going from a tbi 350 to a carburated 454. what all do i gotta do. will the motor bolt up to my tranny? and all i really need is a vollt, oil, and temperature gauge so i can do that. and then hook the starter up should be easy. but its alot easier than it sounds right? im sure. so lemme kno who of yall have done it and how u did it.

You are going to need a 454 flexplate/flywheel, for which tranny you are running.
454 is externally balanced, so do use anything but 454 flywheel/flexplate.
Bigger radiator is a must due to the increased cooling requirements.
Make sure you have all the 454 brackets for power steering, alternator ect.
Your exhaust will have to be fabbed up different most likely.
As far as swaps go, its fairly painless, I did my 350 carbed to 454 carbed swap about a year ago. Took all of two days.
And yes, its worth it.:D

I second, yes its worth it. LOTS OF POWER.

One thing to keep in mind, It will cost twice as much as you think it will, Take twice as long as you think it will, and be twice as hard of work as you think it will take. But its worth it.

Make sure you get a 4 core radiator and run a 180 thermostat. Go through the 454 and fix anything that is leaking and make sure everything is clean before the swap.

Take your time, work on it only when you are motivated and keep plenty of Excedrin Migrane handy.

But its WORTH IT! Heres mine...
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines.com/gallery/K30MULE/244843.jpg


K30

While i myself am partial to smallblocks and inline 6's (im sure both my rigs will be big block in a few years), i would say its worth it. For a 350 my 97 is rather potent...it definently tows very well (around 10'000 so far and it did awesome) and has almost too much power for mudding (the old 35 swampers werent enough tire)...but then i rode in a freinds truck basically exactly equipped with a slightly worked over 454 vortec(mild cam, ecu, exhaust, few other small things)...

what a complete difference...the big block was probably making around 400hp and 500lbs and it was simply a beast. The fuel cost means you wont be driving it, but on those occasional tows or weekend thrash runs you will appreciate the excessive power ;)

I have done this swap in a few rigs (and vice versa for a smallblock), and really it isnt all that bad. There are a few headaches but the factory did it so really anyone else can.

I just swapped from a carbed 454 to a TBI 350.The 454 had so much power(400 HP) that I kept breaking shit. Hopefully with a little less HP and more gear(doubler) I wont be breaking stuff as often.

well heres the next question. theres another truck out there for sale and its got a 383. would it b more worth it to buy an old 454 block, build it up, and swap that in? or just buy the truck with the 383.

im in the process of putting in a 496 (454 stroker) sm465, np205, and one ton running gear. i let you know.....

what rotating assembly did u buy for the stroker?

the 496 came with the 83 chevy one ton that i bought. it hauled a lot of ass in that big truck. the rotating asembly is from powerhouse here in bakersfield cali.

Just finnished swapping a 454 in my rig 6 weeks ago. small blocks are for lawn mowers. I had moved my batteries to the bed with the 350 and didn't have a problem but with the extra draw require to turn over the 454 I had to run my main power wires with 0 gauge. I also started to vapor lock with the extra heat under the cab so I had to run the fuel line outside the frame rail.:smokin:
Just remember there is no replacement for displacement.

Just remember there is no replacement for displacement.
x2

I have a 454 in the place where a 350 once lived.
I love it

as to your second question
383 or building a 454
big blocks are expensive, parts for them are expensive, building one up is expensive.
depending on the price of the 383, it might be worth your while to go that route

going from a tbi 350 to a carburated 454. what all do i gotta do. will the motor bolt up to my tranny? and all i really need is a vollt, oil, and temperature gauge so i can do that. and then hook the starter up should be easy. but its alot easier than it sounds right? im sure. so lemme kno who of yall have done it and how u did it.

what are you going to use the rig for, crawling...towing...or????

does it need to pass emmissions after the swap?

I just replaced a mouse with a rat, (454,Gen VI Vortec,Roller,steel crank,ect.) in my 83 K5. You won't be disapointed.

I just swapped from a carbed 454 to a TBI 350.The 454 had so much power(400 HP) that I kept breaking shit.

Your Ol 454 is still breaking shit.:cool2: Just in my junk now.

it would be used for muddin.

I went from carbed 350 to carbed 454 for mud and dd. Well worth it. Way more torque and fuel use was nearly the same. RV torque cam (the only change I made from a stock 454) and with 9:1 cr. No regrets. I would do it again. 454/TH400/NP205/D60/14bff/4.11's/39.5 TSL is a great mud combo. Does well in the mud and doesn't break stuff.

Swapped mine in about 8 or 9 years ago. Third truck it's been in (that I know of) and it still runs like a champ. Lug it down to 200 rpm crawling uphill-no problem. Doesn't even sound like it's still running-hit the throttle and off she goes. Try that with a small block! I've never had to do a lick of work to it.

Yes, yes, and yes. It's worth it.

