454 Engine rebuild

[C30Seenemall]

Looking to rebuild my stock 454 in my 75 Scottsdale, C30.
Any problems with adding a few aftermarket items; headers, aluminum intake or different carb? It smokes/burns some, but not major.

I'm also considering a hi-po version.
Not sure which route to take.
Any ideas?

Thanks,
Wayne

[truckster]

You don't mention how many miles it has. I would start with a compression test and pull the oil pan and look at the bearings. If all that checks out, you're set to go with heads, cam, intake, carb, whatever you want.

If it's burning oil because the rings are bad, I wouldn't recommend any HP modifications until you plan to go through the bottom end.

[Captainfab]

If you plan to use your C30 as a truck, you do not want to build a Hi-Po engine, A head, cam and intake upgrade will be fine but the engine needs to be built for low to mid range power, leaning more towards low end.

Now oif it will be a play toy, then yes a Hi-Po build would be appropriate.

[kwmech]

Using it as a truck, forget the headers. In the long run you'll find out what a pain they are. New exhaust 2.5'' out of the manifolds to a flowmaster Y pipe into a single 3'' dynomax muffler and out the back. You'll have plenty of flow. Complete build? No more than 9-1 compression needed with a decent cam in the 268 duration range. It'll be a whole different driver. It doesn't take much to get a 454 woke up

[mattfranklin]

Yup, I've had a couple of vehicles with headers, including my current one that came that way. Cast iron exhausts are pretty great. When I get a chance I'll switch mine back to stock or something similar so I have heat shields and looms to protect and organize the plug wires.