Engine Build Question

[moper]

In terms of the 440 - there are three piston designs. Two are identical designs to provide some squish and quench effect, and one of the two requires the quench pad be machined to set the piston to head clearance. Due to the extra diligence required to get an accurate and effective quench with a factory cast open chambered head I do not recommend using any quench dome KBs with them. Big or small block. I've done it once for a customer & that was enough to learn me a lesson. using those and trying for quench makes the build become not about budget, and when that happens, there are better parts choices. So the KISS rule applies if you want to stay in a reasonable budget: keep it simple. The KB-237s are a "normal" flat top piston with monstrous valve reliefs. Depending on what the 452s have for chamber volume, the static compression will land around 9.5:1 with a generally available (Felpro Blue, Victor, whatever is cheapest) head gasket. MLS type head gaskets require very smooth finishes on the surfaces being sealed. Many shops don't have the equipment to measure that, nor the equipment to mill them and leave that fine a surface finish. So I'd steel clear of them on this one. people will say "but it had 10:1 stock" and "more compression means more power" but you won't notice any power loss and no, they didn't. That's what Chrysler said they had- that's not what they had.

 

[Banzaiii67]

My vote is KB 237, 915 Heads, and a Engle K56/58 cam on 112LS. I know Lew would back me up on that.

 

[khryslerkid]

The 440 build I'm working on, consists of .040 over, TRW 2286p pistons, .050 in the hole. Stock crank, rods. Roller timing chain.
Sum 6401 cam. 109° intake, 119° exhaust. 466 intake, 488 exhaust.
I'm useing 99839 Crane Cams spring on stock but freshened up 452 heads.
Looking at around 9.1.1 cr with the 88+cc 452 heads and 8519 Felpro head gaskets.
Summitt recommended the Comp 911 spring but the specs seemed too strong for a 1.800 to1.850 installed height.
Useing the adjustable ductile rockers with hydraulic lifters. A set of used Hedman headers, period correct, Chrysler 2x4 manifold with 650 eddies.
I know of two other, almost identical builds and the owners are very satisfied with the street manners and power from a "no quench" engine.
I think this cam would work fine with stock pistons as well.

People seem to forget just how much power a bone stock 440 has. Just let them breath a little and they will set you back in the seat when you call on them!

Here's a Charger with a Sum6401 cam

 

[drobertson]

Sometimes things do just break. Most times with these pistons my experience has shown it's installation error. When they first came out everyone installed them just like any other hypereutectic piston: same ring gaps - ".004" inch of bore"; same general piston to wall clearance. So they would butt the rings and break, or they would scuff the bores or be noisy, or a combination of those. If a block gets "bored .030 over" and then pistons bought and installed, the piston to wall clearances are a crapshoot because the guy final honing the bores has no point of reference. You ALWAYS buy pistons before the block gets honed is you care to get top performance even out of stock replacement stuff. Not saying this was the reason for your failure. but that's what it usually is. The real questions would be what was the piston to wall on that engine, and was the block sonic tested to make sure no bores would get hotter?

I agree 100%. When I was starting to build my 318, my auto class instructor made sure I bought pistons before we bored the block at all. Just to make sure the pistons fit perfectly, and man it's a pretty stout 318 now.

 

[727]

Some years back my brother had a '69 Super Bee with a 440/4 speed. Not sure of the internals but I think is was filled with a stock or smaller than stock cam. It was a real brute but would run out of wind at about 5000 rpm's. I'm looking for that same torque with the ability to rev just a tad higher.

 

[gtxno1]

Not to hijack this thread but does anyone know if the Indy dual plane intake fits under the hood on a 67 GTX with the stock air breather thanks