:bow: hey guys looking for some advice my daily driver blew up and rather than rebuild the diesel (block cracked anyway) I was given a 74 two bolt main 454
what I need help deciding is I have 2 sets of heads
14092360 and a set of 346236 which heads would be better for a full size 4 door dually I've heard the peanut port 360s are good for torque but not sure if thats correct just wondering which set is more worth putting the work into thanks in advance :bow:

Jim:confused:

another question I just picked up a victor jr for my Ventura 454 and I found out its a rec port and my heads are oval how bad is this going to be for my motor

Sorry, I don't know all the numbers on the low performance heads, but the peanut ports make very good VERY LOW RPM power, but they wheeze out at about 3500 on a 454. The larger oval port heads make a lot more power after 3500 with a small penalty lower. If you want a work truck, peanut is the way to go. I like more power and the heads are one place to get it. Also, if this is not a heavy use vehicle(towing, etc.) then more compression will help a ton !!
I have installed better heads and intakes on 454SS pickups with very good results. Headers really help, too. I like the tri-Y's the best by far.
I have seen people in a pinch use oval port heads on race engines with their rectangle port intakes with only a small decrease in performance. This seems odd as a larger intake than head is usually very bad.
Those intakes work well for racing, but let down for driveability. Air gap types make almost the top end with much better low rpm performance.

thanks Rob yeah the motor is going in my 91 crew cab dually pick up so I guess the peanut ports would be real good for it
the intake is going on the 454 in my 71 Ventura
and its gonna be mostly street occansional track so I guess I should resell it

The Edelbrock RPM Air Gap or the new Weiand version are both superb. Just be prepared for the hood clearance problems or air scoop. These run almost as good as a single plane to upper 6's and almost as good as a Performer at low speed. Only problem is, if you live in really cool climate, the cold driveability pretty much sucks.
Also, on your truck, a cam and some headers REALLY help, even with the peanuts, just be careful on cam choice not to go too big.

what size cam would you reccomend I already have 1 3/4
headers and I'm thinking of putting my 750 dp carb on the truck and putting an 850 or 950 on the ventura

the truck is a R3500 dually crew cab (it was a diesel but even if I'm only getting 12 mpg of gas its still cheaper than running diesel)
it weighs around 4800 lbs and the gears in it are 5.36s
the truck was built to tow I wa thinking of the 260H from comp cams or the 272H

If you will buy the Tri-Y headers, you will pay for them the first year in fuel OVER the long tubes;) ;)
I don't like the 260 or anything bigger in this truck. The XE250H will run out in the low 4000 range, but it is a lot bigger than the stocker in the truck. If you want just performance, the XE262H or the XE268H will make better quarter miles, but for pulling and road economy, the 250 is better.
As for carburetors, the only real choice is a Quadrajet!!!!!! The 750 Holley is just too big and a double pumper is even worse. A 600 vacuum secondary would be much better here. The Edelbrock Thunder carb with an electric choke is better and will require much less service. A Q-Jet, properly set up from someone like The Carb Shop in Ca. will give a much longer service life, better fuel economy, and at least as good performance as any other carb known to man:thumbsup:
Also, be certain you get a distributor with a VACUUM ADVANCE!! MSD is the easiest to set up and my favorite. If you need to modify the vacuum advance for towing or hauling, get one from Crane-the same advance as a point type GM. I also like the DUI ignitions as they are always right on and bullet proof with no hastle.

Actually with the peanut heads I would stick with a TPI set up found on top of any number of 454 pick-ups made in the past few decades. The TPI for the BBC is rated at 620 cfm so just think of it as a really big two barrel. With the rev limiter built into the HEI distributor on all TBI big blocks it won't get over 4,700 RPM no matter what you do. Gear truck for this max RPM and it will pull stumps. 5.36 rear gears will be a bit steep, most 454 one tons shipped with a 4.10 rear (or 4.56 if FWD). It will definitely assist in the mileage dept. I also hope your '91 came with a 4L80E OD tranny instead of the manual four speed box with a 1:1 final drive.

If you are running a manual M-20 box with those rear gears that 454 will be attempting to sing high "C". In that case I would consider the oval port heads and a Quadrajet carb with a non-computer controlled HEI distributor. AND some nice 22" polished aluminum Bud wheels with some 10x22 tires to attempt to kill the gear.


Big Dave
:thumbsup:

I agree all the way, Big Dave, but he has a diesel truck and is changing over so he has no throtle body parts and that could be a lot of money just to change over.

Considering the number of 454 motors out of light trucks bought to be put in Nova and Camaro cars with carburetors instead of EFI, I figured there had to be a few TBI set-ups languishing on a scrap heap some where. Just a matter of paying postage to get a set-up from some one wanting a hot rod instead of a stump puller. Of course it will be all a matter of timing and exposure to a large number of hot rodders, so he would have to search in quite a few places for the right opportunity.


Big Dave

yea Dave I did look into the efi but every one I've seen is going for like 250 or more so thats out I do have a edelbrock 650 vac sec that was rebuilt and done up by the carb shop so that should work now I just need an intake I'm looking at either an edelbrock performer or one of the knock offs I'm not looking to build a fire breather just a decent reliable motor for my truck with decent milage andthe way it was running before even if its only getting 12 mpg I could run premium and still be ahead of the game

I would look at Edelbrock or Weiand, maybe Holley versions of the Performer but no larger as you loose low end with each manifold size increase.
Most of the knockoffs I have seen are not very good.
The stock intakes work pretty good in this application, too.