Adding A Chevy 454 To A '85 Monte Carlo - Horsepower S13, E14

Hello and welcome to the shop, long after developing New Age power under this old classic foundation, our 454 is going home today in this 85 Chevy that we call the powerful karma flashback one year, so when the Monte Carlo It was our project car from the boat in the shop, We gave it a nine inch engine that we're into along with major suspension upgrades, some new brakes and a high flow exhaust system. Chevy never made a five-speed for this car, so we went crazy and made our own with a conversion job at the time, but GM's five crate motors under the hood made tons more power than stock, did they?

How about 420

horsepower

and 515 pound-feet of torque at the rear wheels? We were given marching orders to give up that 502 for some other power block projects and that's where this 454 comes in, it was the focus of two engine builds, one with a full budget of $2500, another using off-the-shelf performance parts on the market in a search for total

horsepower

, in the end it made 600 2316 more than a Ford. 460 we build it the same way we want to have one hand free for coffee and GPS while cruising and still be able to kick the track consistently to transfer the power from that big block

chevy

to the rear wheels we're going to use this in the middle.

It is a 200 gear starter for our automatic transmission that is designed specifically for high performance engines like ours. We'll tell you more about this when we get it in the car first of all. We have a valvetrain conversion. Let's just use a solid roller cam on our latest build to keep everything the same as the four 460s we gave it for the street. This was not a hydraulic roller, it will provide a smoother idle and plenty of power in the lower rpm band, well not to mention. freedom from all those valve adjustments we occasionally get the question: do you have to remove the cylinder head to change the valve spring properly?

The answer is no, all you need is a way to compress the cylinder with air to hold the valve. Up and about spring compressor, the air hose we use and it has spark plug threads and an O-ring on one end, the constant air pressure keeps the valves closed while we use this Maru compressor to remove the stiffer springs used with the solid roller cam in. Instead, we are installing these softer springs that originally came with the RHS heads that were configured for the hydraulic roller. We can then install the new comp hydraulic roller lifters which have a taller body so we had to order another set of custom pushrods. and if you are in a hurry like us, Lunati will ship them to you overnight, now we will reinstall the rockers and since we are now using a hydraulic roller cam, we will simply adjust the valves half a turn after zero.

Loosen and done, there's sort of an ongoing debate about hydraulic versus solid roller cams. Some of the solid roller guys say that you give up a lot of power just to get a smooth idle and low hydraulic system maintenance, so just because we're curious and because we can, we're going to return the 454 to the title. Good pressure, never feels good. It looks good at idle. Make a mistake. Don't forget everything, but the cam lifters and springs are the same as the last run. 623 horsepower. at 6300 rpm a little hesitation around 5 mil, well 557 is still produced, hey we're sure there's more so we'll increase the timing a couple of degrees to 35 before run number 2, we'll make a lot more torque than with this. solid roller, the airfield chart tells us we're running too rich to get the best peak power, so Mike sets out to carve jets up front, dropping from maybe a four to 81 along with a smaller sports car in the rear from the car surely.

This will make a difference, here we go, ready, man. I have rooted in addition to that little bit where the air fuels are. I like where the bad torque and power number is, that may be the sweet spot, yes, and for a street coverage man. This thing is on a rock, yeah, oh yeah, here's a situation where the dyno can give you more information than just peak horsepower and torque. The darker lines, green for torque, white for horsepower, represent the set of solid rollers we use now. The brighter lines represent the hydraulic configuration. We just ran it and from the start at 2500 rpm all the way to 5500 we got more torque and horsepower.

Now this is where you want to be at the starting line of the race track and this area represents where you want the most power in the race. Well, on the street, unless you're trying to set a land speed record at the supermarket, now what's going to happen when we drop that 454 beast into Monte Carlo? We're not far from finding out, hey, in case you're just joining us. You've been, we got 584 horsepower, that's 607 pound-feet of torque, now our Chevy big blocks are ready for street and track use inside our Monte Carlo which has now, of course, already been modified for a large inch engine with the proper engine mounts fuel line. fans and radiator so they should fit like a nerd on a computer, well I don't see our 454 valve covers being a bit taller than what was on the 502 so now we have a little clearance issue with the air conditioning box.

How do we get rid of air conditioning? Then it's time to do some surgery. The first step is to cut a square section of the fiberglass air conditioner box and you must be careful not to go too deep or you could damage the air conditioner. cooling fins on the inside now, first of all, we have to test the engine fit to see if it cleans well. Yes, then this strip of tin goes to make a support for the bed and then after scraping around the hole for adhesion, I'm going to brush a mixture of resin and hardener onto this sheet of fiberglass material while it's still wet .

I'm covering the hole with the fiberglass. Now you have to continue working with it while it begins to set and then apply a little more of the mixture you have with a brush. about an hour to kill while hardening. I know you see me take a lot of risks but when I work with fiberglass it just isn't worth it, the dust can get into your lungs and kill you now if you want to see what kind of difference we made. Here look at this, finally sand it, apply paint and we are all clear, thanks for using our 502 for a parts transplant.

You see everything in the front is being transferred to the 454, by the way, an accessory unit like this can steal 30 to 35 horsepower from the engine, sure that nerd fits in the computer like that, next time now we can lift our gear starter transmission into place now it's a 200 for our with four forward gears it has billet components and a heavy duty cast case it should be a solid bridge between our 454 and the nine inch rear end of the auto, after bolting up the transmission we can connect the torque converter to the flex plate and then install our kick down.

