Another very mild 440 build.....

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PRH

PRH

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Along the same lines as the 7.5:1 build Jim LaRoy tested several years ago...... but this one steps up the CR a bit, and gets ootb Stealth heads instead of the factory pieces.

It’s a .030 440 with cast pistons down the hole .110”.
Small Summit cam(214/224-112), stock rockers and pushrods.
Stealth heads that have had the guides checked and the seats bumped with a stone. Zero porting.
Using all the hardware that came on the heads.
Stock 440 intake(casting number 3512501), 1” open carb spacer and an old 3310(750vs)carb, Hooker 1-7/8” headers.
Mopar ignition kit, timing 10* at idle/38* total.
CR works out to 8.7:1.

ADCCF2C0-B398-4228-A7C3-9FCED48521C2.png


I’d say it would easily make solidly over 400hp with a little more cam and an intake manifold upgrade.
Although....... none of that will be happening on this motor.
In the car, it won’t have the headers either.

D24AC271-7852-4E95-9095-D8A6C5BB7DE5.png
 
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In a Duster with headers and 4.30s it'd be a beast.
 
Thanks guys.....This wasn’t a clean sheet of paper build......

The story behind this one is that the customer buys a car out of state and has it shipped to his place.
They go to unload it and the oil pressure is almost zero and there’s a lot of noise.
Car gets delivered to the shop that’s doing the r&r....... to see if they can figure out what’s wrong with it.
Start it up, near zero oil pressure, lots of noise.
No one knows how long that’s been going on, so they pull it out.
The pan comes off and there’s what’s left of a shredded up shop rag wrapped around the oil pick up.
Okay, mystery solved(other than the question of how it got there).
There is rag shreds throughout the motor.
It’s a used motor with a previous stock type low CR rebuild.
The bearings look okay-ish, but there is some slight scuffing on a few pistons, and the cam & lifters aren’t nice enough to put back in.
The heads would need going through again, etc.
The pistons that were in it had a 1.912ch(down the hole about .170”).
The decision was made to step it up a little....... so new pistons with a 1.969ch were ordered, along with the usual stuff, rings, bearings, gaskets, oil pump, new oil pick up, etc, along with a mild exhaust manifold friendly cam & lifters, and timing set.
The cost to go through the stock heads was close enough to the Stealth heads where that upgrade got the nod.
The engine had a Torker II intake on it, but the owner wanted a stock one instead(it’s just a mild cruiser and he wanted the stock look).

So....... after the repairs/upgrades....... that’s how it turned out.
Not bad at all imo.
 
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Love seeing data on builds like this helps out the average guy more than high dollar 500-700 plus hp ones even those are nice too.
 
Rough measurements on my 440 are pistons about .180 in the hole. I haven't driven it yet, but it seems to run well. There was no budget for a rebuild so it is what it is. Hopefully will be able to get it out in the next few months (no windshield until I get paint on the car)...
 
PRH said:
Thanks guys.....This wasn’t a clean sheet of paper build......

The story behind this one is that the customer buys a car out of state and has it shipped to his place.
They go to unload it and the oil pressure is almost zero and there’s a lot of noise.
Car gets delivered to the shop that’s doing the r&r....... to see if they can figure out what’s wrong with it.
Start it up, near zero oil pressure, lots of noise.
No one knows how long that’s been going on, so they pull it out.
The pan comes off and there’s what’s left of a shredded up shop rag wrapped around the oil pick up.
Okay, mystery solved(other than the question of how it got there).
There is rag shreds throughout the motor.
It’s a used motor with a previous stock type low CR rebuild.
The bearings look okay-ish, but there is some slight scuffing on a few pistons, and the cam & lifters aren’t nice enough to put back in.
The heads would need going through again, etc.
The pistons that were in it had a 1.912ch(down the hole about .170”).
The decision was made to step it up a little....... so new pistons with a 1.969ch were ordered, along with the usual stuff, rings, bearings, gaskets, oil pump, new oil pick up, etc, along with a mild exhaust manifold friendly cam & lifters, and timing set.
The cost to go through the stock heads was close enough to the Stealth heads where that upgrade got the nod.
The engine had a Torker II intake on it, but the owner wanted a stock one instead(it’s just a mild cruiser and he wanted the stock look).

So....... after the repairs/upgrades....... that’s how it turned out.
Not bad at all imo.
Click to expand...
Great results with a stock manifold. I flow tested a stock manifold on Edelbrock RPM heads once. Maxed out at 205 cfm.

Once we did leave two shop rags in the cam valley of a 518 wedge at Bonneville during an intake manifold change. Lost that engine on the starting line.

