Chevy 454 Vs. Ford 460 Throwdown - Horsepower S13, E13

[Music] you're just in time for the finale of a contest between two powerhouses of the 70s the Chevy 454 and the Ford 460 it's gonna be quite a horsepower throating now in the first show we performed a budget build on the 460 spending only about 2,500 bucks from youth short block to finish motor it made 378 horsepower on the diamond later it in round 2 we treated the same motor to a high performance build using a solid roller cam trick blow top-end kit and a Holley thousand CFM carb result 607 horsepower the middle Chevy's turn same bone yard to finish motor build up same bare-bones budget but different results on the dyno Chevy made 400 diverse power 31 more than the four so today in the final round this 454 gets its high performance build and we get to see which monumental motor makes the most power either way we're gonna drop this thing into our 85 Monte Carlo and turn Chevy's last full-sized muscle car into a street strip beast to match the forged power we've got a similar parts combination like the solid roller cam except this time it's from Lunati four cylinder heads we're using a racing head service big-block Chevy aluminum head and for the induction side a Merlin single plane intake manifold now for the rotating assembly we're going to do something a little different we're going to hang these KB Pistons on the set of Eagle rods and use one of their crank shafts now this is our ESP cast steel piece that's good for applications up to 700 horsepower it's been cross drilled on all the rod throws for reduced rotating mass and they even balance the entire assembly for us now you might remember we reuse the ford crank because they were known to handle 700 horsepower stock Chevy's we only about 500 horsepower we've got our crank tip early torqued down so we can check the clearance between it and the bearings we've installed and that's why we left this cap off now to do this in case you've never done it you get a piece of plastic gauge from your local parts store cut off a piece open it up and put this little green plastic strip on the jury then we can install the cap and the bearings by the way orc Levites for big block Chevys torque it down like the rest of them and finally remove it then compare the width of the flattened plastic gauge to the paper gauge it should be between two and three thousand so what if you have less than that and not enough clearance well you're probably gonna get bearing failure any more than that and well the oil pressure is gonna go down and have a nose will happen then let's get this cranked out and it starts right away what do you say and that starts with installing this rear main seal now here's a couple of tips you want to take when you install these things the first one is to make sure the large portion of the ceiling lip is facing the front of the engine now the next thing you want to do is offset the seal from the main cap this will help prevent any leaks [Music] the rods from our kid are forged from 51:40 steel and they're available with a press fit or like ours with floating pins the Pistons are KB's Ikon brand made from 2618 forged aluminum alloy with a raised dome and single valve relief this will help put our compression ratio at about ten and a half to one here's another good feature force rispa oil to prevent failure there's no graceful way to install these spiral retaining locks just make sure you get them completely into the groove the last step in our prep is the piston ring set all ring packs are different so make sure you follow the instruction sheet to determine which direction the bevel goes and make sure you look close because they're hard to see yes they don't forget to counter the Rings 90 degrees from each other that will prevent oil from making its way to the top of the piston now using plenty of Lube we're installing cleave ight bearings in this rod and after knocking in the first piston rod assembly we're gonna lay down another piece of plastic gauge to check our rod clearance just like the mains were right in the ballpark when you install these pistons the valve reliefs should be pointing toward the center of the engine stick a fork in the bottom in because it's done now we're going to move on to the high performance valve train and top in and I hate to break it to you but Ford guys it anything to be pretty [Music] I guess we better pick up the pace we're back with our big-block Chevy high performance bill this motors got a top six hundred seven horsepower to beat out a Ford and just like with our Ford 460 build up we're going with a solid roller camshaft a solid roller puts more stress on the valvetrain and requires frequent valve adjustment but the upside is you can get a more aggressive camp row file and higher rpm range now to spin that cam we're gonna use a double roller timing set with adjustable keyways needless to say cylinder head choice is pretty critical in both of our big-block bills for the Chevy we're going with these RHS aluminum heads with 320 CC intake runners compared to two 90s on the Ford valves measure a 225 