My ultimate small block build.

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AdamR

AdamR

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So Im sitting at home on another rainy CT weekend dreaming about someday finishing the car and building the ultimate motor for it. My ultimate goal with this car is in this order.

1. Look mostly stock, under hood, interior and exterior need to look like a stock 340 Dart to most people.

2.Drive anywhere. I've had enough cars I could or at least didnt want to drive more then 5 miles away. I want to be able to put the wife and kids in it and go. It needs to run on pump gas and preferably not empty the tank in 20 minutes.

3 Comfort, drivablity. The car has power steering and power brakes which Im keeping and I would love to add an A/C set up. Im not worried about the idle sounding stock but it needs to build enough vacuum for the brakes.

The car has a cast iron 822O.D tranny and a set of 355s in the rear. Tires are only 225-70-14s, I'll probably go with 15s at some point but most likely wont go much bigger in tire size.

So if you were to build a streetable small block using stock intake, carb an exhaust manifolds how would you go about it ?

Im thinking

360, 4" stroker crank.
Scat I beam rods
Probably have to have custom made pistons to keep cylinder pressure low enough for pump gas with a smaller duration cam for power brakes.

Custom ground Hyd roller cam with a wide 112 LSA ?

Heads would be the difficult part.
Im think a set of W2s would be the best flowwing option that will still look stock to most people.

The stock exhaust manifolds could be ported to work with the larger W2 ports.

For an intake Mopar has a cast iron dual plane spread bore intake listed as part # P5249194

anyone have any other ideas or tips
 
Sounds like my motor.410, 11:1, ported eddies, dual plane, all painted orange with an orig 70 340 air cleaner assy. 230/243 hyd roller, on a 113, so it mild and works fine on pump gas with the ac on. Plenty of tq for my highway gears.
 
The big block of aluminum look kills the eddy's for me though. Most people may not notice, but it would drive me nuts.
 
What about the Commado head? If you're already considering the W2's (which means you'd already agreed to deal with the W2 rocker gear) these might fit the bill nicely.

Features 2.02" intake valves, 1.60" exhaust valves. High- Performance Valve Springs — up to .535" lift. Chrome Moly Retainers; .060" Thick Valve Spring Seat/Cup. Fits all 1967–1991 318, 340 and 360 “LA” small-block applications and current Mopar R3 blocks. The Large Port “Commando” Cylinder Head retains the stock “LA” style intake and exhaust layout, while the unrestricted cross-sectional port area, combined with offset style W2 rockers, increases airflow dramatically. The Large Port “Commando” Cylinder Head is the low-cost alternative to exotic race-style heads. W2 offset rocker arms are required (P5153586).
 
I never thought of the commando heads. That would be a good choice seeing they use standard LA intake and exhaust . How ever they are $1300ea head and Im not sure if they are available new
 
I think by the time you have the intake, the rockers, the support blocks, and the complete and ready to install W2s... you're going to have that much spent anyway... Iron is a good thing to run if you're looking to "look factory", but no iron head that can support big engines well is cheap. My choice would the the EQ Magnums ported and run an early vlave cover. you will give up power, but you're doing that anyway to get the packaging you want.
 
I've only seen them using headers. So, no...lol. How well do W2 D ports work? I havent seen (or looked for) the Indy deals. I cant imagine they will be cheap, or ready to bolt on in any event. Are they iron?
 
What is the deal on the EQ heads, have heard a lot about them but not any testimony on there performance. Magnum and Non-Magnum.....what is the best for a .30 318.......
 
The EQs are a Magnum head replacement but better quality then the originals. They arent a big race head but a nice street heads.

The RHS/Indy heads I believe are pretty much the same as the EQs.
 
I have W2s.. they dont look factory at all. interesting. I cant get to Indy's site. They have a warning about malicious software according to google...lol. In any event. These look interesting, but there's no way they'll support 550hp without serious work, and working iron is more $$ than aluminum. But it's a cool option. But the heads dont look factory. Just iron.. so why not use the cheaper stuff and paint it?
 
DI think the W2s looking stock depends on the castings The older ones look correct the newer casting dont.

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I just wish some one would make a stock looking aluminum head, not a big block of aluminum with some ports.
 
You could have someone take the ends down with an end mill leaving generous areas around the accessory holes... then just paint them. You'll also have big coin in the old W2s... but I think you're right.. the originals used the same exterior molds IIRC. Mine are only a few years old.
 
I guess the easiest thing to do would just use a set of RPMs, buried under the alt, power steering, pullies.A/C compressor that wont look stock anyways and the big 340 air cleaner no one will know. At that point I can just use a Performer RPM intake also and a Edelbrock 800 AVS would just as stock. Cheapest, easiest route and would probably make the best power?

Do the stock manifolds clear the RPM heads ?

How many cubes would you go for ? Is there a point that the extra cubes arent going to help with my choice of exhaust and how would you cam a motor like this?
 
This is definitely an interesting topic.

If they(440 source) would make small block stealth heads, that would be killer. I did a big block for a customer and painted all the aluminum parts(heads, intake, w/p housing) all factory turquoise with stock valve covers and it looks awesome. Aside from the stainless arp bolts, it looks quite stock to me.....

Noone has to know its a 500ci either:-D

DSC02731.jpg
 
It dont matter what it look like adam,as long as your smoking those
ricers like its going out of fashion,thats what counts!

Theyd look under the bonnet an spin out why theres F*** all wiring
an not a million hoses going everywhere lol.
 
A friend has a 408 dressed that way. Complete with A/C, power steering, and big alternator (In a Mirada), and painted blue. You have to really look to see the heads. I think simply taking off the script and making a few low spots it would be hard to see without really looking. I am not positive that the manifolds will clear. I'm pretty sure, but I havent done it. There are a few schools of thought on size. A big engine will lose more, but it's a percentage. So make more, you lose more, but if you lose 10% of 450hp its 45hp and you have 405. If you lose 15% of 550hp, its 82hp but you still have 468 out of it. BTW, this is how FAST class gets so F'ing expensive. The questions I consider relevant are how much can you spend on the engine (a number, not "as little as possible" :D ) and what does it need to do? We know it has to look factory and it's running thru manifolds. It needs to cruise for days on the highway? Needs to run on 87 octane? Idle all day? What gearing and final drive will you have? Deciding on cubes and internals is the fun part. Defining what all that stuff needs to do for you, and what you can pay for, must come first.
 
Well seeing this is a some day build and not a pull the money out any time soon I would say $8000 to 10,000K for the motor which I would assume is plenty for a good quality street motor.

I would probably stock with the 355 or 391s max and either keep the 833od or possibly consider a upgrade to a passion built over drive 833.

It doesnt need to idle like a stocker and probably wouldnt sit in 4hrs of traffic but I would like to be able to drive it from CT to Carlise or LVD so about 3 or 4 hour trips.

for octane 93 is fine.
 
moper said:
interesting. I cant get to Indy's site. They have a warning about malicious software according to google...lol
Click to expand...

I noticed that too. Apparently someone found a vulnerability on their server and uploaded spyware onto it.
 
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