Mild 440 street rebuild

[challengerjeff]

For the record, I already knew the answer to this question.  But I wanted to get it out there.  You should talk to someone who knows cams for your CI and application/goals ect.  and get a recommendation.

Don

Ok, I thought you were referring to my application.  I think the 20230712 is probably the one for me.  I'm not trying to get the maximum performance just trying to build a reliable street engine.

[joelson6]

OMG guys 

you guys are jumping right into stroker engines when he might not even need it. you gotta develop a plan with
how much HP you want and go from there.


if you want some feedback, here it goes.


what do you mainly want to do with the car? figure that out first. second, get the mopar performance engines
book and read through the big block section a couple times. i did this before i ever built my first 440. it will give
you a better understanding of all the components and how they work together. they have a guideline for what
you'll need in your car to run a certain bracket. 13 sec, 12 sec, 11 sec 1/4 miles. stuff like, what heads you need,
cam & lifters, oiling, intake and carb, exhaust. once you figure about how where you want to be, then use it as
a "guide" to get what parts fit that bracket. i did it with my first 440 and it was pretty dead on with the book.



now some input about your engine. motor home engine = external balance. YUK! i would recommend, at least,
take the engine apart, have it checked for the bore, crank and rods. then get new pistons and have the whole assembly
zero balanced with a SFI balancer. it could save some headaches in the future.

[Chryco Psycho]

The reason to jump straight into a stroker is simple , all new parts & more HP for basically the same $ as a stock rebuild , + less internal hp loss with excessively heavy parts etc

[joelson6]

ok, if you say so 

[Chryco Psycho]

Well I agree with above that you need to build for your needs and budget , but the cost to rebuild 40 year old parts is very close to equal to building with new parts by doing a stroker , so if the cost is the same & these cars are muscle cars ,[ not many are restored as 318 2 bbls ]  + the engine becomes more efficient what is the downside , you can run a 383 stock block all stock appearing  & still build a 430" performer , with a stock sounding idle & decent milage to boot . Virtually every engine I was involved in building over the last 20 years has had increased power requested by the owner , + with the reduced cost of building larger CI engines why not , a 318 or 360 can be built to 400 + ci , 383/400 from 430 -500 ci & 440 built well over 500 ci . The simplest way to increase power in any engine especially stock looking ones is to increase the CI , while it is easy to increase power by swapping  cam intake carb & headers it will not longer look stock .

[joelson6]

i see your point.

but i don't see what's wrong with 40 year parts unless they have been used hard and abused.


" I only use my Challenger for street cruising and don't plan on any racing" is what he says he wants.
it's very easy to build a nice 440 that will have respectable power for street cruising without replacing every
thing inside the engine. a friend of mine has a 69 charger, 440, stock crank and rods,.030 over. TRW pistons,
450/458 cam, double roller timing chain, stock heads and valve train, stock hi-po manifolds, dual plane
edelbrock intake and a thermoquad, 727 trans, 3.55 gears. this car had a best time of 12.6 in a 1/4 and he
drives ir everywhere. i think there was a total of $2200 spent on this motor. i know guys who have flat heads
with 60 year old parts that still run and drive fine. 


now, if he wants a stroker, that's another thing.

[Chryco Psycho]

His call ....  just presenting options .

[joelson6]

that's the thing, there's literally unlimited options 

[gafletch]

I'm in a little different situation. My '70 Barracuda 440 has been strong but floats out around 5,000 rpm. Kills my 1/4 mile time (13 sec.).
So I bought a slightly used pair of Edelbrock heads to replace the 452's. I don't know what style the Ross pistons are yet but I want to get a custom grind hyd  cam to match them.
Here's what I do have:  Ross Lightweight pistons .40 over, forged crank and rods, windage tray, Mopar M1 intake, newer Holley 750 , electric fuel pump, 410 Dana,  manual shift auto trans. It's a hot street car that I'll run at the strip four times a year.  Run on premium gas.

Your input is welcome. Thanks, Greg.   

[4 speed fish]

Sounds like you will have 7k into your 550 hp mild 440 build.