on the intake 188 on the exhaust a little bit bigger than the fours but get this combustion chambers these are 114 CCS the Fords were 74 so how could they have the same compression ratio of 10 and a half but over again we got those big domed Pistons taking up a lot of space in here we are swapping out the springs that came with the heads though for these comp dual Springs with DAB nurse now they've got twice the spring rate and they're a perfect match for that solid roller cam to seal our heads we're going to try out a set of these Co Matic gaskets now they sent us a cutaway so you can see the three layers of stainless steel with the elastomer coating now as the motor goes through the compression stroke the head tries to lift away from the block so a cool design feature about these gaskets is that gasket will actually vertically lift to take up that room and still maintain a good seal after dropping on the heads we're gonna cinch them down with a set of ARP bolts and torque them in three increments up to 75 foot-pounds the rest of the valve train came from Lunati including the roller lifters because of our parts combination we have to measure the push rods to get the correct length and just because we have to wait to get them in the morning doesn't mean we're dead in the water in fact we can install this Merlin single plane intake we got from world products now it's won a lot of racers are using these days it makes good power in the 25 to 8,500 rpm range and use what's called a right cast process which means they smooth out the internal so there's no need to clean up the runners or the plenum it's ready to go on just like the heads we're gonna cinch them down with a set of a RPS this engine is gonna need much better oiling now so we're upgrading to a Melling high-volume pump and a pickup that came with our new pan which is one of hamburgers racing pans with kick outs for extra oil capacity and inside trapdoor baffle all right quiz time it we've been a lot easier to roll the motor upside down for this so why didn't we was it a the engine stand is stuck and will turn B the instructions say install the pan this way or see without pusher IDEs and rockers those lifters we installed would fall right out of their holes if you answered C you're right you chances are you'll never have to uninstall your intake manifold to pick up falling lifters we can do the rest of our work today in the dyno including the dampener from pioneer the water pump and since we ran the same carb for both of our budget builds we're reusing this 1,000 CFM Holley which is the same carb reran on the second stage with the ford during its dyno runs well now we really are dead in the water until first thing in the morning when our push rod show up what does that mean for us a good night's sleep and for you guys only a few minutes of commercials yep G Ford Chevy guys better stand close by the big showdown is coming up I'm nervous I am nervous I'm ready to get it done [Music] today we're turning our 454 budget big-block into a horse power haas burst with an eagle rotating assembly and domed icon Pistons then with parts like a Linate solid roller cam and valve train a set of RHS Pro action heads and a Merlin single plane intake a similar build we did on a Ford 460 recently that paid off to the tune of 607 horsepower will this bowtie counterpart meet or beat that we're just a few steps away from finding out well I'm happy to say the push drives me to order it came in just in time and just because they're new doesn't mean they're ready to use right out of the box machining material can get lodged inside these things and unless it's removed it can actually block oil from getting to the top of the engine so you should always take the time to clean it with solvent and then blow them out with air to make sure they're clear well after propping them in place we finish up the valve train with these 1.7 ratio rocker arms to adjust the valves on a solid roller cam you're gonna need a feeler gauge to set the intake to 20 mm and the exhaust to 24,000 [Music] to look like little over 31 go to fire off our 454 we're relying on this patron explained thrower equipped with the new igniter 3 module and a built-in adjustable rev limiter with it a set of their eight millimeter performance wires [Music] no pattern now to get started we're running the engine through a heat cycle to get the ring seated and all the components broken god I love the sound of these big blocks these sensors in each header pipe tell us the exhaust gas temps this is a useful way to detect a problem with any of the cylinders running a solid roller has its dues look how Lucy's rockers got during the heat cycle now you have to real ash the valves after the break-in and it's good to check them about every 3,000 or so miles now remember we're chasing a peak horsepower of 607 from the equally modified for our first run at 4 grand was a fine 409 and rising shows the tour let's step it up about 32 561 this thing's still climbing unbelievable at 5,000 rpm let's see what more timing does before we go to 6,000 sounds for Nomo we're up