Let's go old school!
Let's go old school! The topic at hand is none other than the infamous 454c.i.chevy engine. I know this site is dedicated to our ls1's but, my friend had a couple of questions on this particular engine and I am certain I have come to the right place for some answers. First off, lets talk about the price. How much does a 454 engine cost? I'm talking about a complete engine. Not necessarily highly-tuned but simply in ok. condition. Not a crate engine but rather an old block. Secondly, how much does a new 454 crate engine cost? I believe I saw it for like $5500-6000. Im wondering in anyone can give an estimate of how much this will cost. Finally, one more question. I know that the 454's can fit in the 70' and 71' nova's but can they fit in a 77' nova. Once again, I know this topic is o out of the ordinary for this board, but please i would really appreciate some answers to my questions. Thnks guys.
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Jun 2004
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Originally Posted by musclebird69
The topic at hand is none other than the infamous 454c.i.chevy engine. I know this site is dedicated to our ls1's but, my friend had a couple of questions on this particular engine and I am certain I have come to the right place for some answers. First off, lets talk about the price. How much does a 454 engine cost? I'm talking about a complete engine. Not necessarily highly-tuned but simply in ok. condition. Not a crate engine but rather an old block. Secondly, how much does a new 454 crate engine cost? I believe I saw it for like $5500-6000. Im wondering in anyone can give an estimate of how much this will cost. Finally, one more question. I know that the 454's can fit in the 70' and 71' nova's but can they fit in a 77' nova. Once again, I know this topic is o out of the ordinary for this board, but please i would really appreciate some answers to my questions. Thnks guys.
you can get a slightly used motor to start with with some decent parts and power from racingjunk.com and start from there. then, when the motor needs to be freshened and more money has been saved, it wont cost much from that point on. just be sure to get something very close to what you're looking for so that when you do freshen it, you're not changing much and may even have enough left to port the heads or something. you can fit the motor in the car sure, but how much work it will take i can't say. i once bought a late 70's old's omega, similar to a vega, with a big block 455 olds motor in it! if you can fit them into those little enging bays, then you can definately put it into a nova from the era you and your friend are looking into. i've seen BBC's in a ton of cars that never came factory with them, including a few 4th gen F'bodies! now if you can put one in one of those cars, well, you get the idea. also, as far as the motor.....you don't need to start off with anything exotic. be sure to include the prices of everything else you're going to need for the swap so you can narrow down the exact allowance you can spend on the motor alone to get the car running sooner. the hadest part will possibly be the headers if they need to be fabricated. call some of the bigger mfg's like headman and hooker and see what they might have available as an off the shelf setup for $200 or less possibly. hope that helps some.
i dont think this topic is to out of the ordinary for this section of the board.
i have a 468 id sell for 6k, but i blew it up so you wouldnt want that and becasue its 14:1 compression. i also know of a buddy who has a 461 (454.40 over) for 2,500 with all the goodies forged pistons ect... as for engines a nicely built one would cost you 1500- 3000. if you wanted to build one up you could probaly do it for under 500 using racingjunk and ebay for parts. stuffing it in there wont be to hard, motor mounts, headers, front springs, mabye a trans crosmember, mabye an oil pan, mostly a bunch of little stuff. but it will be fun when your done with it.
i have a 468 id sell for 6k, but i blew it up so you wouldnt want that and becasue its 14:1 compression. i also know of a buddy who has a 461 (454.40 over) for 2,500 with all the goodies forged pistons ect... as for engines a nicely built one would cost you 1500- 3000. if you wanted to build one up you could probaly do it for under 500 using racingjunk and ebay for parts. stuffing it in there wont be to hard, motor mounts, headers, front springs, mabye a trans crosmember, mabye an oil pan, mostly a bunch of little stuff. but it will be fun when your done with it.
