Thread: Advice for a 454 newbie

Tweet

Shoot the block number with WD40 and pick at it a little bit with a knife blade. You'll probably find that it is actually a 3999289, '71 to '79 454, 2 or 4 bolt mains.

Once you are disassembled down to the bare block, take the block down to your favorite automotive machine shop and have them magnaflux it for cracks. Then, have them measure the block deck height on all 4 corners and write it on the decks. The reason for this will become clear in subsequent posts. From the factory, these blocks measured about 9.800". Half the crank stroke (2.00") , the connecting rod length (6.135") and the piston compression height (1.645") adds up to 9.780". If the block measured 9.800" and the stack of parts measured 9.780", the piston crown to block deck, with the piston at top dead center, would be 0.020". We would then use a steel shim head gasket (if you plan to use the iron heads). If you want to use aftermarket aluminum heads, then some whittling will be necessary. The block would have to be decked by 0.020", using a 0.040" thick composition gasket to cushion the aluminum heads and prevent 'fretting" the soft aluminum against a harder material. like the cast iron of the block. When you have the piston crown even with the block deck, that is called "zero deck" and when used with the proper head gasket, will put your squish/quench (distance from the piston crown to the underside of the cylinder head with the piston at top dead center). This procedure of squeezing the air/fuel mixture up against the bottom of the head will "JET" the mixture across the combustion chamber, breaking up large clumps of fuel that did not atomize and extracting maximum driveability and power from the fuel. I don't expect you to understand the procedures that I tell you about right away, but in time, it'll come to you.

The suffix code TRW could be either one of these factory builds......

TRW 1974 Truck 454 245 400 LS-4 VIN Z, L, f.d, 20, 30 .......(245 h.p., TH400 auto trans., LS4 build sheet )

TRW 1979 Truck 454 210 400 LF-8 VIN S, fwd, 20.........(210 h.p., TH400 auto trans, LF7 build sheet)


Stick around and we'll build you a nice big block.

.

Hey yes sorry I did a typo on the casting number. It is a 3999289. I also noticed date codes on the engine of 1974 as well so I'm assuming it's the second one you listed. I noticed when I decided that casting number why would it say FWD of the engine was for a truck? Or does that not stand for front wheel drive lol