The particular roller cam I'm using, dome pistons, and cleaned up peanut port heads have been done fairly often in the 454SS world. It's a simple combo, stock looking (externally) and has been proven to make the TQ/HP that I want to make in the RPM range that I want to make it.

Mangled, that's my point. I know myself, if I would have stepped away from the stock heads I would have gotten a case of the "might as wells" and ended up with a aluminum rect port headed donkey dick cammed 454 that was a bitch to tune and pulled down 6mpg at best.

 

Yup, I know the feeling, **** gets that way just about every time I do something, like oh what the hell, put these on then it is put that on there to, then by the time its done, you have something not even close to your original, practical thoughts, have a **** ton more into then ya wanted..LOL Your not drag racing, just looking for a decent sounding, peppy set up. Know where your coming from.

 

LOL, my only point was that with the stock pistons the money spent on the domes could have got you better heads that your stock intake would bolt to. You would be making more torque/hp for the same money. I wasn't meaning any disrespect toward your build.

 

Oh, I agree if I was to keep the stock pistons, but it did have a bit of a ridge at the top of the bore. It could have been re-ringed but since I was keeping it I went .030 over and had everything straightened up. IIRC the machine shop costs between the block work and rotating assembly balancing was pushing a thousand bucks.

 

Another teaser pic before we get it fired up and on video this weekend... I'm getting stoked, Love this truck!

 

Me personally a gen VI or even a gen VII would of been an upgrade for it. Least you got a stronger trans with OD

 

I've already worked on the pinouts for a GenVII to do the swap, but for right now I wanted to keep it relatively simple. With a GenVII I would have either had to take a chance with a junkyard pullout, or rebuilt it just the same as this one. I do eventually want to swap to a 8.1 but for right now this will serve me well.

 

man thank you for bringing this beast back to life!

i grew up with a two toned 88 350 tailgate, looked exactly like this one. it was my sisters first car which she hated, but it got sold before i had a go in it.

by far the best road trip machine ever devised

 

They are super comfortable, this one will be my boat hauler and road tripper. Sitting in the seat and driving is like you're transported back in time.

Once I get the engine in it and tuned, I'll be painting it back to factory colors.

 

< is the 8.1 master I own 5 atm