So a started a little upgrade.

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Joined
Sep 26, 2022
Posts
12
Location
Aurora, CO
My 1990 Rockwood 36' that can tip in at 20,000 with 8 passengers has a slug of a 454. So i looked into options to increase power and I dove in head first.

Heres a List:
AFR 265 Heads (Best of Breed, Top Shelf stuff)
1664248190079.png

Weiand Intake
Weiand Street Warrior Intake Manifolds 8123WND
Street Demon 625CFM (Low RPM engines we want faster flow through the carb at lower speeds. 750 is too big)

1664247433594.png
AFR Aluminum Roller Rockers
1664247533446.png
ACCEL SuperBox CD Ignition
1664247578120.png
HEI Mag Pickup Dizzie
1664247608896.png

Howards Cams Hydraulic Roller Lifters
1664247690949.png
110 GPH Mech Fuel Pump
1664247738999.png
Headers
1664247761419.png

Custom ground cam

1664247802161.png
SECOND! A/C Compressor, Condenser, EVAP/Heater unit.
1664247919685.png

The Parts list is approaching 8K. But me and the builders I have been working with expect 550+ ft/lbs and 500-600 HP depending on my exhaust setup.
Some other things include:
  • Dual remote oil-filter mount.
  • 2x Transmission coolers +fans
  • 2 Pass Oil Cooler
  • Belt Fan Delete
  • 6x 9" electric fans on radiator
  • 110A alt upgrade (it had a 35A on it. that explains a lot)
  • Digital Oil, Water, Trans, temp meters
  • AFR Meter
  • MORE!

 
A carburetor? Mechanical distributor? Cam driven fuel pump? If it were me I'd look into actually bringing into the modern age with throttle body injection, electronic distributorless ignition and an electric fuel pump. I would also look at some of the performance curves for those parts (cam grind et al) and make sure they match the torque curve you need at low RPM and not redline/dragstrip profile. When you figure most of your time is spent below 4K RPM some of the upper shelf parts like roller lifters and rockers are a bit superfluous. The performance parts you might look at are what they put in marine engines, where output is continuous duty and not in 10 second intervals.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
 
Wow!

All I can say is that if I were to spend that kind of money on a 454 I'd stick it in a Chevelle, Nova or Camaro and live with the weak RV performance - LOL...
I live and play at altitude. The power reduction drops that stock slug well under 200HP. Cant go to the mountains. Any hill keeps me under 30 and overheats the drivetrain from struggling so much. One of these days the RV will have shuffled of this mortal coil. But it is a registered organ donor....

I see you have a P30 as well. Imagine it at 20Klbs and 12Kft with a toad!
 
Last edited:
A carburetor? Mechanical distributor? Cam driven fuel pump? If it were me I'd look into actually bringing into the modern age with throttle body injection, electronic distributorless ignition and an electric fuel pump. I would also look at some of the performance curves for those parts (cam grind et al) and make sure they match the torque curve you need at low RPM and not redline/dragstrip profile. When you figure most of your time is spent below 4K RPM some of the upper shelf parts like roller lifters and rockers are a bit superfluous. The performance parts you might look at are what they put in marine engines, where output is continuous duty and not in 10 second intervals.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
EFI can be done later. You have an extra 2K to shove this build up to $10k? Then I will do it. It is a Street Demon carb, designed in this century. Not a 70yo ELDERbrock. EFI cost a straight up 3k to do, the carb and spark I did was about $600. ALSO, Dizzieless spark on a 454? I want LINKS!

Electric fuel pumps that do 110GPH at 8PSI are hard to find. Absolutely nothing wrong with mech fuel pumps on a carb.

You might have noticed I mentioned a custom grind. I will be making power at 1200RPM. The curve will be more or less flay and falling off around 5200-5500rpm.

Marine parts are 100% WRONG. They are redline parts. Boats produce NO power at low RPM. They only run balls to the wall.

Trust me, I've done research, paid a consultant, invested 8k into a BEAST engine. Part of the goal is to be able to dolly tow at 12Kft.

You had nothing positive to say, only negs, and most negs were totally off base mostly unwarranted and quite frankly insulting. You are not a project manager. You just get to watch. If i have questions i will reach out. k?
It's seems as though we both would have been better off without your post. Please consider others feelings. I have months of research and a huge chunk of change invested. Why would you be like that?
 
Wow you are not exaggerating when you say you dove in headfirst. Very nice. It is a bummer that the heads are on backorder. Hopefully that does not hold you up too long.
 