to 615 horsepower at 6500 rpm or not done lately we've enjoyed impressive results from changing the lighter distributor springs yeah 620 two and a half don't forget the Hat yeah horsepower all right all I can say is that Milani Carlos on the hall the male any fun you're up now before you Chevy guys start slapping high-five so let's look at peak runs of each engine stacked up against each other this is horsepower the bright white is Chevy peaking at 6300 rpm 11 more horsepower than the Ford that flattened out here at 5900 torque is a different story though this is the Chevy bright green down here and the Ford make an eleven more foot-pounds now average that's a little different story averages the performance measure throughout the dyno run and in that department well it's Chevy hands-down twenty one more horsepower than the Ford the Ford still making a little bit more torque well no doubt they're both stout engines but only ones gonna fill up that hole in our body Carlo recently we built a Pontiac engine and olds plenty of Fords and Chevys so what's missing hey Mopar guys don't worry your chance is coming a lot sooner than you think but after the break Joe's got a little tech tip he wants to share with you on an LS one here on the dyno so I've got to get this thing out of here [Music] we're always on the lookout for ways to save money building and maintaining engines and today's budget tips all about making your headers work more efficiently extending the life of engine components and saving you money in the long run we're wrapping this header with de-ice titanium header wrap that acts as a thermal barrier keeping the engine compartment cooler and containing the header heat to enhance performance now it comes in a kit with enough raph to cover a set of headers locking ties to keep everything secure and snug and a can of silicone coating to further seal and protect all right now let's run this small-block Chevy with one stock header and the header I just wrapped on the other side well after running the motor for about five minutes at different rpms we've checked the temperatures in the area around the pipes and it's 307 on the naked side 236 on the rap side well that's 71 degrees cooler than the other side imagine that difference in your engine compartment of course there's also the obvious advantage of never worried about your spark plug boots burn enough now you can get that header wrap individually or in the kit like we used for about 80 bucks the next time somebody gives you the finger you better hope it's one of these the magnetic finger from turn pro now I has a magnet sewn into the tip that allows you to pick up light magnetic objects with a breeze even in tight places now it's also good to have around when you're working with spring-loaded objects like C clips or even distributor Springs now on top of the finger they also offer gloves that have magnets and both of the index fingers now the gloves they cost about 20 before 11 bucks you can get the one special friend that will stick with you forever you don't have to be a seasoned gearhead to know that sludge if your engines enemy why because once it builds up in Clarks oil passages result is reduced gas mileage decreased engine performance maybe even engine seizure castro's gtx is formulated to provide your engine with maximum protection in a leading oil against sludge buildup viscosity and thermal breakdown Castrol GTX contains two unique dual action dispersants that provide a superior level of protection against sludge build up to withstand the most extreme driving conditions oil is your engines lifeblood it can also be your safeguard against sludge build on a budget horsepower projects that save you time and money you guys have watched us build a lot of performance engines and you know the drill each project involves a lot of teardown machine shop work new parts and a meticulous assembly it's a lot of fun to do and that's the right way to build a performance engine but when a problem develops in your everyday driver that results in water and a cylinder well the cost could be more than just a new gasket it's time and a shop can get hundreds and labor so instead of going that route you might want to try a chemical solution head gasket fixes a new internal engine coolant seal from bars leaks according to them their technology has advanced to the point that now you can just pour it into a cool radiator then idle the motor for 15 minutes as it circulates with antifreeze it reacts to engine heat sealing leaks including water passages in the head gasket head and block they claim it works in any gas diesel iron or aluminum engine and that it seals permanently so if you are on a budget this is a low cost option oh and you AMC guys you just got a peek at our next project car but that's it because we're out of here

Channel: PowerNation

Views: 453,346

Rating: 4.6277385 out of 5

Keywords: Automotive;, Cars;, Vehicles;, How-To;, Auto, News;, Howto;, How, To;, DIY;, Car, Tips, ford, chevy

Id: 8fjOpFXoDS0

Length: 17min 43sec (1063 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 20 2019