well the trans in my 1990 1500 went south on me today.and my dad gave me a 454 with a tran.the engine and trans are in 70 something rv.would this be a good engine and trans for my truck.my truck has 44" on it with 20" of lift.what all would i have to change out on my truck to get the motor in.it now has a 350 in it.thanks for any help
as for the transfer case will be a hanger

Well do you like fuel injection? If so get your tranny fixed.
If you go the 454 route you can try and retrofit the TBI on it, or go carb.
By that time you will have spent the same amount of money and probably more time than by just rebuilding your trans

You might have problems getting brackets if you don't already have them because a lot of junk yards don't like letting them go.

You might have problems getting brackets if you don't already have them because a lot of junk yards don't like letting them go.

What are you talking about? Any junkyard I've ever visited will sell you whatever the hell you want.

Anyway, find out what trans is mated to the 454. If it is something beefy i'd go for the swap.

What are you talking about? Any junkyard I've ever visited will sell you whatever the hell you want.

Anyway, find out what trans is mated to the 454. If it is something beefy i'd go for the swap.


I think what he was talking about was taking parts of a complete motor.

I have a couple 454's and a couple 350's, I'd go with the 454. When you are trying to spin those big tires at low rpm's the added torque from a 454 will be very noticable and if its a heavier trans, you probably won't shit this one as easy.

first you have to figure out how the fawk you are going to get the bbc high enough in the air to get in the truck thanks to your :rainbow: lift, then you get the joy of deciding whether or not to pull the front clip off or the entire suspension.

next comes fuel delivery and comp mods, then you need to figure out how the fawk your going to make any of the gauges work with you carb and non comp tranny.

first you have to figure out how the fawk you are going to get the bbc high enough in the air to get in the truck thanks to your :rainbow: lift, then you get the joy of deciding whether or not to pull the front clip off or the entire suspension.

next comes fuel delivery and comp mods, then you need to figure out how the fawk your going to make any of the gauges work with you carb and non comp tranny.

i have away to put the engine in.i have put engine in bigger trucks then mine we use a tow truck.as for the gauges i have took the old one out and put in all autometer gauges.i plan to run a carb and a old dizzy.

the bigger truck is not something to be proud of.

What are you talking about? Any junkyard I've ever visited will sell you whatever the hell you want.

Anyway, find out what trans is mated to the 454. If it is something beefy i'd go for the swap.


Whatever, i visited tons of places here in San Antonio and they all wanted to hold on to it and not get rid of any of it.

Whatever, i visited tons of places here in San Antonio and they all wanted to hold on to it and not get rid of any of it.

Yeah I know what you mean here in texas they like to keep their junk.... Or charge a arm and a leg :rolleyes:

i dealt with an ass hat like that in indiana, had more shit than any one could ever have time to rebuild and tons of killer stuff, if it was older the 90 he wouldnt sell it to you. didnt care, wouldnt let you pull parts of, wouldnt give you prices of parts, just would get this shitty look on his face and say its not for sale.

well the first thing you need to do

Get rid of that stupid fucking 20" lift
that is the just fucking dumb

well the first thing you need to do

Get rid of that stupid fucking 20" lift
that is the just fucking dumb

What's the deal with your attitude? If i'm not mistaken he wasn't asking for your opinion about his lift, however high it may be. Maybe your jealous???

I can't wait to see what kind of clever response you have to this.

i have put engine in bigger trucks then mine we use a tow truck.
Did anyone catch this?
First of all, 20 inchs is way to much lift for anything IMO. But at least you dont have to buy noise-bleed seats to your next Whitesnake concert, your already up that high:flipoff2: . Now using what as a tow truck? Like tow my other vehicles around kinda tow truck? HOLY SHIT! I dont EVER want to meet you and let you tow, or be anywhere around you towing a vehicle. I try to be safe, and that is not safe in any aspect.
P.S. Go with the big block. But get a fuel injection.

well nob rocket hes commenting on your lift due the fact 1. that much lift is gay 2. Butt plug, only high scool tards and trailer park dwellers lift a 4x4 that high BTW is it that high so your mullet doesn't drag the ground?:flipoff2: :flipoff2: :flipoff2: :flipoff2: :flipoff2: :flipoff2: :flipoff2: :flipoff2: :flipoff2:

But at least you dont have to buy noise-bleed seats to your next Whitesnake concert, your already up that high:flipoff2:
Great '80's referance

Any chance of you posting some pics of this truck? I too would go with the fuely, not that it matters, sounds like your still only going to be getting 3MPG.

