I live at 9,360 feet in Colorado and have a 440 myself. The key up here is
1. Fuel air mixture
2. As much air as you can intake and push thru the exhuast
I keep it "simple" Get a set of headers, good flowing intake, heads and no smaller than a 2.5 inch exhaust system I beleive you have all of that covered
Carb: I gave up on it: Any carb tuner will tell you when you get at about 7500', you loose about 30 % efficiency in a carb. The only way to fight that is jet, re-jet and jet again till you get it right
I went with a abolt on FI system. Im running a FAST, and there is no way that I can even begin to tell you how well it runs. I go thru passes at 11,000 feet and blow past anyone going up the mountain as the FI keeps adjusting your air/fuel as you go. I run 14;1 at cruise all day long, and have a 'saved setting of 12;1 that I can run with a touch of a button if wanted. It also has three or four seperate range settings that you can instantly set, save, and use, anytime you want: On the strip and want to run rich?, hit a button. Want to run a little lean, hit a button. Want to adjust your WOT and idle fuel/air settings, hit a button: It is that easy
Estes Park, no prob, Eisenhower Pass, a mole hill. Get down in the "flats" at 5-6000', the fuel air automatically adjusts itself. Perfect idle, instant throttle response. I believe to get where you really want you need a FI system. High altitude is a real ***** to tune in. And Im talking 8000 feet and higher: With your current 440 combo, you will have a monster with a FI system My Fast was a half day installation. ANY shade tree mechanic can install the FAST
No matter what engine you get, Hemi, Stroker, etc, you will have to get your carb tuning right to get power at high altitude FI will solve that issue
They even have some FI systems now that dont even require fuel return lines (This would REALLY cut down on clutter and installation time). (Atomic, some others) While I dont have experience with those systems, people are buying them
I have also run the Ebrock pro flow on another car, a 427 Vette, and it was the absolute best purchase, along with my FAST, that I have ever bought
By the way, my FAST runs my shaker system perfectly Most aftermarket FIs have a throttle body that is the same height as a 4500 series holley
