Can some one tell me if the gm502 valve train is comparable with a gen6 (1999) 454 vortec?

I bought the 454 with all intentions of going carb'd, leaving it stock and putting it into an 82 square body 4x4.... buuuuuut I found a guy with an intake, cam, valve springs/retainers/pedistal/pushrods for 500 bucks.

However, the last thing I want to do is buy parts that I either can't use or damn well shouldn't run.

Is this completely doable?
If so, what exactly do I need? (the dealer and parts stores here don't know anything for certain abou these motors)

and of corse... Would this be a good upgrade or money well wasted?

 

The valve-train components are cross-compatible between the Gen VI 454’s and the 502’s to a degree, but the 502’s have been built in the common configurations of Gen V & VI and the few and far between Mark 4 versions. The Mark 4 variety is so rare that most people don’t even realize they exist. When GM Performance released the 502 to the public it was already of the Gen V variety, but in the years prior Mercruiser already had the Mark 4 version and you could pick one up from dealers like Sallee Chevrolet in Oregon. The Gen V’s started being installed in 1994 in light duty trucks and with it came net-lash rocker arms, where-as the Mark 4 motors had adjustable rockers. To run a larger than stock cam in a motor with net-lash rockers as Gen V & VI’s it would be the easiest to run conversion studs to convert back to an adjustable valve-train, however due to the reduced size of the conversion studs, they are not the strongest items in the world and depending on valve-spring pressures and so on, it would actually be better to have the heads drilled and tapped for regular big-block 7/16” rocker studs for an adjustable valve-train. The Gen V / VI motors simply have the rocker arm bolts torqued to 40 lb ft. As to whether or not the parts the gentleman has for sale is worth using would depend on how 502 they came from. There are 3 common versions and they all have different camshafts. There is the HT 502 which came with a 204/209 .480/.483 hydraulic roller. There is the 502 HO which came with a 211/230 .510/.540 112 hydraulic roller. Then there is the ZZ 502 which came with a 224/234 .527/.544 110 hydraulic roller. The old Mark 4 versions used a hydraulic flat tappet camshaft and wouldn’t be anything you’re interested in. The HT 502 cam would be worthless as well as it is basically the same as the cam that is already in your motor, but either the 502 HO or ZZ 502 would be a good upgrade over the stock cam. If the intake is the factory aluminum dual plane from the 502 you can figure it has a new retail price of around $250 and one of the 502 hydraulic rollers has a new retail of around $160 to $175 depending on which cam you purchased. You can pick up a Comp hydraulic roller for around $270 new just for reference. The valve spring kit for the ZZ 502 costs $84 new.

So outside of retainers and other small parts, you could purchase the main hard parts for around a little over $500, so no I don’t think what the gentleman is asking is a deal at all for used parts with an unknown history.

 

I'm guessing he has the zz502, but all he said is that it was a gm crate engine with 502hp/502#trq.


I chickened out on the cam swap for now.


Another problem I ran into though is that I have no accessory brackets at all.
Pretty much a bare engine with only a water pump.
I don't know if I need to retain the serpentine system or if any older BBC brackets will bolt up...


Any one have a complete belt set up for cheap or know of a site that has one for a good price with will bolt right onto this motor?
I can't justify $1000 in acc. parts on a $750 dollar motor in a $1500 truck.

I considered going electric fans too, but I was talked out of it.

 

The older generation brackets will fit without any real issues; the problem will lay with the bolts. The newer engines use metric fasteners and you would have to size and purchase all new bolts. If you drop all the way back to a v-belt arrangement; you will also need to purchase a standard rotation water pump. You should be able to pick up a set of brackets from a salvage yard and save a ton over what new will cost. They may be a little crusty being iron, but a coat of paint will go a long way.

 

So it's the bolts that are the issue...?

Sounds easy enough (I believe I said this when I desided to do this swap.....) providing I can buy/order bolts through almost any parts store.

 

I forgot to ask;
Will the pulleys from an older BBC work on this newer engine, or would I need a certain size/bolt setup?

 

Back from the dead with another snag....

The accel distributor I planed on using needed the brass gear swapped, so I had the oem brass distributor gear's center machined to .500 or w/e it is to fit this distributor and I stabbed it in best I could.

Today, while a buddy was helping me do a quick saftety on my new-to-me truck, he noticed the rotor on my distributor was turning freely and we found out that the gear on the end is sliding just beyond the cam gear before it his the oil pump.
When you spin the rotor and lift up slightly, you can feel the cam gears barely touching...If you lift the distributor about a 1/8 to 1/4", the cam gear meshes perfect.

This raises the question of weather I installed the cam gear and the small pieces just above the gear correctly....?

Does anyone have a breakdown/assembly picture I can use for refference to verify?
Or Is my intake's distributor hole some sort of "low profile" setup ment for a different distributor??

(this is all new teritory to me so I haven't a clue!)

 

When mismatching components things can go awry, as without measuring the parts, who can say whether or not the hole in the gear for the pin is even in the same location. You will need to get some gear marking compound to check the gear mesh and go from there. You may find that you need to take your distributor gear back to the machine shop to have a new hole drilled at the proper height for the Accel distributor you’re now using. I understand you wanting to use the melonized gear, but you can get distributor gears besides bronze to work with the steel roller cam. Comp has composite distributor gears that reputed to last 300 times longer than bronze when used with steel blank camshafts.

 

I was just re-using the factory gear to save 130 for the plasic/composit type I was quoted on last fall. lol
Trying to keep costs low to keep the wife from tearing into me

The gears, distributor lengths, roll pin position, ect, all looked identical except for the cap portion obviously.
Only differences were center shaft size as far as I could tell.

The motor is stock right now (300hp/400# trq according to mr.google) but I'll be going with headers, 650 DP carb for now and maybe a cam upgrade in the future.
Nothing crazy, unless I come into some sort of win-fall



I'm just wondering for simplicity sake if a different distributor would drop right in and save me some time/work.

Would a older factory (read cheap) distributor work just as well on the Gen6, or am I going venturing into grey teritory again mixing old and new tech?