454 bbc worth it or waist of time honest opinion

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" last night I helped my dad clean out his storage" ---That's some DAD!!
 
Lol yea hes had some toys in the garage while growing up he currently has a 67 firebird nice classic hes done with his racing days he says but he has alotta parts through the years but I think the quick change rear is for circle track but not sure
 
My kind of guy! I have a 68' Firebird project.
 
Belive it or not.he bought it used as his first car in 8th grade it came stock with a 326 4speed he blew that motor though and now it has a 455
 
Hey, Thomas, the TBI swap is a good place to start. The accessory drive on that gen will be a pain to deal with. The A/C compressor is way too high to clear your hood. I'm doing that swap now in my wagon and have ditched the Gen 6 braketry. There are off the shelf packages you can purchase, but are spendy. I don't want to lay out 2K for a front plate serpantine drive. I am keeping A/C on my wagon and will have to fabricate the brackets with a sanderson pump. They are pretty small pumps. My A/C pump will reside on the driver's side. I have the power steering pump from a 70 El Camino Big Block and associated bracketry. Long water pump, alternator on the passenger side. 66 olds 442 radiator. Had to cut and box the frame for outlet at the bottom passenger side. It's a four row radiator. You will need to run an electric fuel pump and should run with a return line, either to the tank or to a slosh box, for fuel pressure regulation. The current HO454, I have sold and am going to put one of my Mercury marine 330 HP 454's in there. Gen6, TBI. I am going to change the injection over to port injection and run a mega squirt injection unit. The 330 HP motors are round port heads and as has been stated, on the street, that is PLENTY. If you want all out power for the strip, ya, go with the bigger stuff, but mileage and reliability will suffer. We are heading out Thursday afternoon, I got your carb and will give you a buzz on the way back up. Hopefully we have a little bit of time to check out your stash! See you soon-Matt
 
Thanks for the heads up on the accesory drive matt. So you said the ac pump doesnt clear the hood is there any other options I can do or am I limited to runing one of those sanderson pumps or whole new serpantine set up. My main concern is my budget and I still am goin through my pros and cons of runing the tbi or coarse relaibilty but it wont be a daily driver more of a weekend cruzer if that itll probally see more track time than street time to be honest but to tell u the truth six speed behind the tbi would be nice I was also reading on 454ss.com about switching to the large oval port heads on a tbi set up and getting the throttle body ported to keep up with the heads flow and a good intake any suggestions on that id be happy with 450 hp anything extra will be icing on the cake
 
If your engine came out of a truck, ya. It's too high. We have a 99 Big Block truck here and when I was looking at A/C mount options, it became readily apparent. Mounting it low and on the driver's side seems to be the best option, and by low, I mean taking advantage of the two mount bosses on the upper head just above the exhause port, forward. By fabricating a bracket off of those, you should be able to come up with something workable with some thought. I'll post up pics of what I do, but if you beat me to it, post yours up. I'm doing mine on a budjet also and everytime I can fab vs: buy, I do. The six speed behind your big block with more than 450 HP is gonna be tricky. The way all the late motors do it is by being more efficient. That means bigger inches, mild camshaft profiles and port fuel injection.
I wouldn't put a carbureted big block in front of a six speed that is cammed for upper end power. We did that. A too cammy Big Block mated to a six speed and 3.73 gears. It is a miserable b*tch to drive, if you are doing the speed limit, You HAVE to stay in 4th most of the time to keep the engine from bucking and loading up. Having the gears is fun, say getting on the freeway, you hit 5th around 85, feels pretty good, but, unless you live in Nevada, you're not going to row it on into 6th and keep speeding up to take advantage of the power band.
Now, in my '94 Corvette, LT-1 6spd, it was a whole nuther dealio. The motor had 10 or 10.5 to one compression, injected and was cammed to be lugged around happily at 2400 RPM. I mean 1800 at 70. Problem is, in most hot rodders minds, the idle characteristics of late model motors. They just don't sound tuff. But, it is the smooth idle that enabled the engine to operate efficiently at low RPM that allows the overdrives to be incorporated at all.
You are NEVER gong to be able to overcome aerodynamics to take advantage of 6th. No ****ing way, I don't care who you are, I don't care what your opinion is. Unless you are running a 4.88 or steeper gear on the street. That is the only place to take advantage, then the low gears of the 6 spd will have you rowing the lever like an olympian to switch gears fast enough to beat the guy in the next lane.
A six speed on the track? Why? The quarter mile goes by so fast, you won't even be in 5th. Are there 5 speed lencos? Yes. Air shifted expensive and purpose built. This is a street car. Be realistic in your design. My wifes C-5 has a higher final gear than my ZO6, but with more HP and lower gears, the ZO6 has a top speed of 205. In 5th. Theoretically, the Z51 should out do the ZO6, but lacks the HP to overcome the aerodynamics.
The engine that is going in my wagon now is WAY to much for it. I'm just going to mule it, and off it into a 55 Chevy truck with a t-400 that will zing it all day. Long term, I want to put a milder motor in it and play with the injection/OD issues and solve some driveability/ economy problems that plauge us guys and makes our wives hate us! Anyhow, didn't mean to get all long winded on the subject, but that's the long and the short of it. If you're gonna build a race car, build it. sh*t do a big block with a Glide. Street car? Inject it, mild cam, 6speed it, flip on the air and enjoy the ride. Thrust us guys, a mild Big Block is more than enough for that car! IMHO! Matt
 
The six speed idea was more for the daily driver because I have one already a five speed would make more sense but one that will hold up with a bbc is pretty pricey a 4 speedmuncie would probally be my next canidate but I would have to tweak a few things since the locations will b different
 
I have a BBC and a T-56 six speed in my Malibu.

You will not be able to use the serpentine setup on that engine.

The power steering pump pulley will hit the steering box.

If you have any questions pm me.
 
Pm sent thanks
 
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