4howard

My 50th Anniversary Corvette book, (published in 2003 by the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide) says that both the 427 and the 1970 454 have the same bore and stroke, 4.25 x 3.76. It lists the 1971 and later 454 at 4.25 x 4.00. Is this a typo? If not, how could two engines with the same bore and stroke have different displacements?

And of course, which was the better engine?

Donny Brass

mathmatically speaking, they can't

vettsplit 63

Typo..... In my experience, the 3.76 motors were much quicker than the 4.0 stroke motors, everything else being equal. I could outrun LS6 454-450 HP Chevelles with my 396/375 HP Chevelle. It really torqued em off.

Others experience may vary.

1snake

My experience was quite different. My 70 LS6 Chevelle never lost a single race, street or at the track on grudge night. The 396/375 were good for one thing though,you could tie your boat to them to keep from drifting away.

Jim

amtronic1

(in inches for Cubic Inches)
Bore x bore x stroke x 0.786459 x number of cylinders.
Ex - 4" x 4" x 3" x 0.786459 x 8 = 302

Ironcross

I prefer the 427 L-88 over the 454 LS7

nassau66427

And I could outrun 396/375 HP Chevelles in my '64 327 Corvette. It really torqued em off.

(A long, long time ago running C/Stock at the local strip.)

Gettysburg

Back in 1970 I put a 454 450hp engine into my 64 Coupe. I still have the original receipt from the dealer. Would you believe that the crate motor cost me all of $749.50? Boy, how things have changed. FYI

PS: Stock bearings were junk. If you didn't replace them right off, then you spun them in a heartbeat.

a66bbvet

A couple of little parts you are leaving out of the equation, the heads and deck height. I know that on the small block, 1970 were the last year of the open chamber heads, but am not sure if that is true for the BB heads or not.

builder

It's not only the cu.in. of the engine, but the tranny, rear end ratio and most importantly, the driver that makes a car fast.
I remember my buddies 396 vs. a 454 (both Chevelles). The 396 won. It was easy to see who won, but it was close.

Derrick Reynolds

Generally speaking, the longer the stroke, the higher the torque, and the shorter the stroke, the higher the redline. The 454 is really just a "stroked" 427, so in theory at least, it has higher torque, but lower redline. Just to make things clear, the answer to the question "which is the better engine?" is "it depends". Again speaking theoretically, the 427 would be the "better" engine for road racing, and the 454 would be the "better" engine for drag racing.

ps374

My experance was even worse. My Friend had a brand new 69 Nova SS396 375HP with turbo hydromatic. First race was with a stock 4 speed 390 Mustang. The Mustang beat us with two on board in the Nova. Needless To say he was embrassed and I was shocked .

claysmoker

Oh really? Please explain how these items have anything to do with engine displacement.

DansYellow66

This is the best answer specific to your question. You will never get an overwhelming consensus as to which engine (396/427/454) is the best.

4howard

Can anybody tell me what this is?

claysmoker

Casting number on the bellhousing.

4howard

Does that tell you anything about the car, engine, transmission?

Solidlifters

That wasn't the case around here, and it's not the case with my cars that are pretty much original engine wise. By "pretty much", I mean correct clearances, ring end gaps, piston to cyl wall, align bored, bottom end set up right, and blueprinted camshafts (crane repros) in most. One thing that makes the comparison a little skewed is the intake manifolds, which depending on who you believe may have made as much as 30 HP difference between the LS6 type and all the other SHP engines that had alum. high risers. A lot of times the L78's were faster advocates around here had a tendency to want to compare L78 Novas with 3.73 gears to an LS6 that had 3.31's, which was THE common gear ratio in LS6's in this neck of the woods.



I've gotta' disagree with that too based on this: My 69 L88 Corvette is pretty much original drivetrain wise. (see "pretty much" above) So are both my LS6 cars, built to the same level of blueprinting. Although my L88 was delivered from the factory with 4.11 rear, the 1st owner fancied himself a top end racer and put a 3.08 chunk under it. It's never been changed, so that does hurt some with the M22's 2.20 first gear. My LS6 Chevelle has 3.31 and the same transmission and the two are remarkably close from a roll up to about 90 or so where the L88's lighter weight overcomes the gearing. My '69 Camaro has an LS7 crate motor. Granted it DOES have Hooker Super Comps where the other 2 cars have exhaust manifolds and smog pumps, but the Camaro is like a 44 magnum against a 9 MM by comparison with the others. There's also a '68 Biscayne in the mix that was supposed to be a 427/425 clone but somehow all those ole' L88 parts were laying around when the motor went together and it ended up as a first design L88 except it too has cast iron heads. The Camaro, granted lighter, will blister the Biscayne through the gears, even though the Camaro is 3.73 geared and the Biscayne is 4.56.

The old LS7 vs L88 debate has been around a long time. It'll probably go on until all the old guys are dead and everybody else has switched to the new LS stuff.

knight37128

nope

Procrastination Racing

I always find it interesting that there are always new books about Corvettes, especially old Corvettes, and they often get information wrong. The funny apart is that most are simply copying that information from other books or other previously published sources and yet, they still get things wrong.



As to which is the better engine, obviously the 427. Look at all the $100,000, $200,000, $500,000 Corvettes over the years that were 427s and then check how many were 454s.

The 427 will rev faster than a 454, and due to stroke, can rev higher and keep the same piston speed as the 454. However, at speeds over 7000 rpm, you only have about 10 - 12 hours of life in the rods, which you aren't punished so harshly by the 6500 in the 454.

The 454 is cleaner emissions-wise, so if that is your criteria for better, then the 454 is.

The 454 produces more torque, and on the street stop light grand prix, torque is king.