What do you guys think about a 454/400 setup in a 84 camaro?

 

I think its a tight fit and will go like stink!!

 

Look at this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCHyY...eature=related that sounds sick

 

Use the search feature and also read the sticky on doing a BBC swap. There are many TGO members with a BBC under the hood.

Sound is a matter of what muffler you use and what camshaft you use. In my car with open exhaust, you need ear plugs at an idle. With my race mufflers, it's quieter than that car in the video.

 

I think the real question is what are you intending to use this car for?

 

Post some pics of your car

 

www.hardtail.com

 

that camaro sound's sick!

 

yea it does

 

your car is a beast how much you how much you got on it

 

How much do I have invested?

As it sits, I value it at a minimum of $40,000 although I could never get that much if I ever sold it. The complete engine from top to bottom is worth around $20,000. I have a set of bigger, massively ported heads at the machine shop getting new guides and valves put into them. When I get them back and finish assembling the valve train, the heads alone will be worth close to $5000 including the parts and labor put into them.

Dropping in a BBC into a third gen doesn't have to be that expensive. A relatively mild BBC with good street manners doesn't cost a whole lot more than an aggressive SBC.

 

when it really boils down to owning and driving the car, i think a smallblock is the way to go- the extra power comes with too much extra weight.
if you think you can shave the weight of the bigblock down almost to smallblock weight, then you might as well do the same to the smallblock and be ahead of the game.

if money is no object i think you can build a 428 smallblock.

 

Building a big SBC can cost more than a small BBC. Although the big SBC could out perform the small BBC, the BBC has a lot more potential to surpass what that SBC can do.

Using roughly factory parts, a SBC can reach 406-415 CID. Getting bigger than that and you're using a lot of aftermarket parts to make power.

 

I replaced a solid roller 406 with alum. heads,.670 lift,and tons of cash in it with a hydraulic cammed 468 and lost 2/10th's of a second in the quarter mile.On top of that,it was WAY more streetable,and I enjoyed the car a lot more.BBC all the way,the headers suck,but otherwise it is an extremely simple swap.All the nose heavy,poor handling talk is BS,unless autocross is your thing.I could barely tell a difference in how the car drove,going from a SB w/ alum. heads,waterpump to an all iron BB.

 

The Corvette and Camaro were testament to what a big brick of iron can do to handling. (autocross type driving)

A small block can be pushed to 454 inches with machine work, but a true 454BB will last longer, work less and perform better overall than the SB.

 

Not with any factory casting. To get that kind of displacement from a SBC, you need an aftermarket block and that's from using a tall deck SBC block so we're not talking about a cheap large displacement SBC.

Not to mention the cost of the SBC heads to feed such a large engine. Some of the better high flowing SBC heads will flow about the same as typical BBC which can have even bigger valves and can be ported to flow even more giving the BBC a lot more potential to make power.

 

What you do as a living thats alot of money in the car and you don't do the labor yourself

 

He never said he doesn't do the labor himself.And what he does for a living or spends on his car is not any of mine or your buisness.

 

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/e...ine/index.html

Mmmm, that's right...434 with stock products. 454 with Motown parts. Once again I spoken out of my A#% (anchor? ) Thanks for catching that Stephen.
you....> <....me

 

Although it's possible, a 434 with stock components is pushing it.

 

nice.

ive been thinking of going bbc, but i know jack squat about them, they have so many diff heads i wouldnt know what to start with. i also like playing the big inch small block card on unsuspecting prey, "uh yea, its just a 350 with a mild cam u know"

 

I've been investing in my car for 9 years now. I've spent a lot more than that over the years. I don't want to add up the total cost in all the engine's and parts I've gone through. Other than some of the engine and head machine work, I did everything myself. I'm an automotive and heavy duty mechanic so I have a lot of automotive knowledge and lots of $$$ invested in tools. The machine shop is only putting in new guides and grinding the valves/seats because I don't have the tools for that kind of work. I'm assembling them, setting up the spring heights etc.

What the parts are worth and what I paid for them is two different things. The heads I purchased are worth about $2600 plus whatever the porting work that was done to them so add on at least another $1000 but I only paid around $1200 for them. That's for bare heads.

 

i was thinking aftermarket block and crankset to get to 428, but really my point is, you should be able to make all the power you want from a smallblock. that said, i just built a bigblock for my truck... which will probably get parked because of gas prices this coming summer. go figure.