Stump pulling, mud throwing, boulder shooting POWER.

...and remember, Performance pays for itself.:grinpimp:

496 Stroker full roller....DO IT:smokin:

well heres the next question. theres another truck out there for sale and its got a 383. would it b more worth it to buy an old 454 block, build it up, and swap that in? or just buy the truck with the 383.
383 is a great motor properly has more torque than a stock 454 its lighter than 454 and the overall results you will have more power to the wheels
and better gas mileage, also you could keep your exsisting tranny

As i said im a big fan of smallblocks...the 383 or the 400 are both pretty good little mills. They have a few more cubes which can greatly help the kind of torque the engine makes depending on the tune. While its still not a bigblock, parts are a bit cheaper and usually easier to come by, gets a little better gas mileage as well. Other then that, it wont take the amount of abuse a big block will. If your gonna run alot of high rpm a smallblock could also be viable, but the big block can be built for higher rpms as well (just takes a few more bucks as with all big block parts).

the 383 or the 400 can both be built around 465 horse and around 500 torque without going too extravagent. Iv seen some big block guys making closer to 600hp without going nuts either...no replacement for displacement really but how much do you really need? The bigblock is pretty slick though and a very good swap. Its easier to keep a 500hp bigblock going then a 500hp smallblock plus you get some extra torque in the process.

either way, it all works.

You have to spend a lot more on a SBC to just get stock BBC torque results. Unless you run a doubler, you have to be on the throttle more, causing more driveline shock from all the bouncing. Where you can ease into it with a BBC.

do it i love it:D

Big Block All The Way. 496 Is The Magic #.

Big Block All The Way. 496 Is The Magic #.

People are shooting you straight when they tell you the big block is more durable. I just pulled 9,500 lbs (not counting the weight of the truck) 2700 miles cross country. I went up and over the Sierra Nevadas...temp never went north of 208 degrees.

not to burst your bubble...
especially as I was just singing the praises of the BBC

I run a BBC in my trail rig, RV cam, Holly truck avenger, and that is it other than timing gears...I have never had to do anything to it, just change the oil, it is definatly a runner and I would not trade it for anything
however.
I have a 5.3 in my tow rig (lol, I know I know, we arnt all made of money)
I pulled my 6500 pound trail rig on my 1500 pound car hauler with another 1000 pounds of misc stuff all the way across the country, from Nevada to Ohio (nearly across the country), over the rockies through the woods, to grand mothers house I went and my engine temp never went over 210.
That is all in the cooling.
Highway miles are easy on a motor, even under load
up a 60% grade at full throttle with truck sized boulders in the way is a different matter.
My big block, no problem, we do that crap every trip out.
I dont think my little 5.3 would even want to look at that, at least not more than a few times.
Where am I going with this...I would expect any engine, with adequaet cooling and a decent tranny to tow a load (not nesacerialy at highway speeds all the time) with little effort on its part, that dosent mean its a reliable motor.

I"ll add this: driving from Salt Lake to Syracuse NY, empty, I got 8.5mpg at 80mph with a tired 454. Driving BACK, into the wind, towing 2k, and 3k in the bed, I got 7.75mpg. That's effectively the same mpg if you factor in the headwinds heading west.

Methinks the motor did not feel the weight much. In addition to that, my old 396 truck did the same thing, no change in the mileage w/a load in the back.

A very good friend of the family had me tow their big-ass boat with the truck, which had a 350, and again with their 454 Suburban. Burb did MUCH better in the hills.

Torque is king.

No worries and no bubbles burst, it's cool. It was my two cents. I will still dissagree with you regarding durability of a BB vs SB with towing. I believe your 5.3 is quite stout, technology these days is a great equalizer. However, given the same load, given identical operating conditions, a BB is going to out last the SB...period. It just plain doesnt have to work as hard to get the job done.

And a 5.3 pulling 9,500 lbs isnt going to keep up with properly built BB pulling 9,500 lbs. And it sure is nice to do the passing rather than being passed when you are traveling a long distance. Slugging it up hills just plain sucks.

Anyone out there with some additional thoughts?

Touche

I was just trying to make the point that a big block is built for towing. One would expect it to pull anything anywhere.
However a SMB is certainly able to do it too, rather reliably.
I hate my SBC, it is miserable under loads, without load I get around 16.5 MPG under load I get around 7.
I expect my SMB to last longer than the truck doing do what I do with it.
I would not expect my SMB to last under the conditions I put my BBC through, I think that was the point I was aiming for.

im installing a 454 into a 73 jimmy and so far have found these slight difficulties : motor mount relocation,exhaust,FLYWHEEL(needs to be externally balanced),fan shroud from donor truck needed to be modified,but also swapping in a sm465&np205 so I may have added more difficulties than necessary :shaking: by the way anyone have a dana 60 front for sale ???