Discuss my 440 500+hp project

[383man]

absolutely love your car. and yes this is what im looking for....mid to low 11's and drive it on a weekend trip...out in town, etc....awesome. i love the look of your car also, that is the look i wanted for my 66 but some how ended up with my 17's i have on it now....thanks for posting.

Thank you for the kind words. Ron

 

[scotts74birds]

There has been some damn good advice on this thread! I'll probably never hit the track with my 74 RR. But a solid hi-torque, low-rev, BB will make it the stop-light hero/cruiser I want it to be.

 

[KissimmeeBbody]

[/IMG]

 

[KissimmeeBbody]

red x no worky

 

[KissimmeeBbody]

You will spend as much to get those iron heads to flow as you would pay for a set of aluminum heads and loose the weight.You can build a 11.00 motor with alum. heads for less than $4000, JEpistons, eddy heads & intake, MP cam, balance & machine work, holley, etc. Mopar Muscle has some good articles on engine builds.

 

[383man]

You will spend as much to get those iron heads to flow as you would pay for a set of aluminum heads and loose the weight.You can build a 11.00 motor with alum. heads for less than $4000, JEpistons, eddy heads & intake, MP cam, balance & machine work, holley, etc. Mopar Muscle has some good articles on engine builds.

That is true. But for me my brother had a machine shop and he kept all the machines when he closed the doors. So I have acess to all the valve grinding equipment I need and I do all my own valve refacing and seat grinding. Thats how I do all my own porting and installed larger (2.14 & 1.81) valves in my 906 heads. In a nutshell if you cant do all your own headwork it is just as cheap or cheaper to go with aluminum heads. Ron

 

[KissimmeeBbody]

First I am a 60yr old rookie at engine building. One of the keys is the heads, if they don't flow it won't GO, the other I think is the weight of the pistons and as close to O"deck on the block. Spend a little xtra $ on good pistons and rings. A $50 complete 440 engine from a motor home was what i started with and it had a eddy 440performer on it. Lost the cast crank, 50bucks for a steel, sold the heads and performer for $ expenses. Still have many of the OE parts and picked up another (69)440 and trans for $300. Make it maintainance free, hrd cam etc. If you spend all your time working on it at the track (in 95deg heat), its no fun. That is the key, HAVE FUN!

 

[KissimmeeBbody]

11.52@115 with a bad 850 holley. Sent the carb to BoLaws(BLP) picked up .3 in the heat for the 1/8mi.

 

[KissimmeeBbody]

I guess my other post got reviewed and canned. Moderator Review?????? We know the dif between here and the bullet!

 

[69 Runner]

Everyone's posts are moderated till they hit 10

 

[Uncle Don]

keep the post coming guys...very good info. im still in limbo on what to do. i had a thought to just pull the orig engine and go thru it, fresh'n it up, paint it, paint engine compartment and just put the 318 back in and drive it. when i go to shows i dont see many original 318 cars anymore..everyone chucks them...for a good reason i know but I do like to be different. just still weighing my options. i am still debating on whether to put a 66 model 383 in it...i have a fresh one on the engine stand with good parts...but have been told its way easier to build a mild 440 with good HP numbers and you have to build a 383 out the wazooo and then its borderline not streetable to match those same numbers to a 440....

i guess i want my cake and eat it to. i want a 11 sec. nostalgia superstock car and drive it to the grocery.....

 

[wedge500]

I am very happy with the combo that I put together for my 66 Coronet.

- 440 with a 4.150 stroker crank, Eagle H-Beam Rods, JE pistons.
- Edelbrock Aluminum Heads with 2.14/1.81 valves
- Mopar Performance 484/284 Purple shaft camshaft
- Edelbrock Performer RPM Intake and Mighty Demon 850 Carb.
- TTI Headers
- TCI Converter
- 4.10 gears

I put this engine together over 5 years ago and it has been extremely reliable and the few times I did run it down the track it performed well running a best of 11.90 @ 116. The things I do plan on changing with this setup are the cam and the converter. The cam is only in this engine b/c the 528 solid lift camshaft went flat during break in and I was out of money, so I just took the 484 camshaft out of the 383 engine that was in the car and put it in the 440. Also the converter should be changed b/c it feels too tight when running at the track, its only about a 2500 stall.

That being said, I have not made any changes b/c the car runs great on the street and that is the main purpose of the car.

Good Luck with your build and have fun doing it!!!

Here is a pic of my 66

 

[68pplcharger]

 

[Uncle Don]

ok. new idea and question... as i was over my pops house last night looking at his array of mopar vehicles and parts a plenty...discussing what to do with my car. my carb is junk on mine, the radiator has holes in it now puking everywhere, air quit working...grrrrr.....so im getting close to just gutting the engine compartment closer every day...may not wait till winter.

so he has a nice fresh 66-67 model 383 engine on the engine stand. has nice aluminum intake, nice quick fuel carb, 484 cam, with .030 flat tops, steel crank, blah blah...nice motor either way. how well would this engine benefit with putting the new aluminum edelbrock heads on it?? i think it has like 415 heads on it now...he also has a set of 400 heads we could put on it, but he thought maybe the edelbrocks would really wake it up?? these motors make good power with these heads? or??? wasting my time and just need to purchase a 440 and move on...hate to when i have two 383's setting there with parts that i wouldn't be out the up front expenses... comments? suggestions?

 

[Uncle Don]

hello?

 

[383man]

keep the post coming guys...very good info. im still in limbo on what to do. i had a thought to just pull the orig engine and go thru it, fresh'n it up, paint it, paint engine compartment and just put the 318 back in and drive it. when i go to shows i dont see many original 318 cars anymore..everyone chucks them...for a good reason i know but I do like to be different. just still weighing my options. i am still debating on whether to put a 66 model 383 in it...i have a fresh one on the engine stand with good parts...but have been told its way easier to build a mild 440 with good HP numbers and you have to build a 383 out the wazooo and then its borderline not streetable to match those same numbers to a 440....

"i guess i want my cake and eat it to. i want a 11 sec. nostalgia superstock car and drive it to the grocery..... "

Thats just what I wanted and thats just what I have. And I love it !! Ron

 

[wedge500]

ok. new idea and question... as i was over my pops house last night looking at his array of mopar vehicles and parts a plenty...discussing what to do with my car. my carb is junk on mine, the radiator has holes in it now puking everywhere, air quit working...grrrrr.....so im getting close to just gutting the engine compartment closer every day...may not wait till winter.

so he has a nice fresh 66-67 model 383 engine on the engine stand. has nice aluminum intake, nice quick fuel carb, 484 cam, with .030 flat tops, steel crank, blah blah...nice motor either way. how well would this engine benefit with putting the new aluminum edelbrock heads on it?? i think it has like 415 heads on it now...he also has a set of 400 heads we could put on it, but he thought maybe the edelbrocks would really wake it up?? these motors make good power with these heads? or??? wasting my time and just need to purchase a 440 and move on...hate to when i have two 383's setting there with parts that i wouldn't be out the up front expenses... comments? suggestions?

I personally would recommend building up the 440. However, if you were planning on using the 383 you could look at putting a stroker kit into it. The prices on stroker kits are very reasonable these days.