383, the blue collar worker of the big blocks like the 318 is of the small blocks. I have a 383 magnum (#'s matching) in my 70 Charger 4 speed, a magnum but the bottom end is bone stock, it does have an upgraded cam, and it will rock ya back. Shortly after I got the car (before the cam change) I had three other guys with me and smoked the tires in 1st and barked them real good in 2nd, in fact I was up to 85 in second before I shifted. Now the 383 can't compare to a 440 when it comes to torque, but she will pull higher rpm's quicker. I've never had a 440 until a couple years ago, overall it is a monster, but my lack of expeience with it won't really allow me to compare any further. But the 383 does take a bad rap it dosent deserve. I have a feeling a 383 stroked with two 4's will end up in this lil Dart I just got.....??
Now I'll probobly get myself in trouble here. First I've never had a 340 and as I just said just recently owned a 440, but I think a big part of the popularity and mystique around those motors are the car models they were available in, such as, Demons and Darts and Dusters (340)---- Roadrunners, Cudas, GTX, Chargers----, now obviously you could get the 318 and the 383 in most of these models, but the attention getters had the 340 and 440 engines because these were the "sports" models. Hey, I've had even Mopars guys hear my Charger run/idle at car shows, and with the hood down a few have even commented, "That's a sweet sounding 440 buddy". I just wait until they walk away, then raise the hood.