Did anyone catch this?
First of all, 20 inchs is way to much lift for anything IMO. But at least you dont have to buy noise-bleed seats to your next Whitesnake concert, your already up that high:flipoff2: . Now using what as a tow truck? Like tow my other vehicles around kinda tow truck? HOLY SHIT! I dont EVER want to meet you and let you tow, or be anywhere around you towing a vehicle. I try to be safe, and that is not safe in any aspect.
P.S. Go with the big block. But get a fuel injection.


i must not be as old as you because i don't know who whitesnake is.but i can read.if you could then you would have read where i put i will be using a tow truck to lift the motor in to the truck. i don't know what kinda of truck you have or what you use it for.but if it has 40" of lift or slamed to the ground i would not talk shit about it.i would try to help you out with your ? not talk shit about it.if we all like the same shit life would suck. thanks for the help guys

i must not be as old as you because i don't know who whitesnake is.but i can read.if you could then you whould have read where i put i will be using a tow truck to lift the motor in to the truck. i don't know what kinda of truck you have or what you use it for.but if it has 40" of lift or slamed to the ground i would not talk shit about it.i would try to help you out with your ? not talk shit about it.if we all like the same shit life would suck. thanks for the help guys
haha I cant read. I missed a word in there. Damn this A.D.D. reading thing that I do. Thanks for pointing that one out! Once again, I stand corrected with my foot in my mouth:eek: .

I asked my lil bro about whitesnake, even he doesnt know about it. I guess I am the last little kid who rembers the older guys wearing see through wifebeaters, cassette tapes, mulleted cameros blasting music with no bass only treble(AND it being popular, not some backcounrty thing:D). O well.

As for helping out, Im all for it. You just are in the wrong place to admit what you are working on. Diffrent is almost always good! But this website, correct me if I am wrong guys, is generally interested and dedicated to finding the BEST WAY, the second best way, and sometimes the third best way to get from point A to point B. And these points happen to be on rocks most of the time:D. This in mind, 20 inchs of lift is stupid. It might be what you are in to, but put your vehicle into perspective of the statment above. It doesnt fit. As from your other posts you describe some backwards steering setup and no front driveshaft. Mabye there is a reason that this never got installed. Mabye is that is it too much lift? Just an idea thrown out there. I have lifted vehicles, stock looking vehicles, a lowerd vehcile. I have had, like most people on this board, alot of toys. But I wouldnt go askign questions about my lowerd Impala airbag setup here, Its just not the palce for it. IMO, next time leave out the 20 inchs of lift. Thats all im trying to say. If I wanted to know about some random engine part, but my vehicle didnt fit the goal statment I would leave out the fact so that I dont get flamed right away. Put you post in perspective of the goal statment of this website next time. Im late to go make beer. Catch you guys later.

P.S. Post some pics! And put the big block in it! Furthermore, yank it out with a tow truck. I am guilty of using an excivator on more than one occasion...:smokin:

i must not be as old as you because i don't know who whitesnake is.but i can read.if you could then you would have read where i put i will be using a tow truck to lift the motor in to the truck. i don't know what kinda of truck you have or what you use it for.but if it has 40" of lift or slamed to the ground i would not talk shit about it.i would try to help you out with your ? not talk shit about it.if we all like the same shit life would suck. thanks for the help guys



nobody in theor right mind would lift a truck 40", 20" is :rainbow: enough but 40" is :rainbow: :rainbow: :rainbow: :rainbow: . if some one had 40" of lift on their truck and was talking shit, i would ask them to race through the drive through at burger king, first one to not peel the top off the rig wins :laughing: . then i would go lean on the fender and watch it tip over.


what you dont seem to undertand is that being proud of the fact that you are having to use a tow truck, is so beyond white trash stupid that you have traveled back in time to big hair rockers and slashed up jeans.

20 inches of lift? What the hell are you smokin? I call bullshit.

U are asking for alot of trouble. don't worry about "brackets" engine mounts are the least of your concerns, first of all, you have got to "jerry rig" your trans xmember cause there isn't one for your application, Th400 was the only tranny mated to 454s in the 70s, specially for an RV. Rvs had peanut port heads and rv cam (oviously) wich makes it a killer low end torque machine. Forget about plates because your not gonna pass emmissions period. the tranny may not kick down from top gear (3rd) unless you find a way to figure out how to hook it up to carb. you will need a new driveshaft or modify your curren, th400 is about 3 inches longer than 700r4.. I'm not sure about that on a 4x4 application...
While we are at it you might as well get used to the engine light being on all the time for not bein to hook up your computer. .. You will have no 4th gear, not that it matters much, i doubt a truck that high will stay on the road at over 60 mph.

I'm pretty sure the guys here from Pirate4x4 can name a few more cons, so if i were you i'd start heading south and catch your tranny before it hits mexico. lol. good luck. By the way, Who doesn't know white snake is?

The guy's trying to figure out if a 454 is a good swap for a truck with 44's and a 20 in lift and what it would take to get it in there. I say cuz you have a donor vehicle it would make it easier. There are a lot of things to consider and if you even have to ask the question of what then its probably not something you should take on.

