I finally got a 454 engine and wanted to know some things about what I can do with it.
I know on small blocks valve lift is limited to the guides and the rocker studs, on a stock peanut port head what it the maximum safe lift I can go with stock valve guides? Are all BB heads dual valve springs? What is considered conservative cam wise, I know a torque/rv performer cam for small blocks is convervative but what would be tame for a street 454 with a stock converter? Do all BB heads have screw in studs?
Anything else I should be aware of/ informed of before I venture into the dark side?
Thank you greatly in advance!

hey slow80sc,,
well,, i'll give ya my 2 cents on the peanut heads. if you cam those heads for more than 5000 rpm,, you're pretty much wasting your time/money unless you plan on putting some larger ovals on there pretty soon after..... they give airflow up just before that,, so lift isn't important so much as far as valve guide to retainer/seal clearance with the low rpm/low lift matched cam. plenty of clearance with a matched cam for the low rpm ability of those peanut port heads.

you'll be plenty fine with a 268he comp cams so to speak. i wouldn't go over that much cam for the most part,, especially if you're not upping compression at all. this cam really works pretty well with at least 9.0 compression. you "can" use a stock converter with that cam,, but would do alot better with a 2000-2500 stall converter. and especially if you're not upping compression. or you could do the 260he and have it ground on narrower lobe separation angle like 108 to have a slight lope and gobs of low to midrange torque. could probably do that one with stock compression to get you on the road and driving. it's only just slightly bigger than the RV cam,, and works well with the stock gearing and converter.

for the most part,, bbc heads of a stock nature for the light trucks and for the non-hi-performance/non-high compression engines come with a single spring with a flat wound dampener in them. i'd swap em' if you change cams,, to get the right ones for the cam.

all bbc heads of the older generation have 7/16"x7/16" screw in studs. they are coarse thread in the head and fine thread for the rocker nut. 14 threads per inch in the head,, and 20 threads per inch for the rocker nuts.

informed before venturing? well,, it gets a little bit more expensive with the bbc. also,, make sure you have the right matching flexplate/flywheel and balancer/damper. they're externally balanced on the 454 engines. once you pass the .500 lift mark,, i'd start considering a better set of pushrods/guide plates and maybe at least some roller tip rockers. the stock 5/16" pushrods are pretty wimpy if you start floating valves. worth saying again,, make sure to run the matching springs/retainers for the cam that you get. also,, start putting back some $$ for tires and traction aids!! hope this gets you started with it. welcome to the dark side!!

I forgot to mention I bought the engine complete from the yoke of the t400 trans to the fan. It must be a reman engine with the old suffix on the block with the newer heads? I will probably just swap intake and carb for now and drive it around for the summer. The engine is supposed to have just over 60K and it shows, it's very clean inside. Too bad a 600 holley wouldn't get it around for the summer!

slow,, a 600cfm holley would get it arround just fine.