yeah see if you can find any deals at the salvage yard tomorrow. well intake will be a edelbrock air gap RPM intake and demon 850cfm carb. well you don't need to use an electric fuel pump but you can if you want. I'm going to get a Moser 12 bolt rear end but you can beef up your 10 bolt for around $1000 that will hold up to over 500hp. well traction bars will be needed. I think im gonna use cal tracs. Oh no ask away lol well i'm going to get a Pro Touring F-body suspension kit with new shocks and subframe connectors and then will probably end up getting cal tracs to help with traction. I already have 28x12 rear tires and 235/60 front's so I'm good there. I'm also gonna upgrade radiator and get a 3000 stall and big trans cooler to go along with my 4L80 trans.

 

If you go with a BBC 454 you'll easily get 450 hp for under $2500, IF you're not including the initial purchase price of the engine. From what I've seen locally a solid rebuildable 454 goes around $500-$700 for a complete block, and you should try to find one in a vehicle to get all the brackets, and pullies as that will save a lot of money and time on the conversion.
I personally would not waste a lot of money boring and stroking a big block if you're looking for cheap HP. Cheap HP wont be possible when you start talking cranks, rods and pistons. Getting carried away boring a engine too far will just result in an engine that runs too hot, and has no future for further upgrades.
If you keep the stock stroke, and just bore it enough to clean it up and make it like new you'll save a lot of money that can be used towards other performance options in the build. I'd go .010" or .030" over, and then look a t a engine rebuild kit, as these kits will really give you great value for what you want to do. A complete engine rebuild kit with forged or hypertectic pistons will run under $650 for a good quality Sealed Power complete with pistons. This kit keeps your engine just under 10:1 compression, and that's a very good idea for a street driven car on today's fuel. More than that and you'll be sorry, as you'll need racing fuel or octane booster to keep it from pinging.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/FEM-CSMHP768-311/

Add a good cam, intake, headers, carb, etc. and you'll easily have funds left over for the machine shop work. For heads I'd either have a good set of stock 116cc heads reworked, or go with a name brand aluminum like AFR's or Edelbrocks. Of course you'll break your $2500 buget to pieces when you step up to aftermarket aluminum heads, and you really don't need them to get to 450hp. I've been running cast iron heads on my .040" over 427 for nearly 40 yrs. and I'm over 450 hp.

I agree with Jason on the gearing. Don't even think about going lower than 3.73 gears for a street driven BBC. If it's mostly stoplight to stoplight the 3.73's are a great choice. If you occasionally want to cruise to the next town at 55-70 mph, then better to go with 3.42 to 3.55 gears. With the massive torque you'll have either will transfer power to the ground and still not have you overwinding it at 70 mph.

 

That's very good advice, and I think maybe I will keep my eye out for a good used set of aluminum heads. Although a stroker still seems really tempting... especially when there are some complete kits out there for not much dough. I'm just going to need to do some price checking see what it a realistic way to go about it. I think if I could stroke it 4.250 with a complete kit and reasonable bore, a nice used set of aluminum heads intake and carb I could probably sit around 3k or just a little more if I find the right parts for cheap enough.. What do you guys think? And Jason, that sounds like a pretty solid setup. I love the pro touring styles. I wanted to get disc breaks all around and get something like a pro touring suspension setup. The car already has some beefy tires in the back, so I think I'm set in that department =)

 

yeah Vall aka 1971BB427 has alot of knowledge with cars esp 2nd gens. Alum heads are nice but if you wanna stay 3k and under iron heads will do just fine. well if you just use worked stock heads plus intake, carb and stroke kit you might be able to for under 3k but like Vall said, you won't need it to make your 450-500hp goal. yeah mine's gonna be semi pro touring but i'm not gonna have it slammed or anything. I might convert my rear drums to discs when i swap in my Moser 12 bolt. what kind of tires do you have in back?

 

Well I just have what was on the car right now when I bought it, but I think they should hook up alright for a while. The backs are 275 60's and the fronts are 215 70's on 15 inch cragers. The tires themselves are Cyclone Radial GT's. Where are you going to pick up your axel? If I end up doing a rear end swap that might be when/if I switch to a full disc setup. And what do you think would be better, if I had to choose between stroker kit or aluminum heads? Wouldn't the stroker kit end up giving me more of an advantage over just having better flowing aluminum heads?

 

i'm going to get my rear end through a Moser dealer. you can also get them with disc brakes. well if you just want 450-500hp then i would spend it on alum heads but if you wanted more streetable hp like over 600hp then i would say stroke it. Better flowing heads along with a good cam is one of the best ways to gain hp.

 

Even stock big block cast iron heads flow very well. They're a much improved design over the early smallblock heads, so if I had to choose between a stroker or heads I'd choose the stroker. I still think it's a waste of money considering the amount of torque a BBC builds, but if you're stuck on a stroker, then go for it. BBC's have so much low end power and torque I doubt you'll every use what a stroker motor has and not end up with a glove box full of speeding tickets. (not that a stock 454 couldn't get you the same results!)

 

Vall,

So are you saying that you are not really a fan of stroking a bbc? If so, I would like a little more info as to why you think so. Would you just get a bone stock 454 and just do a bigger cam and intake and not even bother swapping out a rotating assembly?

 

One more thing, I seem to only be able to find 2 bolt main 454's. I would really prefer using a 4 bolt main. Any tricks on finding a 4 bolt, or can I find one on this forum maybe? Or do you think the 2 bolt would hold up just fine?

 

I have a 406 small block with a procharger d1sc on a blow thru carb and can tell you it is very expensive but its great to pick on unsuspecting souls who dare to engage with me at the race strip because it sounds mild.I've found after wasting loads of money on many other cheaper combos that its best to drive what you have until you have the money to build it the way you want it.also racing is for the track not the streets,too many people get hurt in so little time just to say "I won". good luck on your build whatever it may be and stay safe.