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New guy to this forum, first question

Stegs

Stegs

Well-Known Member
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Location
Holland Mi
Hello everyone, just a brief background. I came from another forum where the members are pretty tuff on new guys that "dont know their stuff"

Looking for tips/opinions on this....hopefully i dont get beat up too bad here

I have a rebuilt (last summer) 440. Its a low compression build, looking to make more HP/TQ without tearing it back out this summer and starting all over. Here are some specs...can get more if you guys want.

69 block
stock forged crank
ported and polished 906 heads
bored .30 over with 8 new pistons (silvolite pistons) - engine builder said they are the taller ones that "give me 9.5:1 compression" - which i know now is not true :angryfire:
eddy performer intake (not RPM)
holley 750 carb, vac secondaries
firecore ignition
stock manifolds
elgin cam (fairly stock, idles smooth, no lump to it, can get specs if you like)

anyway, from the other forum im on, I was told this all comes to about 8.63:1 compression. The car idles great, runs great, goes OK...

I read a thread on A bodies only about a 72 440 low compression build that ended up making 400+hp and TQ. Now im not saying i need 500+ HP from my 440, just looking to see what i can do as far as bolt ons that will give me some decent HP/TQ gains

Let me know what you guys think....If i can spend some money on bolt on items, i think i will be ahead of taking the motor back out and basically redoing everything i did/money spent on it last summer.
 
Welcome aboard, Stegs.

Sounds to me you know a heck of a lot more than others! Motor build sounds fairly solid for a 69 model.
Just don't know about the cam, or the maker...maybe somebody else is more up on them. For today's crummy gas, the build is fairly good for it, though the cam is the 'brain's' of the motor. Might toss out the cam specs, and some of the other guys can toss ideas at you. Probably also help knowing piston part number.
 
Hi and welcome aboard!
Thanks for joining the forum.

Congrads on your 440 build!
It sounds good to me!

We have very knowledgeable "Team members" on this forum who can help you with your 440 questions.

To me, you might need "Headers" as a start and being a 440 CI (.030 over bore) you can go with a larger camshaft.
The Bigger the displacement engines can handle "More Cam"

Some of our Team Members very knowledgeable in Engine building:
"Hemi-Itis"
"Lewtot184"
"Prop-wash"
"Mike Gaines"
"Budnicks"
"Meep-Meep"
"Hemi-runner"
"Snake-oil"

And many more...(sorry if I forgot someone)
 
Last edited:
i appreciate it guys, its not a bad running motor at all, starts, idles, runs great. pulls pretty good from 20-60, just not a "hot motor"

Not much pep, i know the cam is a old elgin cam, which i was told was a lazy cam.

I want to do a hughes whiplash cam, but i was told it wont work good with factory manifolds...and i could loose vac for my brakes?

again, looking for tips, pointers....anybody with engine building knowledge, i want to hear from you


*yes i will get the cam specs, just know the pistons are silvolites, suppose to be 2 type here. A lower piston (motorhome style) for 8.0:1 compression, and a taller version for 9.5:1 /// My car has the taller version, but i guess with my heads i make only 8.63:1

Again, any help would be great. Headers are on my wishlist for sure, but i want to go with TTI, and they bring some decent $$
 
your use will determine a lot. fun street car, occasional strip action, ...

that 440 will give you a lot of torque and fun especially if you have the "right" gears., just stock. what can kill expected power is mismatched engine components as to use of that car.

how does it run now? what gears are u running? what do you want from it?

like said, you will find good engine advise on here. but they will ask these same questions and more! and welcome, might I add.
 
Welcome to Mopar University! I am sure others with years of experience in the builds will chime in. In my humble opinion it sounds like you should refigure the compression with smaller combustion chambers and look at a smaller chambered head from one of the reputable aluminum manufacturers along with a new bump stick. BTW, pictiures are mandatory! Let us see what you are working on....there is a lot of help to be had from these professors.
 
thanks guys

The car is basically a weekend cruiser. Ice cream, out to the beach, a cruise along the lakeshore here on the west side of Michigan

The car runs great as it sits....and it has enough power for what i use it for now.

