To stroke or not to stroke.....

[67vertman]

I am moving closer to starting my 440 engine build.  And, the engine builder say if I am going with a new rotating assembly I may as well go with a stroker.  Is it worth the extra $$ or not on a mild street motor?

[brads70]

I assume it's a big block your building?

[67vertman]

I assume it's a big block your building?

  opps, yes a big block!

I updated the post. 

[jimynick]

Well, the old saying always goes.."there's no replacement, for displacement" The prices are so good these days that the thought, "why not" comes to mind. No one says you have to build a pro stock engine and those 60 or so more inches will put a smile on your face one day. 

[Road_Runner]

I'm going to go the other way and say 500 HP  should be a relatively easy target out of a nice 440 with decent heads etc., so I say don't stroke it.  I know stroking motors is the current craze, but as I recall 440s back in the day, their longer stroke already had them at somewhat of a disadvantage to my high HP 383 which revved way quicker than they did.  Not saying my 383 made more HP, but with a decent converter & rear gear I jumped into my power band a lot quicker than they did.  So adding even more stroke would seem to me to make that worse unless you were going the high HP route with big cam, high compression and steep rear gear.  I'll be interested to see what others say about this, I could be off base on my thinking.

Later, Jim

[Aussie Challenger]

If it isn't going to see any serious racing then it really is a waste of the extra money, bragging rights can always be a big plus but then who knows what is inside, nobody can tell from the outside unless you are running external oiling.   

[Katfish]

 

Save your money, I voted yes before I knew it was a 440.  Small block - YES, 440 - save your money.

[brads70]

I'm 90% sold on the 451" combo for a street engine . Sounds like we have the same goals in mind, HP,Torque wise? So far I have a block and aluminum heads and a timing gear set up. I agree with what was said in that with the price of stroker kits....why wouldn't ya?

[moparmaniac59]

I stroked my 440 and love it. I know folks will talk bad about all the rotating mass of a 440 and a 400 is a superb motor to build a stroker with (no doubt) BUT.... with the motor I built, yes it has a lot of rotating mass, but doesn't have to turn nowhere near the rpm as the smaller motors to make peak horsepower. So it's a trade off. My motor made 615 HP at 5400 rpm. So I'll never spin it up over 6,000 rpm. It runs on pump gas with 11:1 compression on Stealth aluminum heads and all I can say is I love it. It stupid fast, fun to drive and I have NO regrets!! 


                                                                        Matt B.

[Cooter]

Stroke it...There's only one reason I can offer up and that is just when you are all done with it @ 440 cubes and this little voice WILL keep creeping up in your mind asking "What if"?, "I wonder what a stroker is all about"?, I wonder if That Mustang woulda gotten me if I had the stroker everybody told me to build?"


Don't bullsh*t yourself...Build once, and build it the baddest you can...

[72cudamaan]

I can hear your block now.   "stroke me,stroke me" 

[Katfish]

I can hear your block now.   "stroke me,stroke me" 

I think that was Billy Squire?

[femtnmax]

I had a bone stock '68 GTX with 440 4 spd.  Could smoke and fry the tires anywhere.  At times the rear tires would rip hunks of asphalt off the pavement, or etch concrete.  Passing on the highway at 60 mph you had to be careful, punch it in 3rd gear and half the time the rear tires would break loose....ever pass a car while your accelerating from 60mph and going sideways at the same time??
Just how are you going to get all that stroker torque to the pavement without feathering the throttle?  Nobody can BS you on this one.

[lemming303]

Yeah, femt is right. You gotta be able to put that power to the ground. But at the same time, I'm with Cooter. If you go with the 440 you will always think about how much more power you could've got with the stroker.

[HemiOrange70]

Stroke it.