I just finished building another Big Block Chevy 454. I love these engines, and this has been a hobby of mine for many years. The one I most recently did is a 4-bolt main,ARP studs in mains and heads, GM forged steel crank[detailed-shotpeened and cut 10/10], Eagle rods/w ARP Wave-Loc 7/16 bolts, Block was line honed, zero decked, bored.030, debured and detailed. Pistons are Speed-Pro 2645 forged/w Total Seal file fit rings. Heads are GM iron 049 large oval port, fitted w/Manley 2.19-1.88 stainless valves. Combustion chambers were cc'd and valves were unshrouded,bowl blended,ports opened mildly, cc'd and gasket matched. Crane double valve springs set @ 1.88 for 155lbs seat and 405lbs open. I went with a custom ground Crane mechanical roller cam(224-234dur.@.050 w/ 589-618 lift, 12deg.lobe sep).Not to much dur. for the street but lot's of lift. Crane mech. roller tappets.Cloyes billet double roller timing set. I chose a Melling standard volume oil pump, ground pressure balance grooves, set the cover-gear clearance, and welded pickup. Other components include Edelbrock RPM Air-Gap manifold, Comp Pro Magnum rockers, Trickflow custom lenght pushrods[.080 thick], Crane stud girdles, and Holley 850 double pumper. Rotating-reciprocating assembly balanced. Looks great and sounds even better. I have this one destined for a 1980 Camaro that I plan to do over the winter. Can't wait! Any ideas for torque and horsepower potential from this combo would be appreciated, as would general thoughts and ideas on building good solid power out of these beastly engines. Feel free to check this engine out on youtube broadcast yourself A169KL, Thanks.      JW454.  

I forgot to mention that with piston, head gasket and head cc, the comp. ratio works out to an even 10-1.  

Whomever did your heads "cc'd" ALL of the ports and combustion chambers, wow. Either you spent a fortune for little gain or someone is pulling your leg...

By the way wouldn't you think that it was important to what they "cc'd" too?

Did you mean a 112° lobe separation angle?  

Thanks for the response, GibTG. I have done all of the work myself, otherwise it would cost a fortune. Chambers are now 118cc. I have spent much time on every aspect of detail with the entire build. These GM large oval heads have great potential to flow as much air as any aluminum head, as long as the time is spent to set them up correctly. True, there is great weight savings with aluminum heads, but thats not really a concern of mine. Especialy when I have 3000.oo more to spend on crank, rods, pistons, ect. Besides, its a hell of a lot of fun to see the guys face that you just blew away when he sees that you have GM iron heads and he has 3000.00 aluminum pieces. My typing does suck, the LSA is 112. Talk to you soon.  

It's very true that per cost the iron heads are great pieces but don't overestimate what they can do.

Last year I worked on a set of Trick Flow oval port aluminum heads that flowed 340+ CFM out of a 2.19" valve - so there is obviously more potential in an aluminum head but like you said it will take much more $$$ to notice it.

You are putting some serious time into those heads if you cc'd all the runners and chambers yourself, that is incredibly time-consuming! What about the ports? Just for the sake of discussion, what did they spec at?

Did you have the heads milled? I know the #049's have awfully large chambers, I thought that they would almost always end up larger than 118 - but I may be wrong...  

Hey there again. GibTG. Thanks again for your response. I could *** about engines all day long. The heads started out between 120-122cc,s in the combustion chambers. Got every one to 122cc,s, and I beleive 0.20 cut brought them to 118cc. I was able to get all the intake ports to 280cc,s. It was not that difficult to do once you include boring for the 2.19 vaves and a good bowl blend. Stock valve size is only 2.056, so a fair amount of material was removed just in that. I feel somewhere in the 260-280cc range is perfect intake port size for the street. A few years ago I did a set of 781 heads for my boat engine, made great torque and substantial HP. Perhaps my next build will include aluminum heads, depends on how the finances look. For now I am really pleased with how this one turned out. Everyone thinks they have more HP than they really do. So what do you think this one is capable of? Comes right up to 6500rpm as fast as you can touch the throttle, thats where I plan to set redline. Those heads you did sound like they must breathe upwards of 7000-7500rpm. Do you race? What size engine did you put them on? After the Camaro has the new engine, frame connectors and all the other goodies, we will recreationaly run it at the local track. When we started the engine for the first time we had a party and shot a youtube video. Check it out at youtube broadcast yourself A169KL. Also check the dually burnout video. I built that motor a couple of years ago. Talk to you soon.  

Sorry, I let this thread go a ways down the list and forgot about it...

4 cc's of material removed from a .020" flat cut may be a little optimistic though, but it can't be too far off - probably 1-1.5 cc's.

Those heads went on a street 440 BBC for a friend - they will never see a track, which is fine since the car is absolutely perfect '69 camaro and there is not room for enough tire or enough hood clearance for a unrestricted induction. I thought that they may be a little on the large size in terms of port size but at least the valve was kept down to 2.19" and the chambers were around 116cc - they would perform a little better than a fully-prepped iron head even on a streeter I'm sure.

I'll review all of your specs on the engine and make my prediction a little later.  

i strongly feel that even with 2.19 valve, that is way to much port for good street manners. True only so much can pass a given valve diameter, but what about good low to mid rpm port velocities for decent cylinder filling?  

The port volume was the same as your ported GM large oval heads, do you think that your heads are too big for "street manners"?

Port volume isn't the only concern here, port length in combination with port volume will make the average cross-sectional area, and areas determine velocity. If I remember correctly, the trick flow heads make the port centerline length longer, thus reducing the average CSA with the same port volume as a GM head.  

great engine/ i have built a very similar  project/a few different components/ jesel/ 950 double pumper and other bits and peices. 10. to 1 hoping to get somewhere around 540 hp on 98 octane. i am going to run 20/40 or 20/50 diesel penzoil and ngk bp7es plugs. if anybody has ideas for oil and plugs  for these engines please advise. thanks Richard  

Thanks Richard, In my opinion when bearing clearances are correct, there is no reason to run to heavy oil weight. Probably 10/30-10/40 would be a good choice. I am also partial to Castrol synthetic. I am always on the conservative side for HP/TQ ratings, am hoping for around 500/500. Is that a Jessel belt drive you used? It is a nice piece, but costly. I was going to try Bosch+4 plugs in an attempt to avoid having to index. GibTG, didnt you say those heads ended up at 345cc. thats way bigger than my 280cc. I do agree that port lenght and contour do play a role in velocities.  

They were OVALS! With about the same port entry as a GM large oval port! They measured at 280 and 284cc at the bad and good port respectively.  

You say you made them flow 340+. I couldnt tell you what mine flow, I have no access to a flow bench.  

hey/ just watched your youtube video and what a nice crisp reponse/ music to my ears/ my engine will be going in my 69 chevelle next week/ running electric dump pipes, 3600 hi stall,3.73 gears spooled up with Toms heavy duty axles/after watching and hearing your post cannot wait to get rolling. cheers Richard  

Thanks Richard, it was music to my ears as well. Worked long and hard on that project and I cant wait to get it in the car and do some cruisin. Your car sounds like a really sweet ride, wish I could have come across a Chevelle. Best of luck with it and keep me posted on how it turns out.