[Steeveedee]

BTTT. My wife wants minimum downtime for the truck, but when I told her the price for the crate 454, she balked. I'm pretty sure if you checked her coin purse, one of the first nickels she ever earned will be in it. Don't get me wrong! She'll spring for what is necessary with repairs on our vehicles, since I was a mechanic when we met, and trusts me not to do stupid stuff. I don't even ask generally, when repairing or maintaining our vehicles, but this is a huge expense.

I'm also looking at a stock new 454 (to fit an '84- that is as far back as the menu goes) from Chevrolet that is about $4400. I don't actually want to go there, either. I'd really rather rebuild my seasoned block, but again, she doesn't want too much down time, and my hands haven't really recovered from the surgeries last year to just dive in and get it done. The days when I could get an engine out, pop the pan and replace the oil pickup screen, and have it back in in 2 hours are gone (that was on my '64 Impala, anyway, which is long gone). The big question is whether the rest of the stuff from my engine will fit on that 454. I quit my mechanic job in '84 when I went to work as a mechanical engineer, and have never dived into a BBC. So, I don't know what fits, over the years. Will all my parts, such as intake and exhaust manifolds, water pump, AC, PS, fit the new engine? If I go part metric, I won't be happy, but that's just bolts and nuts.