Thread: 454 build. Opinions on build.

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First of all welcome to CHR – I live on Bull Mountain so we’re practically neighbors! I would echo the flat tappet comments and would be very leery of building such as one miss step in the break in and the cam and lifters are toast. If allowed to continue, the wear on the lifters can be disastrous to an entire engine as they come apart and bits of metal are ingested - scarring and scraping their way through the oil system.

The picture below is not one of my builds; however, it is similar to several I have seen when the person building the engine was not aware of the danger associated with today’s oil and lack of proper additives to allow proper break in of a flat tappet cam. I know rollers cost more, but they are definitely the way to proceed with your build.

As mentioned by others, defining the objective, i.e., what vehicle and how you’ll use it will help us determine what advice to give. If you could share such and we can walk you through the process starting at the rear end moving through the transmission and building forward with tips on piston types, compression ratio, head selection and then cam selection. Stay away from rumpty-bump and huge loping cams as they typically indicate a very poor selection for the street and will allow a rice rocket with a fart can to embarrass you on a regular basis.

Give us all the particulars and what your realistic “budget build” numbers are. Horsepower and inexpensive are nearly mutually exclusive terms, but if you have realistic expectations and are willing to save for the proper components, we can help you build something that performs well and will last a long time.

Best,
Glenn