NEVER made that mistake again. But did lose a shop rag blocking the front of the oil pan during a cam change. Wrapped itself around the oil pickup and lost oil pressure but not the engine.

Made some silly mistakes learning during the first few years of 62 years working on these projects.
 
oldkimmer said:
Everyone has done something that they would rather not admit too. Takes a big man to admit to their mistakes. Kim
Click to expand...
I tend to admit them, so that others may learn from my screwups :)

"It takes a big man to cry, but it takes an even bigger man to laugh at that man." - Jack Handey, "Deep Thoughts".
 
Cool... My very first engine when I was 16 was for a friend... About a year after he was doing an intake swap and pulled my 3/8 drive extension... 50 and still learning.
 
PRH said:
Along the same lines as the 7.5:1 build Jim LaRoy tested several years ago...... but this one steps up the CR a bit, and gets ootb Stealth heads instead of the factory pieces.

It’s a .030 440 with cast pistons down the hole .110”.
Small Summit cam(214/224-112), stock rockers and pushrods.
Stealth heads that have had the guides checked and the seats bumped with a stone. Zero porting.
Using all the hardware that came on the heads.
Stock 440 intake(casting number 3512501), 1” open carb spacer and an old 3310(750vs)carb, Hooker 1-7/8” headers.
Mopar ignition kit, timing 10* at idle/38* total.
CR works out to 8.7:1.

View attachment 1715668036

I’d say it would easily make solidly over 400hp with a little more cam and an intake manifold upgrade.
Although....... none of that will be happening on this motor.
In the car, it won’t have the headers either.

View attachment 1715668064
Click to expand...


Thanks Dwayne. Would have been nice to see the difference with the carb bolted directly to intake. What ICL did you install it?
 
Russ, I didn’t run it myself, but I think there was a linkage issue with the carb directly on the intake, which is why the spacer was used at all.
I would have used a 1/2” 4 hole spacer myself....... at least to start.
I doubt the numbers would have changed much at all.
Cam was installed dot-to-dot........ came in at 107.5.
 
PRH said:
Russ, I didn’t run it myself, but I think there was a linkage issue with the carb directly on the intake, which is why the spacer was used at all.
I would have used a 1/2” 4 hole spacer myself....... at least to start.
I doubt the numbers would have changed much at all.
Cam was installed dot-to-dot........ came in at 107.5.
Click to expand...

Thanks
 
Damn good info because im putting stealth heads on my 413, 8.65.1 with 452s so those should help! 230° @.050 .480 lift hopefully be 400+
 
thesiren74 said:
Damn good info because im putting stealth heads on my 413, 8.65.1 with 452s so those should help! 230° @.050 .480 lift hopefully be 400+
Click to expand...
Have you mocked the heads up to see if the valves clear the bore ? I know a 4.250 bore is a bit small for stealth heads
 
In this old thread a 361 is referenced that used 1.81 exhaust valves and all eight hit the bore w/ one of them breaking off the head of the valve. When the headers were pulled off the engine you could see the camshaft through the exhaust port.

How do I know? I was there.

Stock 361 bore 4.125". 413 bore 4.18". Yep........good idea to check.

PHR 361 "Forgotten Motor" Build - 618HP, 520 Torque - Good Read!
 
IQ52 said:
Truly? Please explain how this is known.
Click to expand...
I mocked them up on a 383 & realised I'd have to notch the bore. I think 440 source recommended no less than 4.320 standard 440 bore. The 413 is smaller so it will need notching.
 
MOPARMAGA said:
I mocked them up on a 383 & realised I'd have to notch the bore. I think 440 source recommended no less than 4.320 standard 440 bore. The 413 is smaller so it will need notching.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I put the TF240 head on a 4.25 bore and found that the 2.19" intake valve hit the cylinder wall at around 650" lift with no head gasket. However I don't recall testing the exhaust because they were only 1.76". The old 426 Max Wedge engines with a 4.25 bore and a 1.88" exhaust had the block notched.
 
Probably 10-ish years ago, for a reason I don’t recall at this moment....... I checked an RPM head(1.81 ex valve)on a std bore 383 block.
Obviously there can be some variations because of core shift, slight differences in machining, etc....... but with that particular RPM head on that particular block...... on the one cylinder I checked...... the exhaust valve started to drag on the side of the bore at about .530 lift.

I would think on the 361/413 blocks, the valve would hit the top of the bore at whatever lift it took to get the side of the valve even with the top of the block.
 
MOPARMAGA said:
Have you mocked the heads up to see if the valves clear the bore ? I know a 4.250 bore is a bit small for stealth heads
Click to expand...
I already have 2.14 intake and 1.81 exhaust valves in my 452 heads that I've useing for 3yrs and about 8,000 miles so i think the stealth heads will work just fine.
 
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