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Butler/ Edlebrock Top End Power Packages 450-550 HP
Pontiac V8 Butler/ Edlebrock Top End Power Packages 450-550 HP
The Street Tier — Butler/ Edlebrock Top End Power Packages 450-550 HP for Pontiac V8s
The 450-550 HP top end packages are built around unported Edelbrock heads and are the street tier of Butler's packaged combinations. Heads, a port-matched intake, a Butler/Comp cam, lifters, a billet roller timing set, ARP head bolts and the gasket set all arrive chosen to work with each other rather than assembled from a wish list.
You pick D-port or round port, 72cc or 87cc, and hydraulic flat tappet or hydraulic roller. Butler also lists the Edelbrock Total Power Package top end kits and a Ram Air Port CNC version that keeps factory intake port height for Shaker and hood clearance.
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More About Butler/ Edlebrock Top End Power Packages 450-550 HP
1. Four Choices Define the Kit
Every package on this page is the same recipe with four variables, and all four come off your existing engine and your goals.
| Port style | D-port bolts to the exhaust already on the car. Round port needs Ram Air IV style headers. |
| Chamber | 72cc for compression, 87cc to keep a bigger engine happy on pump gas. |
| Cam type | Hydraulic flat tappet or hydraulic roller. This is the biggest single split in the expected output. |
| Idle quality | Butler grinds the cam to the idle and power level you ask for rather than shipping one profile. |
2. What the Numbers Look Like
Butler publishes the expected output per configuration, which is the honest way to compare flat tappet against roller before you spend.
| Hydraulic roller, D-port or round port | Rated up to 550 HP and 575 ft-lb of torque. |
| Hydraulic flat tappet, D-port | Estimated at 460 HP and 538 lb-ft. |
| Hydraulic flat tappet, round port | Estimated at 471 HP and 530 lb-ft. |
| Ram Air Port CNC version | 525-550 HP on pump gas with round port heads CNC ported to 315+ CFM. Pump gas on a 389, 400 or 428; a 350 or a 455 and up wants high octane or a dish piston. |
3. Intake Choice and the Shaker Problem
The intake in these kits is port matched to the heads, but the height is not the same across the options and it will decide whether the hood shuts.
| Performer RPM 7156 | Dual plane with the broader power curve, and in Butler's experience the most versatile street and performance intake on the market. Sits 7/8" taller than stock, so a Trans Am Shaker car needs a drop base. |
| Torker II 5056 | Single plane, slightly more peak horsepower up top, slightly less torque off idle. Only .250" taller than stock. |
| On the Ram Air Port CNC package | The point of that head is that it keeps the Ram Air IV intake port height and width while making 310-315 CFM, so a stock-height Hurricane or the Crosswind can be port matched to it. |
| Ram Air cars | Butler can swap to a stock-height Performer or Hurricane intake instead. Put the request in the order notes. |
4. What Is in the Box and What Is Not
These are the actual build kits used in Butler's own shop, so the small parts that get forgotten on a piecemeal order are in them.
| Included | Complete heads, the port-matched intake, a Butler/Comp custom grind cam with lifters, a billet roller timing set, ARP Pontiac head bolts, intake manifold bolts, valve cover gaskets, D-port reinforced exhaust gaskets, intake gaskets with the heat crossover block off, and Butler's exclusive head gaskets — the same ones used in Butler Performance engines. |
| Pushrods | A pushrod length checking tool comes in every kit, because lifter and rocker brands change the length you need. |
| Rockers | Not included. Butler stocks stainless and aluminum rockers from Comp, Scorpion, PRW, Crower and others, and recommends a 1.5 ratio so pushrod slotting is not necessary. |
| Short block | Not included. These are top end packages for an engine you already have together. |
5. If the Bottom End Is Coming Apart Too
There is one package here that crosses the line into the short block, for the builder who is doing both halves at once.
| 461-474 cu in builder package | A cast or forged 4.250" stroke rotating assembly with forged Ross custom pistons for a 4.150" to 4.211" bore, Total Seal rings, Clevite bearings, internally balanced in Butler's shop, paired with a hydraulic roller top end kit and Edelbrock RPM heads in your choice of D-port or round port. |
| Compression | 10.2-10.4:1 on 91-93 octane pump gas is included in the package as specified. |
| Block not included | The kit is designed for your block, machined by your shop. Butler will provide clearance recommendations and answer your machinist's questions. |
Pick the exhaust you are willing to live with first, then the chamber, then the cam type. If the answer comes out at more power than this tier makes, the ported 575-700 HP pump gas packages are the next step up, and they change the valve size, the intake and the octane requirement with them.
Not sure what your Pontiac needs?
Email our tech team at tech@butlerperformance.com. Tell us your engine, heads, car, and power goal, and we will put the parts together as one combination that works.