First of all I don't imagine you'll be registering it any time soon.
Second the wiring from TBI to carb should be easier then the other way around.

Remove the TBI fuel pump and use the manual one the motor.

Brackets, belts, cooling, steering pump hoses, GOOD LUCK!!!

i know i am going to get flamed but a friend of mine had a superduty 4linked with 40" of lift. he had king coilovers, road better than stock. ok my flam sute is on and i am ready. btw he sold it after he twisted his ankle jumping out of it. man with too much money one of his many play toys.

Since you allready have a drivers drop 60 in the front (from your tranny post) this may be a good idea, but if you need to smog you'll be screwed. When you figure all the $ you will need, tripple it for a good estimate.

OK, back to your original question...... The easy part: Carb and aftermarket guages make that an easy swap. Brackets are easy, for the pre serpentine stuff, it's still available from GM cheaper than most people want to part with their used junk. But since you have a complete motor you probably have all that stuff right? Hooking up a kick down for a th400 is easy because they were still offered in that body style truck, it's just a switch on the bracket for the throttle pedal. You'll also need a radiator.

The not so easy: You are going to have to find a divorced ford 205 transfer case to use that trans, along with 3 driveshafts, and a custom crossmember, or have it (the trans) rebuilt with a 4wd output shaft put in it and find a coresponding gm (241?) transfer case and adapter. also as mentioned you may need driveshafts shortened/lengthened. Neither of these options will be cheap. Just my $.02

hey rugby was it a red f350 on 49's w/ king coil overs, owned by kenny?
http://www.gro-up.net/
Lol that truck is sitting in my shop rite now on a set of rollers. We end up doin a lot of work on it and rebuild one of the coil overs. Friday morning its being trailered to shiloh ridge. Gas is to damn expsive to drive all the way.

Blazerkid

btw let the flames begin but hey it pays the bills......

flames aside, cuase twenty inch lift is the absolute dumbest thing I have ever seen or herd about, I will not even go into how completly unsafe it is and never mind its complete inability to function...

Just get your existing tranny rebuilt. An even half way decent tranny shop can do the job for probably around seven hundred bucks, they might charge YOU more cause they will need step ladders to get to the tranny to take it out.

The reason you are getting flammed as hard as you are here by me and everyone else, (except for a few of the pole smoking butt pounders, you know who you are) is this is Pirate. This is a place where serious off roading questions are asked. If you would have read the newb post you would have seen that posting questions about tire sizes and lifts is FORBIDDEN here. If you would have read a few posts you would have seen this is mostly a rock crawlen site to boot. You posted your trucks lift and tires as if they were something to be proud of. That kind of shit does not impress people like us here on Pirate. You will find that at least 90% of all the users here have less than 8" of lift on their truck. Most of us use around 6" of lift and we chop the living shit out of the fenders (if the fenders are even on the trucks anymore!) to clear our tires; see it is all about COG and yours is about 6' in the air! Anything beyond that is just not safe on the trails/rocks. We dont care about shinny rims and big sterios. Take that shit to another site.

Back to you question.
You will find that putting an older engine in a newer truck, while certainly doable is not going to be worth your hassle. You will never get the thing registered, it will never pass inspection and the cost/time to value ratio just makes the job stupid. After you moved cross memebers, relocated motor mounts, bought a new radiator, replaced wiring harnesses, bought new drivelines, replaced torque converts, flywheels, VSS, gauges, tranny coolers, exhaust, headers, etc etc etc, you could have had two trannies rebuilt, probably more.

Since you allready have a drivers drop 60 in the front (from your tranny post) this may be a good idea, but if you need to smog you'll be screwed. When you figure all the $ you will need, tripple it for a good estimate.

OK, back to your original question...... The easy part: Carb and aftermarket guages make that an easy swap. Brackets are easy, for the pre serpentine stuff, it's still available from GM cheaper than most people want to part with their used junk. But since you have a complete motor you probably have all that stuff right? Hooking up a kick down for a th400 is easy because they were still offered in that body style truck, it's just a switch on the bracket for the throttle pedal. You'll also need a radiator.

The not so easy: You are going to have to find a divorced ford 205 transfer case to use that trans, along with 3 driveshafts, and a custom crossmember, or have it (the trans) rebuilt with a 4wd output shaft put in it and find a coresponding gm (241?) transfer case and adapter. also as mentioned you may need driveshafts shortened/lengthened. Neither of these options will be cheap. Just my $.02

i have a divorced ford 205 transfer casefor it.i got all the stuff to make the engine run.the rv still runs and drive fine just body in bad shape from a tree. i do not have any pics yet but i will try to get some soon.thanks josh