We will now replace this cross member, but you will notice that we modified it from the The automatic is about two inches longer than the manual. While we're here, we can also attach the bracket and cable for our automatic shifter. We got lucky with the driveshaft. We already had this almost new part on a Camaro project that fits perfectly. Not so lucky. with it, someone also reused the one we installed here so it's time to do a quick fabrication to make a new one now on to the engine tasks, you know, sensors, hoses, wiring, the usual, one of the most time consuming jobs time turns out to be making room for the new BM Magnum grip Pro shifter for the automatic this involved welding two by three pieces of sheet metal for a mounting location complete with a makeshift rug fire.

I need water or something, no, I don't know, all right, Fire Chief Mike reminded us of that. Flames can be useful as checking electric fans before turning on the baby. We can finally push this beast back on the paddlers, considering the usual parasitic power factors. We're still banking on at least 400 horsepower here in the Dynojet after several blowouts. In the races we got our answer, that's right, what we predicted was 422 horsepower, 421 pound-feet of torque and all the races are pretty consistent. I think so, definitely, and I know this thing was very tight by the way it was moving. like I want to get off the dyno, okay, if you're still not impressed, consider this: the factory 305 that came on this Monte Carlo SS was only rated at 180 horsepower, it only made 135 to the rear wheels, now there's no way this maniac is.

We're going to take the car out on the road yet until we find a way to plan for all that power, we'll do it on the road. Hey, stay tuned, we'll be following an outlaw racer in search of winning power on the track, stay with us. Hello, welcome back to horsepower now, when you come to one of these races, a spectator lets you see if these cars make four to five second passes and get close to that 660 mark, hopefully to win, now What you don't see between rounds and races of hard work, time and dedication that it takes from the entire team to get the job done, the easiest way to explain it, blood, sweat and gears is where it all happens for now.

Ken Rainwater is one of the leading Outlaw 10:5 contenders. His racing roots date back to his teenage years, when he was one of the youngest drivers to compete in a fun car with alcohol. In 2005, he joined the war school ranks and now drives a number 3 Mustang powered by a big 598 cubic inch engine. Ford block with twin 91 millimeter turbos is the car that took Ken to the finals and several outlaw 10-5 competitions and to the winner's circle in 2007 beat the heat even the three-speed Linko transmission and all the drivers My crew chief, Alan Dudley, who controls high-performance racing, is the fun part, but it takes a lot of behind-the-scenes work to make it all happen, checking the engine transmission converter and making different things from cleaning the bed to loading and unloading is probably a 20 hour job if you don't turn anything on both axles supporting the last test session so we've fixed that we just have to put tires and wheels on the girl , load it up and head to Montgomery, I have a lot of really good help, they are just friends, they donate all their time and effort, most importantly as a wife and kids, they are completely involved 24/7, because the Racing on racetracks is something that happens a lot more here than there. the whole platform, the Indians say just a couple of inches and 100 feet long, it's like our house on wheels that we leave outside, we go on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and sometimes Monday the 4th, we get home and we are Pretty self-efficient, right? drop everything we need and keep paddling for three or four days and it really makes traveling a lot more enjoyable than just racing cars, sometimes being with your family and your friends and cooking outside, we enjoy it all, you just can't go to the Outback.

Let's download this and do some testing right now for Ken and his team. It's a race against time. A nasty thunderstorm is heading this way and the chances of a critical test and running are doubtful at best and there's a few seconds delay in getting there. the line just as the bottom drops, so it looks like the first shakedown pass will happen until the first round of qualifying and racing tomorrow. You have to expect the unexpected, but this is nothing compared to the unexpected turn of events on Saturday. The horsepower is back. with outlaw racer Ken Rainwater after a failed attempt at a Friday test, it's almost time for Ken's first qualifying pass.

Like many racers, he shares a passion for drag racing with his entire family. He had never been to a racetrack before I met him. Not even NASCAR on the track or anything like that and it's a lot of fun, it's interesting for sure, do you ever give him advice on what he should race or just let him do something that I've learned over the years to keep up margin? I'm just here for sports, his son Cruz was practically born on a race track and already seems to have inherited his father's fascination with fast cars, everything he wants to talk about and play with the stars, so hopefully we'll have a new driver in a few years. and hang things out of the way thanks to mandatory safety equipment.

The races ofresistance are much less dangerous than in the old days, of course, there is always an occasional nitrous pop, but the driver wears full protection and is enclosed in a roll cage that has to be certified for safety even for family members it is difficult escaping the thought of a life-threatening accident is very scary always say a prayer before getting in the car every time it's scary sure den Rosa's Mustang in the burn box in preparation for his first round of qualifying , Robert Abbott and his Camaro occupy the left leg, both cars exit. Abbott somehow loses control and suddenly heads into the wall, turns around and heads towards Brain Water, flipping over on its roof and into our quarter pounder a bit. a little here but we're fine everything is going to be fine we can prepare him for the next round I hope he's fine that's my main concern at the moment the parts on the car can be replaced get a third and a second with him he just started well you're Much calmer than I think most of us would be happy for no one to get hurt.

Jen returns to her car here she manages a couple of regular runs to finish a long day of qualifying, but is never quite in sync after the accident, another storm delays the limitations on Sunday, then after a solo pass with traction issues in the first round, the rainwater lines up for the second round again, dominates the tennis court, the alibi search this weekend, a little outside sprite, the fear that we had a bad crank trigger that bit us or two, so I kind of knew that in the second round we had to go after it and we made a little progress and obviously too much, we just didn't have enough data for the weekend and the track was really good and we just missed a call, Of course, everyone wants to win. but this is a hobby and we have fun no matter what and we just do the best we can.