Mopar Muscle Magazine Makes Me Laugh!

[Bruzilla]

I just got finished reading this article that Mopar Muscle Magazine linked out on Facebook: http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/engine...omobilemaghub_AutomobileMag_20141113_35490727

It's supposed to be a how-to account of how to build up a 537HP 440 "on a working man's budget". After reading it I had to consider two possibilities. Either MMM has no idea how much the average working man makes, or they honestly think every Mopar owners gets thousands of dollars worth of free parts for mentioning their use in an article.

I sent this comment to them: I think I would have added one piece of guidance to your article. It would have been "The best way for a working man to get a 537 HP 440 is to check around on craigslist for the fool who read this article, followed the instructions, had their engine built, and spent so much money on the engine that they no longer have enough to finish their project car. These people usually sell these money pits for pennies on the dollar to get some of their money back, so you can benefit from their ignorance and get the engine of their and your dreams for about what the folks at Mopar Muscle Magazine paid after getting all their comped parts."

 

[steve from staten island]

I must have missed it but were did you read were this article stated that engine was built "on a working mans budget" I read the "budget" part of the story but budgets can vary depending on ones financial situation. I honestly dont know how anyone with a family can afford a hobby car on a working mans salary,especially during these times

 

[jimt1971rr]

The working man hobby car is acheived by scrounging, finding bargins, and most notibly, taking six years instead of six months.

p.s. I've had my road runner for six years.

 

[TekHousE]

I just got finished reading this article that Mopar Muscle Magazine linked out on Facebook: http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/engine...omobilemaghub_AutomobileMag_20141113_35490727

It's supposed to be a how-to account of how to build up a 537HP 440 "on a working man's budget". After reading it I had to consider two possibilities. Either MMM has no idea how much the average working man makes, or they honestly think every Mopar owners gets thousands of dollars worth of free parts for mentioning their use in an article.

I sent this comment to them: I think I would have added one piece of guidance to your article. It would have been "The best way for a working man to get a 537 HP 440 is to check around on craigslist for the fool who read this article, followed the instructions, had their engine built, and spent so much money on the engine that they no longer have enough to finish their project car. These people usually sell these money pits for pennies on the dollar to get some of their money back, so you can benefit from their ignorance and get the engine of their and your dreams for about what the folks at Mopar Muscle Magazine paid after getting all their comped parts."

I have that issue on my pad, and on the cover they call it a "regular guy 440"

That seems to hint at working mans budget to me..

I was thinking the same thing as you, how is this build a budget build..?

 

[HT413]

Thanks for posting, I was considering the 400/451 version of almost this exact build, less the huge carb. True it's not exactly a budget build, but it sure is effective. My plans were so close, this almost made my dyno time free lol.

 

[TekHousE]

Thanks for posting, I was considering the 400/451 version of almost this exact build, less the huge carb. True it's not exactly a budget build, but it sure is effective. My plans were so close, this almost made my dyno time free lol.

I know you are probably joking about the dyno time..

But on a related note...

I have some friends who run a family business here in Finland, they make a very well known and well used engine control system called Hestec.

A couple of years ago I took my daily driver, which was a stock 2005 Audi a4, multitronic auto, 1.8 liter petrol engined car. I was trying to decide between those plug and play HP increase chips for my car at the time, and happened to mention it to them. They all collectively laughed and said bring us your car we will put it on the dyno, find out what THAT PARTICULAR engine had in it, in terms of capabilities.

Which they did..

Now my car made 120KW standard.

After they created a new program for my car based on how much my particular engine responded on the dyno, they got 212kw out of it!

It turned out to be so powerful that the multitronic 'box could not handle the uprated power and pulsed at the top end of speed. Something I discovered to my JOY on my may home from their shop.

I turned back, they spent another hour or so on the dyno, made a new program and we settled at 190kw.

My gear box loved it and that is how I had it from that point until I traded it in on my new one.

Point of this story?

Each engine is unique. So dyno sessions are well worth it every time. I have watched so many sessions on cars they have done it is not funny. Including our rallyX car and other pure race cars. I swear by the dyno. It's the only way to know for sure what your engine is capable of. And beats the seat of the pants horsepower estimates any day.

