need more horses....any advice?
 

I have a 1997 Stock 7.4(454)vortec. The skinny: I want 450 HP. And I want to keep it when I'm towing a trailer up a grade while the A/C is blasting and the engine is still cool and not over heating. Is that asking too much? Money is tight so what would be the best route to go with headers/exhaust system and after market air cooler. I've been thinking about water injection and a different cam. But I'm not quite sure which cams would get me significant gains in a stock engine. Would that make a difference? Hell, I had a 454 in a luv back in the day that got 477 on the dyno. I know this engine can do better than 298. It's a 454 for gods sake. I mean when these newer vortec engines hit the market in 96, all GM could do is rave about the 7.4 model being the pinnacle of their truck engine. What about reprogramming the CPU or a Bully Dog setup?

Re: need more horses....any advice?
 

Yes you're asking too much if this is the case. :)

Re: need more horses....any advice?
 

There are trade offs every where. Do this, loose that ect.. Why don't you provide us with a budget. One mans money being tight is anothers fully built engine :)

Re: need more horses....any advice?
 

i would do exhaust, and send your pcm off to PCMforless.com

im guessing this is a tow rig? the vortec 454 are nothing more than a torque monster. gm hasnt built a "performance" big block since the musle car days if you ask me. it would take alot of money to get big numbers out of it.

Re: need more horses....any advice?
 

yeah....it's a tow rig

Re: need more horses....any advice?
 

Plain and simple......It takes burning fuel to make power. Burning fuel creates heat... see the problem.

If I were going to build a tow motor,, and absence of a budget...... I'd be looking at STROKE!!! 511" stroker packages are getting pretty reasonable these days. Big inch, long stroke, I would not consider anyting less than a 305-325cc runner for this many inches, a hydraulic roller up around .57+" lift and short duration to keep low speed torque, and Holley MPFI Commander fuel injection,, probably wouldn't need anything more than the 30 lb / hr. injectors. 1000cfm throttle body... ought to be able to chassis tune it to decent fuel economy, and have the torque to shread most any drivetrain you put behind it.

Re: need more horses....any advice?
 

Marv,

I'm not muchh of a big block guy, but a 305-325cc runner seems extreamly big. Are there heads on the market that utilize a smaller runner but flow decent numbers. I'm a firm believer in small ports that flow promoting TQ and power under the curve.

Re: need more horses....any advice?
 

i've seen some sewer sized 345cc's on a 540...and thats only a 540, i want a 632ci and i can then call it quits