Have a 75 Challenger with a 461 Olds. Did a mild rebuild in October and ran ok. Was still working the bugs out when a week ago at Elsinore I was racing Eric and it died in the water. Wouldn't start and sounded like crap. Kept the Olds for nastalgia and to beat up on all the guys that go chevy but it's just not fesable. The aftermarket world is huge for chevy parts and lets face it, trying to get parts for my Olds is like trying to pull my son's tooth when it's loose. Here are some pics of the destruction. I pulled the heads off, i've never seen heads that the valve seats are removable, but they fell out and slammed into my pistons. I also noticed that the ring landing was blown out on my #3 and 5 pistons. So when I saw this I threw in the towel on that Olds and hopped on the chevy band wagon. I have been wanting a big block ever since I bought my 79 camaro at 15 years old. (still have the car and it runs 11's in stock trim) So here we go! Need parts still and maybe some advice. After I saw the destruction to my Olds I went straight to Ecology and picked up a 454 for $230! Going to pull the heads off tomorrow, if the cylinders look good i'll run it for the rest of the year with just a cam swap and head rebuild. If not, i'll have to bump the compression up with some flat tops and possibly stroke it out.

Tore down the 454 today. Cylinders measured out at 4.251 on all. Still hash marks in em'. Bearings looked alright, not good but not bad. I think it may have overheated at some point because the oil that came out of the main caps smelled burnt. Went to go drop it off at Machine Tech in Oceanside but they talked me out of dropping it off saying that "the stock pistons, rods and heads will just break in my application" and that they want to see the Olds motor. Saying that the Olds had more potential. I don't see how that works when I can't find parts for the dang thing. I went and did some research and found that the only difference between marine and auto engines are brass freeze plugs, cam and some other small things. Nothing huge though. So i'll drop it off tomorrow for sure to get the block cleaned, mag'd, crank polished, heads and pistons tanked. Not going to anything special on this build. Just looking for something reliable I can race around a bit but more importantly have fun! Anybody have any ideas for a Cam? Looking for a kit with springs, retainers, etc. Oh yeah! Lucked out and got a 4 bolt main. Gotta call the Dealer tomorrow and find out all the specs, Comp ratio, cam specs, heads, etc.

pics

That must be one seriously Old School machine shop.   I think I would shop around for another place that builds boat motors for today instead of 1969.   I love my Olds, but there is nothing that a properly built BBC won't do better.  The Chevy will make more torque, more HP, more RPMs, and will stay together longer under a heavy foot.   Oh yeah, and it will cost less to build.  Damn I hope no one reads what I just wrote.  Its gonna be bad for my rep   

If you have an undamaged N crank I might be interested.   Call me a glutton for punishment, but it the only part of my 800 hp 1000 ft/lb 482 cu. in. Olds that I don't have yet.   
Seriously though, I have one crank but I think a std. one would be better for what I'm doing.

. . .  but if you are pushing that much power I doubt stock rods would hold no matter what hardware is in em'.

Only in my dreams      Most everyone on here knows my boat and understands when I hoist the Olds flag that I have tongue firmly implanted in cheek.  Other will tell you it is more like head implanted in azz .     Run whatchu brung, that's how I roll (for now).
My longterm plan is to build the largest amount of torque for the least amount of cash that I can.  I figure offset ground stroker is as cheap as it gets.  Keep me in your prayers    (and let me know when you have looked it over real good.)

Yeah they are the peanut heads. I already have square ports lined up. 

Still looking for parts but here's what I got so far. Basset Headders, free (thanks Nick!!!). Machined block polished crank resized rods with ARP bolts $543. Mallory Unilite Billet Distributor with wires and coil, flexplate and driveshaft adapter $200. 049 casting heads from a way cool dude up north, $250. And just bought a marine cam (270) from Comp with springs, lifters, retainers, locks and seals for $450. Anyone know where I can get a single plane victor oval port intake, mounts, roller rockers 1.7, and sick valve covers for cheap let me know! I need an oil pan too but I may just make my own out of the stock auto one. On a budget and trying to get this thing ready for Blue Water this month.

new stuff 

 

Valve covers

Modified Auto pans for cars in my previous life. Can be done, in this application I would only consider a rear sump to do so on, but honestly, drop the few bucks for an Armando's pan or a Dooley. You'll thank yourself, and me, later.

Personally, I've used a couple Milodon Jet Boat Pans with zero problems, but apparently, several others on the site have had issues. I'll leave it at that, not going to get into improper install and all that crap, but I have one running currently, and the other that is not running was NOT due to a problem with that pan.  Held 90 PSI at 6000 rpm every time. Take that recomendation  for what it's worth.

Ray 

Spent another $440 today on the correct flexplate, Air Gap intake and bolt kit for the coupler flange. Also got the heads on. Piston to valve clearance was .089. Hope it's good!