Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

I am helping a buddy put together a 454 BBC for a street/strip combo.
He has a pretty stock 454 and would like to give it some cam,carb and compression.
We want to use the factory block,crank and rods,new forged pistons,nice solid roller cam with some cheap? heads.Hoping to make 500hp and then spray it up to 250.
We have found a set of used Merlin cast iron heads (320cc runner,118cc chamber). Would these heads be OK for this type of build?
All opinions on this build are welcome.

dat383 wrote:I am helping a buddy put together a 454 BBC for a street/strip combo.
He has a pretty stock 454 and would like to give it some cam,carb and compression.
We want to use the factory block,crank and rods,new forged pistons,nice solid roller cam with some cheap? heads.Hoping to make 500hp and then spray it up to 250.
We have found a set of used Merlin cast iron heads (320cc runner,118cc chamber). Would these heads be OK for this type of build?
All opinions on this build are welcome.

You might want to consider an internal balance 4340 crank.

i know nothing about spray, but those head are LARGE for a stock stroke 454, unless it's a 7500 rpm deal, and their certainly FAR from the best head for anything imo. i think you'd be much better off with a set of 781 or 049 casting oval ports with a lil bowl work. or if ya can swing it a set of afr 265 cc ovals. either way... pick your heads before your pistons.

I use the internal balanced crank in my 468 Chevy drag motor. Its lightweight too and the only way to go. Eagle makes a decent one, make sure you check and measure the main and rod journals first to see how good of a crank it is, i did and mine was good.

if 500 hp is all you want N/A ,, i'd look at a solid cam or good hyd cam , no need to go solid roller unless you'r just aching to ,, i think if thats what i was wanting , i'd go with a small chamber oval head with a big valve put in it and some bowl work , , you cut down on the dome required to get some compression , tighten up the quench , a good RPM edelbrock intake , 800 - 850 dp , nothing too tough about that power level with a 454 ,, get the high lift stock rockers , roller or roller tip ,,

Do we really need a new crank? I thought the factory stuff was pretty strong? We are not looking to turn this engine real high so maybe we should look at a smaller head or ditch the stock crank and make it a 496?

dat383 wrote:Do we really need a new crank? I thought the factory stuff was pretty strong? We are not looking to turn this engine real high so maybe we should look at a smaller head or ditch the stock crank and make it a 496?

To me the point is making the car fast, which usually means turning RPM, which means the factory crank will develop cracks eventually. You dont need more stroke and the problems it creates with 250 HP of nitrous. A 467 with AFR 305s can run pretty hard.