How big is too big.

[Canadian69Charger]

Hey all, been lurking for a bit and working on the Charger. The question I have is: How big is too big for a street engine?

What I currently have is a fresh 440 18 spline 4 gear and a dana 60 4.10.

I'm pulling the iron heads off the 440 and a set of Edelbrock performer extreme heads going on. the top has a 5440 intake with dual 600 cfm on top.

The reason I'm asking is: the 440 was rebuilt by the previous owner and never flashed. I will be finding out the overbore size when the heads are off and the cam specs as well. This is my dilemma, since the top end is off do I just go ahead and order a 528 stroker kit from 440source? The Charger is going to be for a fun weekend car and daily summer driver. The reason I have not done my Hemi is I want a "Set it and forget it" engine that puts down good power.

 

[abdywgn]

leave the 440 as is and put all the money into the Hemi

 

[Canadian69Charger]

The Hemi is a virgin core. Needs a complete rebuild. The 440 is ready to go as is but I do want to do more if I can at this stage. Also all the research I have done points to the 440 having better manners and less adjusting on a daily basis than the Hemi. Don't get me wrong the look on peoples faces when they see it in the crate is nothing compared to what it would be in the Charger. But I want to be able to set it and forget it. Also the cops where I live are utter terrorists . I'm going to have enough troubles with the Charger alone much less if I'm sporting a Hemi under hood.

 

[moparstuart]

welcome

 

[1969CoronetR/T]

I was going to put a crate engine in my Demon 340 from Muscle Motors which would be about $6500.00. I decided to bore .030 over and use RPM machine 416 stroker kit. New intake, pistons, rings, ported cylinder heads, ect. The engine is a monster, but I should have orderd a crate engine and sold the 340 as I spent over $10,000.00 to rebuild a small block. I thought of doing the same with my Coronet, but since I am broke it will have to wait. In retrospect, the crate engine would have been the way to go in my experience. Hindsight is always 20/20, but looking back it is still a but fuzzy (Dave Mustaine).

 

[Canadian69Charger]

Well to off set the cost, I was going to sell the heads and rotating ***. from the 440. The price for stroker is really reasonable. The only reason I did not go crate engine is the 440 is done. I'm just looking at upgrading now while its out of the car and a fresh machined block.

The prices for crate engines in Canada is rather high. I can get more for less at a machine shop still.

 

[1badstroker]

I know guys running 528 Hemi's and Wedge motors on the street without any problems. Keep the compression down to 9.5 to 10.0 with a 509 or so lift and 290's duration so you can run pump gas. The cubic inches will turn the motor into a monster and a massive torque monster. There is no replacement for displacement.

 

[Canadian69Charger]

Thank you, I never thought I would see the day when 440, 454 and 460 would be considered "Small". There are a bunch of 572 Camaro's running around my city. So I have to have something special just to keep up. Altho having the only second gen Charger in a town of 100 thousand is pretty cool.

 

[rumblefish360]

IMO, the size of an engine is a problem in fuel consumption, bigger consums more fuel on a otherwise same type of build. Then, once you add performance items and you go decently with it in the HP search, well, then it just sucks it down.

I don't think theres a size limit that would be considered "Not for street use" but more like a power level use not recomended for the skill level of the driver. If you can handle 6,000 HEMI in a Dodge colt, then drive away. If not, practice moveing the right foot slowly until you get to know the beast.

Other than that, feeding the engine dollor wise is the only other thing that I think could limit anything.

 

[63RedFury]

Never to big....LOL

 

[Revhendo]

Never to big....LOL

It's not the size but how you use it.....:rolling:

 

[Cranky]

I'm all about building good power as cheap as possible. That doesn't mean I cheap out my build but you can get great power from a stock stroke 440 without spending a ton of money and it's pretty easy these days to get 450 hp from a very mild 440 or go a bit more and get 475. Study up on quench and cam tech or have someone explain it. Good quench with decent compression can make good power with pump gas. Off the shelf cams can work well but most of the time, a custom cam that's ground just for your combination will work better and these days, they are very competitive in price with 'shelf' cams. If you are on a budget, cruise the swap meets and the internet for the parts you need. Sometimes brand new stuff will show up for less than half of new....

 

[MarPar]

Truer words never spoken...LOL

 

[Cranky]

The way you make a smaller engine 'think' it's a bigger engine is to turn more rpm. There's a lot of little engines out there hammering the bigger ones on the track and that's where the rub is. For a street engine that's not going to see high rpm, they will work the best on the street since they will have tons of torque down low and will carry that out over a wide rpm range where the small engine won't.

 

[Dennis H]

440. 850 Demon. TTI's. Edelbrock Performer. Keisler 5 Speed.
Just shy of 500 RWHP. Low to mid 20's MPG highway.

9.5 compression. Dana 60. Sweet. Smoke on demand.

 

[Cranky]

.030 440, tunnel ram with two 750's, 11-1 or so, Dana 60, 10.68 quarter mile, 1 gallon per pass

 

[1962savoy]

572 is just the right size!