 

[HT413]

I know you are probably joking about the dyno time..

But on a related note...

I have some friends who run a family business here in Finland, they make a very well known and well used engine control system called Hestec.

A couple of years ago I took my daily driver, which was a stock 2005 Audi a4, multitronic auto, 1.8 liter petrol engined car. I was trying to decide between those plug and play HP increase chips for my car at the time, and happened to mention it to them. They all collectively laughed and said bring us your car we will put it on the dyno, find out what THAT PARTICULAR engine had in it, in terms of capabilities.

Which they did..

Now my car made 120KW standard.

After they created a new program for my car based on how much my particular engine responded on the dyno, they got 212kw out of it!

It turned out to be so powerful that the multitronic 'box could not handle the uprated power and pulsed at the top end of speed. Something I discovered to my JOY on my may home from their shop.

I turned back, they spent another hour or so on the dyno, made a new program and we settled at 190kw.

My gear box loved it and that is how I had it from that point until I traded it in on my new one.

Point of this story?

Each engine is unique. So dyno sessions are well worth it every time. I have watched so many sessions on cars they have done it is not funny. Including our rallyX car and other pure race cars. I swear by the dyno. It's the only way to know for sure what your engine is capable of. And beats the seat of the pants horsepower estimates any day.

See, now that is so cool. I'm a physics teacher and generally teach 15-16 year olds. After they figure out that I'm a car guy, they all tell me how they want to put twin turbos on their dad's civic and go street racing. They just can't process it when I tell them that just having it professionally tuned plus a few simple bolt ons would make it enough to scare the crap out of them. Besides the fact 2 turbos on a stock little rice burner would probably grenade the the damn thing before it leaves the shop.

But yeah, I was just joking about the dyno time.

 

[Brandy]

Hi HT, those kids have all watched Fast and Furious 14 to many times. Lol.

 

[bee71]

Hey Bru,do they ever respond back to you? They make it very hard to contact them in the first place as I have tried to tell them that their "builds" are not affordable to the every day working man.

 

[super-bee_ski]

Funny you should post this...Bruzilla,
I just let my subscription run-out.
Im not renewing it.

 

[Canyon707]

My 440 build was 12,500.00 I think a working mans budget is a bit far fetched. If you look for a deal you can find one. I see deals all the time. I purchased an entire drag car for $10.500.00 motor, 727 trans\ with trans brake, dana 60, ladder bar slicks, front runners, rollbar gauges, done ready to race. Although I did make a few changes but, the entire drive train is just the same. Ran 11.0 @120 last night. Now thats what I call a working mans budget. Now the big question. Do I want more power? NOPE its a great bracket car and thats what I do. Very consistant car. Very inconstant driver but, I am getting better.

 

[67Satty]

I think they are calling it a budget build because they used stock rods, stamped rockers, and OOTB, unported Edelbrock RPM heads and made over 500 hp. The could have save another $700 or so by using the new Sidewinder heads which are copies of the RPMs but are said to be better quality and flow. Other than that, I don't see how they can get any more budget than they did without going the route of finding a complete 440 on Craiglist and do a hone, re-ring, and bearing job and stuffing in a big cam and finding a used aftermarket intake, headers, and carb.

My only beef with the article is that this is a build that has already been done a million times in the magazines and online so there's nothing new to learn here.

 

[HT413]

I think they are calling it a budget build because they used stock rods, stamped rockers, and OOTB, unported Edelbrock RPM heads and made over 500 hp. The could have save another $700 or so by using the new Sidewinder heads which are copies of the RPMs but are said to be better quality and flow. Other than that, I don't see how they can get any more budget than they did without going the route of finding a complete 440 on Craiglist and do a hone, re-ring, and bearing job and stuffing in a big cam and finding a used aftermarket intake, headers, and carb.

My only beef with the article is that this is a build that has already been done a million times in the magazines and online so there's nothing new to learn here.

Funny because when I read these builds I sometimes wonder if they didn't just recycle old pictures and dyno sheets.

 

[bobtile]

I built my motor for about 8k. Stock suspension and ran 11.38. Don't.think you can build one much cheaper than that. A good rear suspension and a little more tuning and I could possibly have a 10 second car. That's working man budget.

