anyone have a small block 440?

[GreenFish]

Curious as to how the small block 440 motors are.  Does anyone have any experience with these. Looks pretty cool. Rated at 540hp and a small block. What do they normally rev to?  Is the RPM range high?

[Bearcuda]

Smallblock 440? derived from what?

[72hemi]

Its 340 based, below is a link to the crate engine. It looks like a monster, but comes at a hefty price tag, list price $15k, bouchillon performance sells them for a little of $13k.


http://www.bouchillonperformance.com/P5153523.asp

[6packCuda]

If you're going to spend that kind of money on a crate engine, you might as well get a Hemi.

[72hemi]

What if you don't want the extra weight on the front end, or the expense of replacement parts down the road, or extra money on motor mounts, pulleys accesories, transmission etc. It's easy to say well thats the same as a hemi but there are people who prefer the small block. Personally while the hemi is really cool for the wow factor, I would rather have the small block and still be able to carve corners, and the cost of an all aluminum hemi is about double the price of this crate engine.

[73EStroker]

Don't know about a small block that big. Think about those short rods vs piston size vs rod angle. Think about 454 Chev motors - they have terrible rod ratios and are famous for using oil. Go with the R3 block stroked out to 358 and make a screamer if you are going to spend that kind of money. Richard Petty was very competitive with that motor in a 73 charger for Nascar in years past. Or go with a 340 stroked to 416 on the torque side.
Just my 2 pennys worth

[the_engineers]

Don't know about a small block that big. Think about those short rods vs piston size vs rod angle. Think about 454 Chev motors - they have terrible rod ratios and are famous for using oil. Go with the R3 block stroked out to 358 and make a screamer if you are going to spend that kind of money. Richard Petty was very competitive with that motor in a 73 charger for Nascar in years past. Or go with a 340 stroked to 416 on the torque side.
Just my 2 pennys worth

The 416 and the 440 are using the same length stroke (4"), so what's the issue?  Petty used an X block which cannot support bores in excess of 4.07 safely...no better than a 340 and some early 360's.

Chrysler trusts the design enough to offer a crate Commando in this size.  Indy has kits (and motors) in both this size as well as 472".

This is very high on my list.

[bb71challenger]

I saw an advert for a 630 hp pump gas small block in a magazine about 6 months ago or more. It sounds like the perfect bullet to me. I am sure it has the beefy race block so it would be heavier than a regular small block but so what, I could learn to live with that. I love the neck snapping torque of a big block and the screaming rpm ability of a small block, this engine seems to have both. Too much coin for me but would be tons of fun.   

[Ck[FIN]]

The 416 and the 440 are using the same length stroke (4"), so what's the issue?  Petty used an X block which cannot support bores in excess of 4.07 safely...no better than a 340 and some early 360's.

Chrysler trusts the design enough to offer a crate Commando in this size.  Indy has kits (and motors) in both this size as well as 472".

This is very high on my list.

little bit offtopic but x-block can support 4.10" bores safely. More if sonic checked. And also they are bulletproof if compared to 340 or 360 production blocks. A lot thicker deck,main webbing and enough material to gain support from 4 bolt mains.

[GreenFish]

What if you don't want the extra weight on the front end, or the expense of replacement parts down the road, or extra money on motor mounts, pulleys accesories, transmission etc. It's easy to say well thats the same as a hemi but there are people who prefer the small block. Personally while the hemi is really cool for the wow factor, I would rather have the small block and still be able to carve corners, and the cost of an all aluminum hemi is about double the price of this crate engine.

That's kinda where i'm going with this

[matt63]

There is a guy at the local track with a 466 (or thereabouts) small block stroker that runs very low 10s in an early Cuda.  It's different.

[73EStroker]

The small block still has a short rod compared to big blocks. Rod angle will be horrible. And how do you bore out a small block that far (from 416 size to 440) without making the cylinder walls too thin? I have always read oin this site that Mopars do not handle a lot of bore size increase. It's nice to go fast but its a lot nicer to go fast and have longevity in the motor for those of us that do not have an open cheque book.

[Moparal]

I figured they made the stroke bigger on the sb 440

[itsfred]

not a small block guy but i have a question. where is the point when cubic inches so overwhelm the heads that going any bigger is actually costing hp? what i am asking is how do those heads flow enough to make hp with that kind of displacement?

[72hemi]

those heads out of the box flow more than a lot of big block heads.

http://www.bjrracing.com/commando_heads.htm