However, eventually i want to kinda morph it into a touring car. Upgrade the brakes and suspension, i want to take advantage of the 440 CI to make this more of a "hot cruiser"

Something that will pretty much smoke the tires at will. (it does it now for only 10-15 feet, and i blame it on the cam, its lazy)

As far as gears, its a bone stock 8 3/4 with 3.23 suregrip, and yes its a sure grip b/c there is 2 marks when i mash the gas and go sideways.

As far as heads, i was told again not to go aluminum b/c it will actually lower my C.R....something about heatsoak, and iron heads dont dissipate heat like aluminum?

These are the things im confused about! 6.8.15 054.jpgphone 623 084.jpg

pics of me and my car, and the 440 just after it was finished rebuilt and painted!
 
Stegs. What size chambers are in the heads you now have, what casting number?? Great looking car by the way!
 
see if you have any paperwork the gives the part number on that elgin cam. if you can find that i can tell you what you have and go from there. were you on mopartscom,?
 
For those with CR calculators, summit shows the "tall" silvolite piston as having a 1.969 inch compression height.

I calculated 8.58:1 (pretty much the same).

The numbers I used: 4.35 bore, 3.75 stroke, 6.768 rod, 10.725 deck, 1.969 piston, 88cc chamber(guess), and .020 steel shim gasket w/4.41 gasket bore(guess).

Since every engine is different, any number of those dims could be off significantly.

You could find somebody replacing their closed chamber iron heads with aluminum ones, and buy their old heads. Swap out your valvesprings since you already know they work well with your cam. Then grab some used $100 headers off of craigslist while you save for those tti's. I'm no pro-builder though. Good Luck!
 
Hello and welcome aboard.

As for 'bolt ons' to increase your HP/TQ you may want to consider 3.55 gears. They are a good street gear that will be decent on gas. If you don't care about your gas usage or don't do much highway/high speed driving, then 3.91 would do the trick even better.

You mentioned you didn't want to tear the engine apart at this point so start with the bolt on stuff with an eye on future upgrades. You can gain some bolt on HP with a good carb, intake, ignition and gears. You will notice the largest difference in HP/TQ with upgrading the heads and compression. But everything will have to be matched with those heads so be careful on how you proceed and PLAN AHEAD. Good luck and keep everyone posted on your upgrades and results.
 
they are stock 906 heads
they were cleaned up at the shop
all new exhaust valves (stock size)
2 new intake valves (stock size)

more specs on my build now that im home with the paper work
polished crankshaft
906 heads cleaned and resurface .005
pistons .30 over 1263 1966-1971 dodge flat top pistons FM350NP
cam ELGIN EPBmc327
valve lift .431
lift ex .429
duration 283 intake 296 exhaust
lobe center line 222
lsa 111 spread

other things on the motor
eddy performer intake (not rpm)
firecore ignition
factory manifolds
holley 750 carb

hopefully this helps
 
Best bet is to talk to the cam manufacturers tech people with your engine specs to see what they can do for you with what you have right now. But most cam upgrades like more compression and with that usually a higher stall convertor and headers and lower rear axle ratio. If you don't want to tear the engine completely down for new pistons options are limited. Maybe a turbo charger and cam but that also cost plenty and you still need to change plenty to make them work. You are doing it right weigh all your options then decide what will get you where you want to be.
 
yea the reason i brought this up, is I read a article on "a bodies only"

they got like 400 hp and 400+ tq out of a 7.5 compression 440 out of a 72 motorhome motor

Thats what got my wheels turning
 
Is it me?

Or do the cam specs seem a "tad" smaller than stock with alot of slow duration?
 
slepr1 said:
Yes I think the cam is small too. Unfortunately a cam is not a bolt on.
Click to expand...

well its easier than redoing the motor

when i say bolt on, i basically mean things to help the car perform better without redoing everything i spend money on last summer

new cam id like to get is a hughes whiplash, but i was told that wont work with manifolds?
 
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