet carb with msd dist. and it would fry 36's as far as you could see and tow my boat up hills on the hwy. how ever fast you wanted to go.

Just driving the truck for mileage you could cruze down the hwy. in 4th at 65 and never open the secondaries ,(even on hills) and I used to hand calculate my mileage and I got 16 to 17 mpg. all the time.

Dont get me wrong I love smallblocks but in a heavy 4x4 with big tires or a truck you use for towing it,s big block all the way.

Late model tbi stuff is all junk imo.

If you are talking race motor's thats a whole different ball game but on the street ,(pump gas) big blocks are easy torque and horsepower in anything , you have to do much more with a smallblock to achive the same result's.

 

[Jims86]

The small port 454 were the big low end tq engines I think.

 

[Green79Scottsdale]

The swap question is going to garner many differing opinions.

Told ya......

 

[hirschdalechevy]

The small port 454 were the big low end tq engines I think.

I am not a fan of the peanut port heads , the big ovals are the way to go , they are better all the way around for a stock cast head and the chambers are smaller (closed chamber) so it's helps with bumping the compression up and you need that style of head to have a quench motor which in turn gives you a high volometric efficiency which equals more torque , horsepower and mileage.

 

[El Camino Man]

My dad used to always yell at me when I say I wanted a big block... "I can take any small block, put on heads and a cam, and it will outrun a big block!!"

Yup. Sure can. I can spend the same money on a stock big block and absolutely demolish your small block. Good argument, but try again!

You gotta think: a STOCK big block from the 70s era made 500 hp and 500 ft lbs, being conservative...

 

[towjoe]

I'm a big block man myself. seen It many times at the truck pulls, a stock 454 walk away from the mild built 350-383's. If your small block won't pull your boat tho, there is something wrong with it to start with. I've run more than one old chevy wrecker with a stock 350 in it and 4:10 gears that never struggles with most of what I pull. My wrecker weighs 8000 lbs to start with and I can tow another dually down the interstate at 65-70 without a problem. Are you trying to tow in overdrive? That may be the problem. I have a 91 K2500 burb that has a 350 and the 4L80 that went through 2 transmissions because previous owner tryed to tow in overdrive and they would shift in and out so much they ended up frying overdrive clutches. We got him talked into leaving it out of overdrive and he said it pulled better with better milage, plus trans lived till body gave p and I bought it for parts truck