I have always had a fascination with the big block motors. For some reason that I can't explain, I've always wanted my future Chevelle to have a 454 big block Chevy motor in it. Maybe it's just the big cubic inches or the way it just rolls off your tongue and screams power.
Before I even bought my Chevelle I found a 454 Mark IV Block for sale in my area and quickly bought it and made plans to build this engine myself. I purchased a lot of books and started researching how to build a high performance engine. Over the year or two before I bought the Chevelle, I started purchasing parts for the engine here and there.
Here are some pictures of the block as I bought it. The block had been bored 0.030", making it 460 cubic inches. I also purchased the pistons that the block had been machined to match. A set of Keith Blacks Hypereutectic Pistons.
Here are the parts that I had bought. A pair of Aluminum Edelbrock RPM Performer heads. I also got a used forged Eagle crank, and some Eagle connecting rods, along with new rod and main bearings.
I then decided that I would take the block along with all the parts I had into a machine shop, so that they could look over everything. I found a machine shop with a VERY good reputation that was about a 1 hour drive from where I lived, so took everything into them.
The next pictures are of the block after I got it back from the shop. I actually ended up having the shop do a lot of work to get the block ready. They deck planed it, line honed the mains, installed the cam bearings, installed the frost plugs, and installed the oil galley plugs. while I had all the rotating assembly also in at the shop, they balanced everything together and machined the crank. The shop also took a look at my new heads to make sure they were set up correctly for a hydraulic roller cam that will eventually be going into the engine. I am glad I had them look at the heads because they actually found a defect in one of the heads and it needed to be sent back to Edelbrock and they sent me a new one.
When I got the block back from the machine shop, I painted it with some POR 15 rust prevention paint and then top coated it with some POR 15 Chevy orange engine enamel.
That is basically where I am at with the engine as of now. It is still a work in progress along with the Chevelle. I have actually decided recently that I am going to repaint the block with POR 15 Chevy Red, to match the suspension that is going on the Chevelle.
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