I'm not against stroking any engine, but from a cost point of view it adds a major step up. A 454 can easily produce 500 hp without stroking, and even with a 2 bolt main block. When you get over 500hp, or plan to rev it beyond normal accepted ranges, then you should consider a 4 bolt main block, or ading 4 bolt main caps to a 2 bolt block.
Actually the add on 4 bolt aftermarket caps are a bit stronger than factory 4 bolt main caps as they splay the outter two bolts at a angle that gives additional support. If you think you're going to be revving your big block beyond 5,000 rpm's then I'd go for the 4 bolt main block. Speaking from my personal experience I rarely take my 427 over 5k even when I drag raced it. It had plenty of useable power without going thast far into the rpm's.

 

It's not like I'm going to be running around town blowing stop lights and racing ever person I see. I want the power just to simply know that I have it. I also want a street machine that I can take to the track maybe a couple times a year and see what she's got. Vall, so at a cost conscious perspective, you say that stroking it is not necessary for big power numbers. Can I reach a 500 hp goal with stock heads? What if I got a somewhat heavy cam, and switched to hollow stems and had a full roller setup and maybe had some valve work done on the old heads to clean them up, would this alone get me to my goal? Can I just take the heads to my local machine shop and say have at it? And when I swap out cams, what numbers should I be looking at? I'm not very keen on knowing what parts and sizes to use that will make it run smoothly. For instance, depending on what cam size I get, what type of springs will I need, and the same for the rockers and pushrod length. I guess I'm just in the dark a bit about this, and if you could shed some light on it, maybe from experience you have had with building one I would appreciate it.

 

well rogue, you can make 500hp with the stock heads as long as there reworked with bigger valves. I'm using the stock 781 heads but there ported and polished with a CNC port job and with the bigger 2.18/1.88 valves put in. My car specs are a Howards solid roller cam with 285/285 dur and .660 lift with a 112LSA so it's got a wider power band and not such a rough idle. With my 10:1 cr I should be at around 570hp or so. So you could easily get to your 500hp goal with reworked stock heads and maybe a cam in the 270 range with a 9.5-10cr

 

That is the info I was looking for Jason, thanks. How much would a cnc port job cost? Or I should be asking, how much did it run you? Did you just get the valves yourself separately or have the shop put them in? A rough idle is okay with me, as long as it still has street manners. I don't want it to die on my all the time or take half an hour to start idling because the cam is too hot. Would it be unwise to also put a cam roughly the same spec as yours in mine? If I go to a full roller setup, I can run a bigger cam correct?

 

your welcome. well i'm not sure how much it costs seperatly to have the cnc port done, maybe someone else can comment on that because it was included in the price. I had the shop put the valves in when the machined the heads and when you get the heads machined the shop can put them in for you. I don't mind a rough idle either as long as it's streetable and runs good vacuum for my power brakes. No it wouldn't be unwise because with my compression and cam it should be plenty streetable but also sound good and have a good wide power band. yeah you can run a little bigger cam since it's a roller. one of the best things about roller cam's is they experience less friction, have more aggressive profiles and you can run more lift without increasing the duration so you can get more power without having a radical duration.

 

Does your 112 lobe separation make it so the power band is wider? Or am I totally off on this one? I think I might have come to a conclusion on what I want to do. I think I want to stroke it and bore it .060 over, and possibly get the heads on it machined and run a heavy roller cam setup with an aluminum intake and aftermarket carb. Do you know where I can figure out what specs I need on these items? I'm not sure what kind of pistons to get for a good compression ratio, and can I get a cam package somewhere that would include a cam pushrods lifters roller rockers and springs that all work together? Because if I have to find these parts separately I wouldn't know where to even start... I fear that I would get the wrong length pushrods, and say 1.7 rockers when I needed 1.8, and completely the wrong lifters. Or what if I got springs that were too heavy, would that eat up the cam?? There are just so many variables, if I could find a complete package from one of the fine sponsors of this site it would help me out so much.

Edit: I did a bit of research on summitracing and they have comp lunati and Howards cam and lifter packages some that come with a double timing chain. What makes it a retro fit kit? I've heard good things about Comp, and the three main kits I see are either with a Thumper Cam, and XXtreme cam or Magnum cam. Any suggestion on which one is best? I'm looking for performance not just something that sounds like it's fast. Prices also vary from almost 600 to over 1k. I also found comp ultra gold extruded rocker arms and they come in different styles and ratio's. If I called summit when I was ready to order a full roller setup, could they help me spec what parts would work well with each other? Could they help me pick a cam size and put it in a lifter package and also find the correct rockers pushrods and springs to go with that setup?

 

Rule of thumb with a BBC engine is to get the highest lift cam you can find with the shortest duration while staying under 114 degrees. I'm running a solid lifter cam (old school) with 528 lift, 114 spearation, and 284/288 duration. It has a nice somewhat lumpy sound to it, revs easily to over 5k, and has tons of low end torque and power.
My cast iron heads are factory stock valves with the small combustion chambers and oval ports. Don't get stuck on open chamber or sq. port heads! They be nothing but trouble on the street and you'll lose compresion too. I ported mine myself, and didn't do anything radical. Just smoothed and opened them up a little, then matched the intake and exhaust ports to the gaskets and polished them.
As Jason said, keep the compression down around 10:1 for best street manners. I'm running 9.5:1 TRW forged pistons with the small chamber heads and .010" milled off the heads it comes in right under 10:1 ratio. Runs great on premium pump gas with no pinging. Jason has ridden in my Camaro, and I'm sure he can attest that it's quick enough, yet extremely streetable.

 

When you say under 114 degrees, you mean lsa right? If you were to personally pick out a cam spec and were in my shoes, what would you get? I still want to have good overall power, while still being forced back in the seat of course!! Also, could you maybe give me a quick lesson as to what the difference in lift/duration/and lsa are in a cam spec? And how do you port your own heads? Does it require special tools? I would love it if I could save a few bucks and do it myself, while also retaining the knowledge of how to do something like that. To get my heads milled down .010 like you said, do I need to take it to a shop? When I pick up the motor, I'll be sure to keep an eye out to make sure it has oval port heads like you said. Once again I apologize for a million questions in every response I have, but you and Jason are such a plethora of information that I have to ask!

Edit: Once again, i've done a bit of research and think I am catching on to the jargon of cam specs, but am still in the dark on what choice I should make.

 

yeah his camaro does sound badass and is def quick enough! that's awesome you ported them yourself vall. *bows to the master* lol

and yeah rogue, you wanna get oval ports for the street since rectangular port heads will cause you to lose some bottom end power. there better for higher revving.

 

yeah 114 degrees is lsa. well if you do stroke it then you can run a little bigger cam since the extra cubes will help.

here's the cam im gonna run: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HRS-121313-12/

i think a cam with 280-290 dur and .600-.630 lift would be good for you. but you would probably be at more than 500 hp. maybe this one: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/LUN-60212/

here's a top end kit by edelbrock with cam and alum heads rated at 540hp but it would break your budget: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/EDL-2095/