 

[67Satty]

Funny because when I read these builds I sometimes wonder if they didn't just recycle old pictures and dyno sheets.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^Now THAT would be a budget build, you could save a lot of time and money that way.

 

[themechanic]

How many hp is lost with ps pb alternator?

Posted via Topify on Android

 

[Budnicks]

I don't think it was any kind of hi-$$$ build either, they spelled it out,
As much as I don't care for that mag much anymore, mainly Randy Bollig {spelling}
but I also haven't read it in a long time too..

But the heads, pistons, intake, carb & camshaft, no really fancy pricey stuff, the Eddy RPM's were the most exotic costing part {$1500 price tag, not bad if you want to make 500+hp, you'd spend that easily to "professionally" port & equip a cast-iron set of heads, with larger better valves etc. min, if you don't or can't do your own porting & assembly work}
they probably made up for most all the power gains too, money well spent...

The pistons probably the next major expense @ $75 a slug (ballpark) is common for a forging, the rest of the bottom end was basic rebuild stuff, no pricey exotics, overly pricey stuff there...

The camshaft & lifters would probably be the next major $$$, depending on who's you buy & what style, most will spend $$$ on that part anyway {usually the wrong cam too}...
Hell they used stock rockers & shafts that's really budget pieces for sure...

The carb & intake could be a swap-meet deal for $150-$200, maybe a little more $$$ {then parts to make it work right for your specific needs usage} they don't need to be a new purchase {that'd be about $700+} unless you want to make sure, that your not getting someone else's used up junk, spending a bunch to fix, machine, clean & modify etc....

I don't remember the exhaust/headers or ignition used, but that could be a budget/swap-meet deal also...

I don't think it's a budget build either, but not any really pricey hi-$$$ build either,
especially for that result 537hp @ 5800rpm, it's just not a cheapskates/price shoppers build...

I'd say most "working men" that try to build a 500+ HP 440 Wedge, will spend more for much less HP/TQ, on a bunch of miss matched "cheap" budget parts, trying to save a few bucks, in the wrong places...
Instead of actually spending the $$$ in the right place, to actually gain the power levels that they were after, "easily" made over 500+HP I may add, not complicating the process, not reengineering the wheel, it is what a budget build should be....
Opinions will vary vastly, they always do...

The Dyno time isn't necessary, but it really nice tuning tool/aid to have, get every once of power out of that specific combo, especially if you can afford it, or if you have to have a print out to show off & can't tune it yourself, by reading plugs & exhaust gas temps etc....

I think it did say at the end, it was a "real world budget", that could mean many different things, to many different people, it's semantics maybe if your a cheaper parts buyer/cheap price shopper hobbyist/enthusiast...

$5,370 = $10 per/hp including labor/machining etc., isn't bad at all, In my eyes anyway, especially in todays market place, not sure what the total costs was or would have been, on their actual build, but that's probably relatively close...

 

[lewtot184]

i think the thing that jumps out at me every time some kind of engine build comes up is there are always two names, edelbrock and comp cams. i'm so sick of this i want to puke. why always the same parts? are the magazines catering to their high profile advertisers? does anybody buy the parts or are they given by the advertisers for the free ink? how many cams, heads and intakes will be sold because of this article? i don't even believe the dyno number! ok, i've done my rant. anyhow, thanks for the article.

 

[HT413]

I'll tell ya, that hydro cam pulled right it 6000 rpm and although the hp was dipping, it hadn't fallen off the cliff yet. Not too bad for a street car that pulls occasional track duty.

 

[Bruzilla]

Hey Bru,do they ever respond back to you? They make it very hard to contact them in the first place as I have tried to tell them that their "builds" are not affordable to the every day working man.

I guess my comment left a mark. Here's their Facebook post from last night. Notice that is says "We take a look at how you can build your own 440 big-block engine with 537hp on a workingman's budget" at the bottom.

Here's what the post looks like on their page today. Notice they greyed out the text and it now reads "We take a look at how you can build your own 440 big-block engine with 537hp on a workingman's..." at the bottom. Looks like someone went in there and tried to do some editing since the font has changed and the text has changed but they couldn't delete the original statement.