MopaR&D
Nerd Member
A couple years back I started building a 440 to swap into my '72 D200 pickup; at 5000'+ elevation back in Colorado the power from the mostly-stock 360 was a bit lacking. Now since moving to basically sea level I find that the 360 is more than adequate and will likely just swap in an A-518/46RH and go to smaller on-road tires from the current 33" General Grabber A/T's to pick up some gas mileage. I now have all this 440 stuff and am curious what I could get out of it for a street/strip build to put into a car (A- or B-body). I sold the Stealth heads and MP dual-plane intake (Edelbrock RPM copy) I was going to use as I needed the money and figured I'd want a better-flowing top end for more HP anyway.
Parts I still have:
-- 1973 440 block, bored .030" over (matched to piston diameter), honed and cleanup milling of the decks
-- Stock forged crank balanced and polished
-- New Clevite full groove main bearings from 440Source
-- ICON 9947 FHP forged pistons
-- 440Source stock-type replacement rods (#200-1132)
-- Hastings Ductile Moly piston rings
-- 440Source 12-point head bolts
-- 440Source aluminum water pump housing and high-flow WP
The pistons have been hung onto the rods and the crank was balanced to that rotating assembly. Before I moved I drilled out the oil passages feeding the main bearings and installed the crank into the block along with the rear main seal but that's all the assembly I've done so far; at some point I need to get out and gap the rings and install the pistons and rods into the block and get a measurement of how far below deck the pistons actually are. The main limiting factor for power is with these pistons and using cylinder heads with chambers in the 76-78cc range the most compression I could get would be around 9.5:1. I also read in Andy Finkbeiner's book on big blocks that stock forged cranks are good to about 600 HP so I figure that's the number I'd be shooting for.
After watching the Engine Masters episode where they tested the Trick Flow 270 heads vs 240 versions on a ~550 hp 440 and picked up power everywhere I want to go with the TFS 270 heads and good matching intake like the bigger Track Heat or an Edelbrock Super Victor. What would be the rough power potential with that top end? Should I do some upgrades to the oiling system too? I'd ask about cam specs but I'm not sure yet what the rest of the combo would be outside of using a 727 trans.
Parts I still have:
-- 1973 440 block, bored .030" over (matched to piston diameter), honed and cleanup milling of the decks
-- Stock forged crank balanced and polished
-- New Clevite full groove main bearings from 440Source
-- ICON 9947 FHP forged pistons
-- 440Source stock-type replacement rods (#200-1132)
-- Hastings Ductile Moly piston rings
-- 440Source 12-point head bolts
-- 440Source aluminum water pump housing and high-flow WP
The pistons have been hung onto the rods and the crank was balanced to that rotating assembly. Before I moved I drilled out the oil passages feeding the main bearings and installed the crank into the block along with the rear main seal but that's all the assembly I've done so far; at some point I need to get out and gap the rings and install the pistons and rods into the block and get a measurement of how far below deck the pistons actually are. The main limiting factor for power is with these pistons and using cylinder heads with chambers in the 76-78cc range the most compression I could get would be around 9.5:1. I also read in Andy Finkbeiner's book on big blocks that stock forged cranks are good to about 600 HP so I figure that's the number I'd be shooting for.
After watching the Engine Masters episode where they tested the Trick Flow 270 heads vs 240 versions on a ~550 hp 440 and picked up power everywhere I want to go with the TFS 270 heads and good matching intake like the bigger Track Heat or an Edelbrock Super Victor. What would be the rough power potential with that top end? Should I do some upgrades to the oiling system too? I'd ask about cam specs but I'm not sure yet what the rest of the combo would be outside of using a 727 trans.
