350 to 454 swap...is it worth it?

[baclay9]

As some of you know I am currently building an 83 Swb fom the frame up. My plan has been to just put the plain Jane 350 back in it. I have kindof had another motor dropped in my lap and I just don't know what to do.

When my dad bought his 84 3/4 ton 4x4 it had a pretty hot 454 in it built by Watson Rupel Performance up in Ohio. He has never been real happy with it due to it's fairly big lope and it didn't do real good running his a/c without turning the idle up. He broke down and bought a 454 crate motor and we pulled his 454 today and broke it down to a long block. He gets a $600 core for sending it back to the motor company.

After tearing it down though I am seriously considering putting it in my 1/2 ton. I don't know alot about engine stuff but it looks like a very well built motor. From what I can see it has crane cams roller rockers on it. I assume it has a crane cam in it as well but really don't know how to tell. I also don't know how to tell if it has a good set of heads on it. The intake ports are oval. It is a 4 bolt main block and I believe it is bored .60 over. I had a guy that looked at it tell me it had Teflon coated pistons. I think he said they were "speed pro pistons" (dos that sound right?) He also showed me where the crank had been balanced. He said it was most likely a really good motor.

I was curious if it sounded like this might be a pretty strong motor to you guys. Any other suggestions of things to look for. How do I tell if it has a good set of heads on it? All my dad wants for it is the core charge of $600.

I was also curios how hard it would be to slip this into my 1/2 ton backed by my TH350?