Paul67

After much research and consideration, I decide to swap the 46 year old BBC for a ZZ454, in fact it arrived yesterday!

I ordered it from Jeg's last Friday and it arrived yesterday (Wednesday), the delivery was very soomth and uneventful.

I've been turning the wrench on it already, getting it ready to swap parts, new oil pan, flywheel, water pump...

There have been a couple pleasant surprises so far.

The clutch boss is threaded, I had heard some others weren't AND the rocker arms are adjustable. I was expecting the non adjustable bolt thru the rocker arm, but it came with traditional rocker arm bolts, now I wish I ordered heavier springs and a bigger cam. I did however order the ZZ502 cam and I'm planning to do the swap while the engine is still on the stand.

I do have a couple questions that I could use some help with:
1 - the stock exhaust manifolds do in fact hit the lower cylinder head bolts, does anyone have the arp part number for the bolts which will clearance?
2 - in terms of setting the valve lash, the ZZ502 cam is a zero lash cam, I'm familiar with traditional hydraulic and solids, just not rollers, so is zero lash equal to the push rod being under slight resistance when it is being twisted in my fingers?

Thanks

cv67

Same as your flat tappet. When you cant move the pushrod up/down go ahead and give it the recommended preload.

Nowhere Man

The stock crate bb oil pan is for a 65-74 vette

Paul67

I'm using in the recommend GM pan 10185076.

Nowhere Man

last I checked thats the one that comes on the crate engines. please compare and post the results

Paul67

The pan that came with the ZZ454 was 10240721 which is a 6 qt pan, I didn't want to give up the 1.5 inches of clearance. So, I used the 10185076 4 qt pan which came as part of a kit (12495360) which included the sump, dip stick, and pan gasket.

67-427ci

You will like the zz454. I installed the same engine in my 67 several years ago and have since driven it over 50,000 miles. I did not change the head bolts and just ground clearance on the original exhaust manifolds.
Roy

mikem350

I did the same swap to VicZ's '64 and just ground the manifolds couple places..no big deal. Also did not change the pan and everything fit, including the AC. Not having to worry about the cross shaft is a BIG plus!!

Yes I had to fabricate the notch in the crossmember...(for pre 65)

aworks

I just put a ZZ454 in my 69. I used the same pan you are. Works perfect even with PS. I wish I had changed the cam. I knew it was very mild but it is way too mild. Part of the reason I did not change the cam was I thought it came with the zero lash rockers and did not want to spend more buying all the parts needed to change it to adjustable. Fooled me.

I left the intake it came with and put a 750 Holley on it. As far as the head bolts, I have Hooker side pipes on the 69 and just ground the flanges for clearance needed. You should be very happy with that motor. I know I am.

Paul67

Thanks for all the input.

BTW i researched and found the specs from GM and the lash on the ZZ454 and ZZ502 are 1/8 turn after zero.

I'll document and post the swap for those who are interested.

I hope to find time to complete it before month end.

HuskerBullet

Hey guys, I got a tool from this website that helps you to adjust valve lashes. It's simply a magnetic vinyl strip with graphics wrapped around your harmonic balancer that shows you each valve to be adjusted. It's cheap and pretty cool, I've used it on my C6 after I replaced the OEM rockers with a set of Comp Cams 1.85:1 rollers where the engine started up immediately, ran smoothly, no noise, and I didn't have to do a "fine tune" of readjustment later on.



Anyway, just thought I'd mention that. Good Luck!

nfran

Just got my new GM ZZ454 all ready to put into my 65. I also ground down the manifolds for clearing the head bolts, didn't want to disturb that nice factory torque setting on the heads. It's all dressed up in the engine bay.