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Originally Posted by Berg
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Right or wrong that's the direction I went when I replaced the 396 in our Chevelle. I opted for the 454 HO, there is a Chevy dealer, Rinke Chevrolet, that is one of the biggest sellers of Chevy crate engines anywhere. They have them stacked up in rows. Anyway they offered the best price so I picked one up. A 502 would have been nice but I wanted to stay with a mechanical fuel pump. I also needed the threaded boss for the 4 spd clutch Z-bar. Is it the best engine for the price? I don't know but it's a roller cam so no worries about wiping a cam because of low ZDDP levels. Had some oil burning issues, replaced the intake manifold gasket twice and pretty much cleaned that up.
Comes with essentially an Edlebrock RPM intake. Has the Chevy bowtie cast in it but looks identical to the RPM performer I had on the 396. Comes with flexplate, I had to replace that with a flywheel. Does not come with ignition, carb or other accessories but valve covers and all the other accessories from the 396 bolted right on. It does come with valve covers but I wanted to use the old chrome ones off the 396. I can't say it's the best engine available for the money but it runs on pump gas, has torque (500 ft lbs) that won't quit and runs good and strong. What's really nice is the torque starts right out of the gate and just continues through the RPM range.
There are other engines available for the same or less so you need to weigh all the factors. Just saying that it is an option and not necessarily a bad one.