396/375 cam for street 454?

[Jim Ferron]

Just a couple notes, my brother has that cam in his 454 and it's fine...maybe a little small. Second, I'm not so sure 820's are the head to use...781's or 049's are the perferred OC smog head, I believe the intake runner are the big difference..Dirt cheap as well, couple hundred bucks a set.
Third, certainly you don't have to change the valve seats to go to the bigger valve no matter which of the three heads you use. Just hog out what's already there.

What will be VERY inportant will be to unshroud the valves in the combustion chamber. You'll see with the big valves, when they are open, they come very close to the wall of the chamber. ANY machinest will/should know to use a grinder to remove material around the edges...to allow for better flow with the big valves.