440 engine build

[Mad Jester]

Starting my 440 engine build. Big picture plan is for a street/strip car. Plans so far include head work, edelbrock performer rpm intake, and comp cam .507/.510. I plan on running auto 727. Any suggestions on gearing? I'm learning as I go so any suggestions would be appreciated.

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[HT413]

Welcome from NJ. Hey, what car is it going in? What size tires? How bout some pix?

 

[Garys1969RR]

How heavy is the car? I have a 3600 lb RoadRunner with a 451 cubic inch motor. And the 3.91 gears work well with the .509 lift cam and 292 deg duration. Even 3.55 gears would be ok, as its a Street/strip car. The 915 ported heads work good, alum stealths are even better. Headers are a big help. Get a good carb to go with the intake. Then accurate machine work with clean and careful assembly will get you a real hot street machine!

 

[Mad Jester]

I don't know what size tires I'm gonna run yet. The finished product will go in my 69 coronet 440. I will post some pics as soon as I have time to take some.

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[natas33]

With any 440, even low compression, bigger is always better. 2" headers, 850 carb, single plane intake, mopar 557 or 590 solid, max ported heads.. your grandma could drive it, and it'll run 10's even with 8.5:1 CR pump gas.

One thing which isn't better bigger on a 440 is the stall speed of the converter. Even a 10" 3000 stall will move the car and et extremely well. Anything over 4000 stall, or smaller than 9" diameter, and back-halve the car or buy a tire shop to go with it. They have so much mid range torque you just don't need the size converter which most small blocks do, to not only get moving fast on the street at any speed or gear, but also et at the track.

A 1 3/4 or 1 7/8 header shouldn't even be made for any 440 car. They make more power and torque everywhere with 2" headers, even a very mild built engine. I had 2 1/8 primary race headers on a little hydraulic cammed 383 once, that I swapped out for the 440 inbetween builds just to drive the car, and even that little mild 383 was confused and thought it was a 440. I was more than a little surprised at it.

 

[HT413]

With any 440, even low compression, bigger is always better. 2" headers, 850 carb, single plane intake, mopar 557 or 590 solid, max ported heads.. your grandma could drive it, and it'll run 10's even with 8.5:1 CR pump gas.

One thing which isn't better bigger on a 440 is the stall speed of the converter. Even a 10" 3000 stall will move the car and et extremely well. Anything over 4000 stall, or smaller than 9" diameter, and back-halve the car or buy a tire shop to go with it. They have so much mid range torque you just don't need the size converter which most small blocks do, to not only get moving fast on the street at any speed or gear, but also et at the track.

A 1 3/4 or 1 7/8 header shouldn't even be made for any 440 car. They make more power and torque everywhere with 2" headers, even a very mild built engine. I had 2 1/8 primary race headers on a little hydraulic cammed 383 once, that I swapped out for the 440 inbetween builds just to drive the car, and even that little mild 383 was confused and thought it was a 440. I was more than a little surprised at it.

The more i learn, the more i see that you are absolutely correct. A lot of that 'conventional wisdom' is just not correct, at least with a 440 anyway. you'll send ZO6's packin with nothing more than an 8:1 RV motor, some well matched parts and maybe a squirt of juice.

 

[Meep-Meep]

Pick a gear that will put you in the RPM range that you would be happy with then build the motor around that. For more HWY I'd say 3.23 - 2.94. For mostly under 50 MPH I'd say 3.55 - 4.10. Then pick a cam that plays well in that RPM range. I like 112 to a max of 110 lobe separation cams for the street. Or better put not too much overlap. 9.5:1 CR max with about 175 PSI of cranking pressure for pump 91 gas.

 

[747mopar]

Pick a gear that will put you in the RPM range that you would be happy with then build the motor around that. For more HWY I'd say 3.23 - 2.94. For mostly under 50 MPH I'd say 3.55 - 4.10. Then pick a cam that plays well in that RPM range. I like 112 to a max of 110 lobe separation cams for the street. Or better put not too much overlap. 9.5:1 CR max with about 175 PSI of cranking pressure for pump 91 gas.

Dido, I agree with Meep. Going big just to be big doesn't result in a very fun street car and matching rpm's to the build is important. I like the 3:55 as a compromise for street strip, I've ran 3:89's and 4:11's and thought they were both a bit steep for the street "screaming down the freeway". You really need to nail down what your really wanting out of your car, if it's street then build something that builds it's power in the lower rpm's to match the cruising rpm's. If you want a monster for the quarter then go for the steeper gears and the more aggressive setup. I'm currently building a Charger mostly for cruising and built the motor for 1,600-5,900 rpm, when finished I should be cruising at 65 mph at 2,000rpm and should be well north of 500hp.

 

[Mad Jester]

I was doing some research about the 440 that I have and found out it came from a 72 Chrysler newyorker. While checking out the valve specs I came across the valve spring installed height and noticed it was the only year they installed a 1 7/8 inch. All other years valve spring height was 1 55/64 inch. Does anyone know why this is? If it made a difference?

 

[HT413]

I was doing some research about the 440 that I have and found out it came from a 72 Chrysler newyorker. While checking out the valve specs I came across the valve spring installed height and noticed it was the only year they installed a 1 7/8 inch. All other years valve spring height was 1 55/64 inch. Does anyone know why this is? If it made a difference?

I cant say much about this other than to say you should confirm what you actually have. Heads are likely to have been swapped in the past 41 years so you never know.

But you realize you're talking about 1/64th of an inch, right?

 

[Mad Jester]

The heads are the original. Just didn't know if I change the spring if it would effect the engine much due to some weird thing they were trying.

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[67 B-body]

The factory installed spring height will have nothing to do with your setup. You'll need to match springs to the cam, and install them to the installed height required for your new setup.

 

[Garys1969RR]

For a hot street/strip 440, I like a lot of C/R, 10 or 11 to 1. (I'm at 13 to 1). Use High enough octane fuel to keep it from pinging. A cam around 280 to 290 total duration, .500 " or more lift. I run .509 lift, 292 duration. Good flowing heads are most important.Good intake and headers. A T/Converter to match your cam and you should be good to go. Rear end gears 3.55 are adequate. I'm running 3.91 which is a bit much for the street.

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Also tight quench of .035 to .040" helps a lot. Gives these motors have great throttle response, and reduces tendency to ping.