Project Hunk-O- Junk, Part 4

Car Craft’s Boneyard Big-Block Chevy Gets a Cam, Heads, and Intake Swap

- Richard Holdener

Please let us know, are you guys getting sick of the Hunk-o-Junk 454 yet? We hope not, because we have even bigger plans for it, including upgrading the heads and cam right frickin’ now! For the newbies, a walk down memory lane is in order, so for the loyal Car Craft followers, please feel free to talk amongst yourselves as we bring the new kids up to speed. This all began with a trip to our local Pick-a- Part, where we yanked out a Gen VI 454 from a 1-ton Suburban. After a quick dust off and the replacement of the factory EFI with a simple dual-plane intake, carb, and distributor, the 454 pumped out 378 hp at 4,700 rpm and thumped out 482 lb-ft of torque at 3,500 pm. We followed up the stock runs with a quick shot of juice from a Holley Sniper nitrous system.

Nothing adds an extra 125 hp quicker (or easier) than a nitrous kit, but as much as we liked exceeding 500 hp with the nitrous, we longed for that power level on motor alone. After performing a cam and valve spring swap in Part 3 of our adventure, we saw a sizable jump in power from 378 hp (in stock trim, no nitrous) to 427 hp. The cam swap also improved the peak torque output from 482 to 504 lb-ft, but like everyone else, we wanted more!