What is needed for a street motor 455 500hp then 600hp?

455s can be built to handle a lot of power. For a street motor what would be the affordable way to reach 500hp then to 600hp? Example using stock connecting rods, and street cam.

 

Besides oiling mods ( to help it live ) I'd say a set of good flowing heads to start. You'll only get so far with marginal heads. John.

 

You do not want to hit 600 hp with stock Rods as you will be finding them popping thru the side of what was a good block real fast!

If your ulitmate goal is 600 hp , then you want to build the short block to handle that now and then just swap the top end items as you set the cars suspension up to handle larger power levels.

In terms of how much HP is good for the street, even 400 hp in a 4000 lb car will be more then you can hook up and use to accelerate.
desides the suspension issue of using over 400 HP you start real fast to find out what the next weakest link is in the drivetrain!
Busted driveshafts, blown trans and rear end issues will keep your wallet dry for a good long time, so pick your power goals carefully!

 

600hp on stock rods is no problem, as long as you keep rpm in check. Since we now have Molnar and Eagle plug and play rods available now, I wouldn't use stock rods for such an application anymore tho, just doesn't make sense when the mentioned rods are so affordable.

For 500hp I would run either stock rods or H beam , TA Street Eliminator heads with bowl work, 10to1 comp and pretty much any cam and intake you put in and on it will make 500hp

For 600hp id feel better with a halo girdle and if budget allows Billet caps, will need to work the heads over pretty good to be able to make the number with a modest cam and compression. Then top with a single plane and 950 carb

On the street 500 to 600 is fun 400hp is boring, as long as your not loading it hard on the track your stock drivetrain will be fine, of course upgrading everything is a good idea but it's not all going to explode just because you have a decent amount of power in front of it if it's in good working order to begin with

 

My goal is a budget build. I got a 75 blue block all machined. I got a set of polished and ballanced rods with arp bolts installed for $225 I couldn't pass up lol. I think I'm going to use the edelbrock heads due to the affordability of roller rockers. I am thinking of wesicos forged pistons, and using my factory 850 cfm quadrajet bolted to a ta sp1 intake. Oil pressure booster plate and pressure regulator. Ta special can bearings and 413 cam. My hope is to get close to 600 horses, but with ac and power steering i will be lucky to get 500 at the wheels. I will rarely rev it to 6 grand, but for road driving in a 70 electra with 2.93 gears should be a good combo with a 700r4.

 

What you described will not make 550, be hard to make those numbers under 6k too

 

Is there a better cam choice for street power to 600? I do plan to have the heads cnc ported and want to get the most out of them.

 

Agree, a choppy cam, 2.93 and overdrive won't work to well, I would retain the th400 as Larry suggested, you run 27.5 in tires I'm sure, so you could cruise at 80 with no issues at all.

With CNC Eddy's you can definitely hit the mark but I would suggest a custom ground cam for such a heavy car, desired low operating range and the 2.93 gear

Without more cid I feel ,given what you are surrounding the engine with 525 is about where you'll find the best compromise for making the Vac needed and staying in the given operating range

 

And to answer your question in the "engine for sale" thread as why that engine doesn't have/need the "fancy" parts to make 600hp? Is very simple that engine has the two most important ingredients for making HP a large Cam and hi compression, those 2 things will make any engine wake up, heads also play an important role , very important, but you can put tons of compression and big boy cam in a stock headed engine and the increase will be very significant

 

with a car geared that high and weighing as much as it does the sp1 isn't a great choice either. you'll need a lot of converter with the 413 with that combo. you'll also need one hell of a trans cooler. a 700r is a terrible choice a well. you'll need a 400 or a 4l80e.

 

I had the thought that a od would be unnecessary with the rear gearing. A cleaned up 400 is not only convenient but cheaper. I do have headers which should offer me a bit more. I calculated a static compression around 11 with the head gaskets I'm using. The deck was milled 20 already. If I have good clearance I also am going to use a 1 inch carb spacer to gain a few ponies. I have a set budget of $10,000 to finish the motor, and it is doable but need to be careful where and how I save some $ here and there.

 

With 11to1 you will need to watch cam selection to small and it will rattle

 

Your building a great motor if you have an A body at 3800 lbs......for your Electra, closer to 5000lbs than 3000, not so much.

With all that weight, and that gearing, you must focus on torque, or your 550 HP engine will be a pig until about 30mph.

I would ditch the CNC port Edebrocks, spend that money on a hydraulic roller cam. No more than 226* of intake duration at .050 lift and a wide lobe center. Don't worry about detonation, unless your running a flat top piston, your no where near close to 11-1 static with the parts your talking about.

Edelbrock heads require isky adjustable guideplates, and careful setup to get the valve train to be decently quiet. Or you get to listen to your new engine rattle like a sewing machine. Especially with the stock valve covers. Adjustable guideplates and careful rocker setup, along with cast alum valve covers offer a very tolerant noise level with these heads. Don't forget that out of the box, those heads need to have the guides sized correctly, and the valve job redone, or your playing Russian Roulette with your engine. Broken valves do bad things to pistons and alum heads.

TA SE's accept stock Buick parts, are silent and all that is required for a mild roller cam is a set of rebuilt 67-9 400/430 rockers and hybrid pushrods. Only a bowl job is required to help the low lift flow of those heads, that's where your making power for this engine combo. More porting won't hurt, but forget about HP numbers, you want killer torque. While related, you want Killer torque at 3000 rpm, not 4800... and that is a dual plane, small cam, efficient engine.

Headers will help enhance mid range torque.

Good news is that this is not anywhere near the most expensive BBB to build, you can use your rods along with a set of TA SRP pistons, which should put you about .010 in the hole. TA raised the compression height about .020 with the latest version of that piston, and your cut .020 already. Call TA and verify the current compression height of their 1611B piston.. the catalog lists 1.975 but I know he told me he increased that recently, to close up the deck clearance.

If your .010 in the hole, 4.350 bore, stock stroke .040 head gasket, 20 cc piston dish your static is going to be 10.48-1, that static compression, with a properly designed mild hydraulic roller will produce excellent torque to get the big electra, with hyway gears rolling.

Forget about single plane intakes.. once again, those are high rpm A body parts. I would use a Edelbrock Performer with a good port match and your Q-jet.

That's my advice, and I have built at least a dozen of those big car motors with that strategy.

good luck

JW

 

Jim hit the nail on the head (no pun intended) with the Eddy heads. I'm happy with mine and they perform well, but those mofos are NOISY even with big thick TA valve covers. I plan on doing the guideplate mod he mentioned this spring to hopefully quiet them down. That said, with porting they do make good power. But if this engines going in a big full size, focus on torque as was mentioned. Peak horsepowers numbers sound cool when bench racing, but to make those boats get up and go torque is more crucial. And focus on putting together a great combo that works well together (as many of the suggestions here are) and don't get too fixed on numbers. You'll be better off.

 

With $10k you should be able to up your game to a long stroke torque monster that will still shove around a big car, making plenty of power.