1992 Silverado Sport ‘SS454 clone’
This setup is very popular especially in the 2wd trucks which led me to improve upon it using a Vortec 350 and replacing the factory roller cam with a Lunati 20080660 roller camshaft for more power and better reliability and listed that setup under my recommended engines page as engine number 2.
Scott @ LKN Speed set out to build a potent, low-budget Vortec TBI smallblock package for customers and used his own work truck as the test mule. The goal was 200hp/300tq at the rear wheels and 20mpg- all on 87 octane fuel! The engine package is very basic- just a good combination of parts that work well together:
GM ‘010’ 2 bolt block, bored .060-over, HME coated bearings Speed Pro flat top pistons, stock rods and crank- balanced 9.7:1 compression
Vortec ‘906’ heads, with ‘street port’ special, 3 angle seats + summit 1.94/1.5 valves
Comp 212/218, .449/.458 flat tappet cam and matching valve springs
stock GM rocker arms, Summit stage-1 intake + trans-dapt center mount TBI adapter UNPORTED stock 42mm 450cfm GM 5.7 throttle body
Custom chip/fuel pump/spring kit from Brian @TBIchips
Summit 1.5/2.5 shorty headers, flowmaster collector, magnaflow 3″ hi flow cat, and flowmaster super44 muffler.
Stock GM air cleaner with Holley element and lid Auto Specialties underdrive crank pulley stock 700-R4 trans, stock converter, and 3.08 gears.
the dyno sheet shows a run with factory manifolds and y-pipe, as well as a run with the headers and flowmaster collector. ALL runs were on 87 octane fuel!!!!!
Here is a video of the truck on the dyno:
This truck is a blast to drive! A true ‘sleeper’, with a throaty exhaust note and barely noticeable idle. Smoke shows arent a problem, and a rolling punch will easily put those newer trucks (and a few musclecars) in the rear view mirror! Driven with a light right foot, this combination sees 17mpg city and19-20mpg highway on a regular basis, and is very happy on 87 octane!
I must say that 245hp and 308lbs torque at the rear wheels are some impressive numbers for small headers, stock throttle body bore and stock air cleaner base. Also note that Scott gained 18hp and 21lbs of torque by changing out that Y pipe piece and that is a significant gain for not much $$. I believe this combo still has at least another 20hp or so even with 87 octane fuel.
Using a conservative 20% drivetrain loss that calculates to 308hp and 385lbs of torque at the flywheel which are some good truck numbers and I feel 20% is a little low for drivetrain loss but we don’t want to exaggerate numbers either. The fact that it runs very smooth with 100hp more than a stock TBI truck and 85lbs more torque is the important thing here. This engine has great low end torque and is the reason Scott can still get away with running those wimpy 3.08 gears.
