Engine Rebuild Longhorn

[hilandr452]

Hey guys, thought I would share the pics from my recent do it yourself engine rebuild. Last fall you may remember I flattened my cam lobes and had to pull out the 454 in my longhorn. The engine didn't have much wear but i had it apart, so i decided to replace all the essentials.

I went with edelbrock cam 2162 with 292 int./302 exh. duration (advertised) with matching lifters and springs, edelbrock 7809 double roller timing set and edelbrock performer rpm manifold 7161 non-egr oval port.

I rebuilt the heads from the original 402 and used them because they were oval port and the 454 heads were small girly square port. Went through the heads completely, smoothing out the ports with an air dremmel and re-seating the valves after fully cleaning them. No, I did not grind the valves, all of the seats and faces were in good shape.

Edelbrock 1406- 600 cfm carburetor is what I went with. I also have a 1407 750 if I want to cut my gas mileage in half.

Replaced all bearings and rings. Did not need to bore or machine any surfaces, everything was within tolerances.

[hilandr452]

Here are some pics:

454 and 402 heads side by side

dirty chamber

heads after rebuild

turn your head, lol

pistons, timing chain, and cam installed






There's my girl! I call her The Black Pearl!

She runs like a dream half way through 500 mile break in and getting 10 MPG with that carburetor! I'm now installing buckets out of a 1973 Motorhome.



With Respect to my brothers:

-Dan

[hilandr452]

What do you think? Too low?

[geezer#99]

Looks good!
Nice and clean too!!
Did you have a handy hot tank to clean it all up with?
Not a lot of cam but good for a dd.
What are you running for timing?
If you run it when you need the heater, you might want to swap your heater hoses around. Intake to the bottom of the core, top of core back to the pump or rad is the normal way.

[hilandr452]

Thank you Geezer! No hot tank, cleaned everything with solvent and brush. Ran clean water through the coolant system while I had it apart. Re-tapped all the threaded holes before reassembly too.Thanks for the tip on the heater core hoses.

[geezer#99]

Still curious what your initial timing is?
And being a nitpicker I'll mention your need for a metal tubing fuel line.

[hilandr452]

I already have the tubing and will install asap. I have timing set to 14 btdc at 5000 feet above sea level with distributor vacuum unhooked. Starts right up and no backfire on decel.

[hilandr452]

OK, I just took some time to find out what "initial timing" is. I need to reset my idle lower than 700 rpm to take out the mechanical centrifugal advance to get the real number. Does altitude factor in on this setting or am I wrong there also?

[hilandr452]

Hey guys, she has over 500 miles on her now and it's time to change the oil. I was thinking synthetic blend. Do I need to add the zinc to that or is that only with conventional oil? What about slick 50?

Thanks in advance.