Why would you be like that?
I guess almost half a century of working on cars, trucks, motorcycles and now a P32 with an 8.1 has me set in my ways. Thing about a public forum is that you might get input that doesn't always match up to what you think it ought to be. You can do whatever you can afford, I'm not telling you what to do. You *asked* for input and got it, whether you find it useful for your purpose or not. I'm always interested in reading about what people do and learn from it. I find value in input from those with a different perspective even if it doesn't align with mine. If a technical post on a forum hurts your feelings I think maybe you better find one that better matches your sensitivity, sophistication and superior technical acumen.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
 
I guess almost half a century of working on cars, trucks, motorcycles and now a P32 with an 8.1 has me set in my ways. Thing about a public forum is that you might get input that doesn't always match up to what you think it ought to be. You can do whatever you can afford, I'm not telling you what to do. You *asked* for input and got it, whether you find it useful for your purpose or not. I'm always interested in reading about what people do and learn from it. I find value in input from those with a different perspective even if it doesn't align with mine. If a technical post on a forum hurts your feelings I think maybe you better find one that better matches your sensitivity, sophistication and superior technical acumen.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
Dude, I NEVER ASKED FOR INPUT. But you provided was off base negative and unproductive input.
Show me a Dizzieless ignition you said i need to have?
You didnt hurt my feelings. You had nothing nice to say but you said it anyway. Your snide reply about your techical prowess is irrelevant. Your input was not solicited and was recieved and rejected as uninformed confrontational blather. I already dispelled your off base claims on "Marine" parts being correct, my heads being wrong, my custom ground cam not right for the low RPMs, but a boat cam made for redline is.

How many BBC builds do you have under your belt. Imma guess less than me.

Take a seat man. Your input is not requested or needed here.

73s for now.
 
Last edited:
I guess almost half a century of working on cars, trucks, motorcycles and now a P32 with an 8.1 has me set in my ways. Thing about a public forum is that you might get input that doesn't always match up to what you think it ought to be. You can do whatever you can afford, I'm not telling you what to do. You *asked* for input and got it, whether you find it useful for your purpose or not. I'm always interested in reading about what people do and learn from it. I find value in input from those with a different perspective even if it doesn't align with mine. If a technical post on a forum hurts your feelings I think maybe you better find one that better matches your sensitivity, sophistication and superior technical acumen.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM


Also, include the passage with context. not just one line. Why am i not surprised you manipulated a quote to suite you? Here is the part you missed.
You had nothing positive to say, only negs, and most negs were totally off base mostly unwarranted and quite frankly insulting. You are not a project manager. You just get to watch. If i have questions i will reach out. k?
It's seems as though we both would have been better off without your post. Please consider others feelings. I have months of research and a huge chunk of change invested. Why would you be like that?
 
Wow! That looks like a fun project.
Are you building a motor to drop in your rig, or planning to rebuild the one you have in it now?

I wanna come down and see it when you're done.
 
Wow! That looks like a fun project.
Are you building a motor to drop in your rig, or planning to rebuild the one you have in it now?
I am building in situ. The 454 even at 600HP is still less than 1.25 per cube. So bottom end work is not required. I am removing the heads and cam from the engine in the rig. The work is actually not that bad. easy enough to get to the headers, everything else from the top. My biggest concern is I might need to remove the radiator to put in the cam. That will be an extra day or 2. I sure hope not. Nice enclosed place to work in though
I am doing major work right now. The TBI wiring has been pulled back and i am ready to remove it from the firewall. I am going to scavenge the wires from it that match the correct color codes for the different systems, keeping them stock.
I have already added a relay/fuse block to support the cooling fans (and train horn). By the time the heads arrive, all the supporting work will be done.
Are you near the Buttes?
 
Wow you are not exaggerating when you say you dove in headfirst. Very nice. It is a bummer that the heads are on backorder. Hopefully that does not hold you up too long.
Summit says Oct 16th. But I have my suspicions. The date was 9-23, then 12-6, now, 10-15. Highly sus.
 
I live and play at altitude. The power reduction drops that stock slug well under 200HP. Cant go to the mountains. Any hill keeps me under 30 and overheats the drivetrain from struggling so much. One of these days the RV will have shuffled of this mortal coil. But it is a registered organ donor....

I see you have a P30 as well. Imagine it at 20Klbs and 12Kft with a toad!

I lived as a kid out west so I know hills. I also drove my rig to AZ/NM/NV last summer. Highest elevation was about 7500' and some speeds as low as 45mph.

It's not so much the elevation but the grade that gets ya... I do have the advantage on mine as it's EFI so the mixture stays "about" right.

You are definitely doing the right thing.
 
I lived as a kid out west so I know hills. I also drove my rig to AZ/NM/NV last summer. Highest elevation was about 7500' and some speeds as low as 45mph.

It's not so much the elevation but the grade that gets ya... I do have the advantage on mine as it's EFI so the mixture stays "about" right.

You are definitely doing the right thing.
I really wish I had EFI. But the cost is too much. I can use my HEI dizzie and CDI if i get to do the EFI upgrade sometime. Either way it will hit mid 500's or more.

I had a sheriffs deputy follow me for 8 mile hoping i would touch those lines, speed, whatever so he could pull me over. Down a windy pass. Screw him. I did better than him and he had to turn around at the CO line. I think people called me in for being slow on hills. Managing heat while crawling a hills or brakes downhill isnt fun for me either. With a stronger engine, I get better compression breaking as well...


Thanks for your support..
 
Our prior RV was a 37’ triple axle, triple slide 5th wheel. Tow vehicle was Dodge 2500 with the Cummins, 2 wheel drive, single cab, 5 speed stick with engine brake. Got on a really long uphill grade in Utah had to downshift to second and crawl uphill with the diesel screaming at redline. But that was okay because the Cummins folks that installed the engine brake said those motors liked to be run full out. Coming down the other side was easy; third gear with foot off the gas, engine brake engaged holding the speed at about 45. That was 23 years ago.
 
Back
Top Bottom