400 freshening

[bb71challenger]

I started taking my 400 apart today to see what it needs in the way of freshening up. It was rebuilt with forged slugs like 20k ago but at the stock compression ratio-go figure   
Anyway, I plan on putting KB 240 pistons in it to raise compression. I already had the heads rebuilt with the template porting done by myself and new valves put in. 2.14-1.88 are the valve sizes. At that time the machinist took .050 off the compression surface of the heads and .062 off the intake surface of the heads. I want to do this on the cheap for two reasons. One is I want a healthy motor for my car and cannot afford to do what I want which is a stroker. Two is this plan buys me time to save up for a real build.
I already have 1.6 Crane Gold roller rockers in the heads, smith bros. pushrods and a new Engle K-54 low comp cam in 3 bolt variety along with a nice billet 3 bolt timing chain. My plan is to move up to a K-56 Engle cam to take advantage of the increased compression while still remaining tame enough for a stock convertor and air conditioning. What do you guys think of the planned mods? Oh yeah, not a big difference but I am changing the intake from a Weiand dual plane to a Holley street dominator. Carb is 750 holley with proform main body and going with MSD 6AL. I have a stock orange box MP ignition also. Thanks for looking my proposed combination, all comments and ideas are welcome.

[hemiken]

Sounds like a good plan and a good way to have your car rolling under its own power while you are making the monster in the garage

[moper]

Sounds good. Just make sure the valve to piston clearance is there.

[Chryco Psycho]

Well if you have a 440 crank & rods handy I would use that & make it 451 CI

[bb71challenger]

Well if you have a 440 crank & rods handy I would use that & make it 451 CI

I do have a 68 HP 440 with a nice crank and rods but I dont know that I have the money to get the crank cut right now. What is the part number of the 451 pistons?

[71chally416]

I'd just use the 440. Ain't worth the expense to cut the crank and have to rebalance for just a few more cubes.    Even a cheapo re-ring rebuild of a '68 440 will run circles around a low compression 400 

[Chryco Psycho]

440 Source lists all the pistons on their site for different bore & head combos
 I tend to disagree , it is worth building the 451 as it is basically a 440 with approx 7 lbs removed from the rotating mass , they rev very fast compared to a 440

[71chally416]

With any kind of stock ported heads it's a 5,500 / 6K motor max anyway before it  runs out of head and throws out the anchor    It would be a no-brainer to me if I had the two motors to choose from and a limited budget for a street car. If you have the $$$ to convert to a stroker motor then it's a different story.

[bb71challenger]

Thanks for the replies guys, it gives me something to chew on. The main reason I am getting pistons for the 400 is because I have everything for it. I have no aftermarket intake for the 440, no distributor for one, etc. The 400 is a b so I can put my old 383 stuff on it with no problems and its already done except for healthy compression. I want to do a stroker motor but I want to take my time and do it right. My stroker will most likely only be a 451 or 470, maybe a 500 at the very most. I know where I can get another 71 231 400 engine like the one I already have for cheap so that is what I will probably use to build my stroker.

[71chally416]

There is no "etc" because that's the only difference if you have the complete 440. If you're not anal about the .001 second difference in the different Intakes, the Torker will work just fine and you can pick one up on Ebay for dirt. Likewise with a 440 electronic distributor.

 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Edelbrock-TORKER-II-for-MoPar-413-426-440-RB_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem2c5050b2d4QQitemZ190326026964QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1978-440-MOPAR-DISTRIBUTOR-CHRYSLER-DODGE-303856_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem35a2e25450QQitemZ230366008400QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

There ya go. Less than half the cost of a new set of Pistons. 

[bb71challenger]

I see your logic and agree with it in the general sense of things but there are factors to be considered besides those. Although the engine only had 68k on it, there is a noticeable ridge you can catch your nail on so right then and there in my eyes that demands an overbore and pistons. It is the machining costs that bother me most. Here in this small town there is only one machinist worth messing with and he charges premium prices. Even at regular prices I just cannot afford to sink too much money into an engine right now if I have any hopes of getting my car on the road by next summer. Those are excellent prices on the parts and I appreciate you looking them up and posting them.   

[71chally416]

Took about 2 minutes.