Just having a '454' doesn't automatically make something fast, as the OP learned - that engine was made for a LONG time in a LOT of different configurations (from high compression badass muscle car mills to super low compression ****ty 70s smog era crap). Don't get me wrong, with that many cubes the potential is always there...but people automatically think 'fast' when they hear '454', and that's often not the case.