Building a mild high preformance 454

Ok so im really pretty new to the car scene, and have a couple of questions.

I have recently started a restore on a 79 T/A however inside is a 454 mark 4 motor and 400 turbo trans. im not sure what are all the parts ill need and so ill start off from the top. the original owner sent me an email about the car and what is needed. here it is:

"this is what i know:

the car rolled off the assembly line as a '79 trans am. i put a '77 front bumper and hood from a formula on it, pulled the Olds 403 motor and BOP turbo 350 and replaced it with a Mark 4 chevy 454 motor and a Heavy Duty Turbo 400 trans.

the 454 spun a connecting rod bearing. the block is a good 2 bolt main, casting number from block is 14015445.  with a new cast crank turned 20/20. i bought a pair of 336781 Big Oval Port heads that will make power up to 6500 rpm.

you will need to buy 2 connecting rods $2 a piece from WAM. also needed is a complete overhaul kit from Summit racing. you will need to buy a camshaft, rocker arms, and intake manifold.

i have all brackets, accessories, headers, B&M flywheel, and ARP head bolts."

now he also mentioned while on the phone that the bearings in one of the pistons/piston rod needs replacing so i figure ill replace them all. i took a look on summit racing but have no idea what rebuild kit would be the best bet for me. i dont want to be super cheap on this project but then again dont have oodles of cash to spend on something that preforms just alittle better than its 200 cheaper conterpart. so any suggestions on rebuild kits would be great but i looked up some other parts that i know need replacing and hope these would work. then again i have no idea so im asking.

for the camsaft:
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=CCA%2D11%2D400%2D4&autoview=sku]http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=CCA%2D11%2D400%2D4&autoview=sku

for the rocker arms:
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=SUM%2DG6803&autoview=sku]http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=SUM%2DG6803&autoview=sku

for the intake manifold:
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=SUM%2D226024&autoview=sku]http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=SUM%2D226024&autoview=sku

im willing to learn and thats the point of this, its just on almost everywhere else i go i get guys who just say get a different less molested car and learn that way. however i like this car and i like what i have for it now. again im willing to learn and so any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks
-alex  

2 options rebuild the 454 or for cheap stroke it with like a scat cast rotating assembly. Either way you should hit 500hp and have a real healthy mild 454/496 the best stock heads are the 049's or 781's might be the ones you have? I'd run a edelbrock airgap or weiand stealth dualplane, some porting of your heads, dual 3" exhaust 2.5" might be a little small for the 500hp area. Check your heads if there not either of the two they will probably ruin any performance. also spend some money on a hydraulic roller cam if you can. At any rate if it even runs decantly in that trans it will  probably shred the tires with posi.
Summit parts are supposed to be pretty decant and always a bit cheaper from there cams,intakes etc. your links don't work. If that thing has over 60k on it do a rebuild and chances are a machine shop would have some stockpieces that match yours. If you have roller rockers already reuse them. if not get some entry level roller rockers  

Just so you know your links weren't functioning so I removed them - the URL's did seem to work.

I can safely say that a CONNECTING ROD is NOT $2 a piece, he must be referring to the bearing. That is assuming that the connecting rod is not damaged and that can be a pretty big assumption to make. Usually if something is wrong enough for the bearing to spin the rod can get VERY hot and warp or get damaged somehow - have a machinist check it out before it get's put back together.

#781 heads are an excellent casting for performance rebuilds. They're nothing to brag about with no porting and factory small valves for a 454 but it's better than nothing. The factory cast cranks are also very durable but a cranked turned .020" is far from unmolested. You may find it more difficult to find bearings after .030" has been ground off.

Your camshaft choice is VERY interesting to say the least! Using a blower camshaft is a different concept for a naturally aspirated street machine but it may actually have it's place. But, that terribly wide lobe separation angle (115°) will REALLY sacrifice midrange power production - actually where a hot rod would really "like" it. That sacrifice is for idle quality (see manifold vacuum), fuel economy, and theoretically a smoother running engine. You need to decide if you want to make this sacrifice. That is a terribly wide LCA for a "performance" engine but is right inline with the factory cams - so you need to decide how far you want your engine to be from stock. The duration you choose is not too far out of line from what a low compression street engine would prefer.

The rockers you choose are a cheap factory replacement - these are more than likely a cheap Chinese import and metallurgically are not superior to the stock pieces. My choice for almost any performance rebuild are the Comp Magnum roller-tip rockers that are much stronger and durable than stock pieces, the problem is that they are about $180. If your cam is upwards of .500" lift though and you put a lot of time on your engine the factory-style rockers will not hold up and they will give out at the valve end mushroom the valve tips and possibly harm the guides over time. I'm a firm believer that the valvetrain is not a good place to save money.

If you're going to spend $190 for an intake I would spend another $20 and get an Edelbrock Performer RPM - I'm just not confident with the Summit "store" brand products. You can save yourself a few bucks and retain some cold-weather driveability by getting the NON-air-gap variety.

Feel free to ask more questions.  

thanks for all the reponses. and i have a couple new questions.

how can i tell what the headers are? is there a number or is it stamped somewhere on them? i have a pic of them here:


id eventually like to put a blower on the car, but would like to get it up and running for a reasonable amount. i looked at the rebuild kits from summit and there are so many and so varied in price that i have no idea where or what would be the best option while still keeping preformance in mind. again even just a list of parts that i should buy with a specific name or link would be great, but id really like to keep the price to under 2k and honestly as close to 1k while not skimping terriably to get it running, then eventually build it up to a drag monster.  

Cylinder heads (or just heads for short) contain the valves and combustion chambers - that's what you have a photograph of there. Headers are tubular-shaped piece mounted to the exhaust side of the cylinder heads.

There is casting number stamped on the top (under the valve covers) of the heads. In fact, looking at the bottom head in the picture it's on the second intake runner from the left. Once you find the number you can reference in on a site like this...

http://www.mortec.com/bbc.htm