Help me wake up this old dog 1976 440

[Mike in Boston]

I have a 1976 440 that is bone stock
8.1:1 comp ratio, cast crank, 452 heads, Stock flat top pistons. 4 barrel holley 650cfm, and hp exhaust manifolds.

Please tell me your cam choices to wake this up. also what easy (read cheap-***) ways to increase compression ratio, without needing a machine shop.
If milling the heads would be the dealbreaker from "She's maxed out" to "Holey crap-that's got some balls" then I am not opposed to that. I just want to keep it simple and not break the bank.

I am not going to drag race it so it, Heck I don't even speed, I just want an enjoyable ride with a little pep
Thanks.

 

[dieseldazzle]

Bolt this on:

 

[Superb Bee]

What are you using for ignition system and intake, I think I would start with a cam, intake, carb (650 eh), ignition system (I have had that make a huge difference, depending what you have now), KN air filter something big enough to flow that 440's pump, some smooth flowing exhaust, may was well do timing set when you do the cam, gear ratio change, and see if you get the difference you are looking for...

We had a 69 coronet with a low mile 440 (non hp, new yorker motor, had a 2bbl to 4bbls adapter and an idlenot carb), I bolted on a used mallory unlite with box, new, wires, new plugs, HP manifolds (didnt seem like they were so hard to find not that long ago, lol), 60302 voodoo cam (my go to) with 911 springs, changed the pumpkin out to a 3.91 posi, new exhaust all the way back with some flowmasters (used to be go to, now I addicted to pypes, love there stuff), we through on the biggest air filter we had that would fit, and an 850cfm holley, with an aluminum intake we had laying around.

The only things we had to buy new were the cam kit, springs, mufflers, gaskets, timing set, carb kit, power valve protector, air filter element, oil, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and a new coil..

It felt like a different car, I remember pulling out of the driveway taking it for a walk up the road and then spinning it around at half throttle and laying 40 feet of rubber down the road, it surprised me, especially when the original car was running ok and wouldnt spin the tire with out a little front end resistance...

Now, we did it all ourselves, we had carbs, manifolds, a buddy with a muffler shop to bend pipes, the ignition out of another car, etc.. We also tuned that carb our self, reading the plugs, old school, now we have an af meter with a 20" tv screen lol...

If you can do the work yourself, you are looking at 2500-3500 for complete ignition system, exhaust, intake, carb, cam, springs, timing set, gear set, posi, etc...

If you have to pay someone to do the work, a real shop is going to charge $1000-2000 to do it.. (Shops around here get $500 to dyno tune a carb, thats jets, plugs, and timing done on the dyno, which imo is fair)

this is all just in my experience, no one here is going to be able to imagine what you expect out of that type of money. The good thing is if you ever want more, you can use everything you bought and put it in and on a 440 with a cr more in the 9.8-10.2 neighborhood...

 

[dieseldazzle]

Voodoo cams are a great line of lunati cams.

Do your 452 heads have exhaust rotators?

 

[Yatzee]

I have a 1976 440 that is bone stock
8.1:1 comp ratio, cast crank, 452 heads, Stock flat top pistons. 4 barrel holley 650cfm, and hp exhaust manifolds.

Please tell me your cam choices to wake this up. also what easy (read cheap-***) ways to increase compression ratio, without needing a machine shop.
If milling the heads would be the dealbreaker from "She's maxed out" to "Holey crap-that's got some balls" then I am not opposed to that. I just want to keep it simple and not break the bank.

I am not going to drag race it so it, Heck I don't even speed, I just want an enjoyable ride with a little pep
Thanks.

That old dog is done! Before you throw good cash away on questionable results, find an engine that's already got balls and bargain a good price. There's lots out there and their probably already proven to run good. By time you get the bitch putting out you'll be in the hole a few gran and wished you'd bought an engine from some guy who's wife just had twins and couldn't afford his dream. He got the engine done though. There's lots of hard luck stories out there too just waiting for you to help them out by low-balling them to your advantage. Go for it, take no hostages.

 

[SlinktRR]

intake, headers, bigger carb and 4.56 gears will wake it up nicely.

 

[Rick Carson]

516 heads would make a big compression difference,and for a mild street motor it wouldn't screw up the flow badly, and they are cheap. that and a mild shaft would probably make you pretty happy

 

[PurpleBeeper]

516 heads would make a big compression difference,and for a mild street motor it wouldn't screw up the flow badly, and they are cheap. that and a mild shaft would probably make you pretty happy

If you want to stay cheap, closed chamber heads with the larger exhaust valves like the 67 GTX 915's except you can put those same exhaust valves into the "non-hypo" closed chamber heads relatively cheaply & you'd be doing a valve job anyway. Even cheaper than that, maybe some 0.020" steel shim head gaskets (not sure what you have now) to get the compression up. If you try to just mill the existing heads, make sure to keep in mind to mill the intake side of the heads too or the intake won't bolt up right.

Headers for sure.

If you don't do a lot of highway driving or care about mileage, then gears are you best "speed per dollar" investment.

And a moderate cam with small lobe overlap.

 

[Charger21]

Anyone use the compressed steel shim 0.020" gaskets? Any idea how much that increases the CR? Assuming not much but every bit counts?

 

[Mike in Boston]

I called Hughes motors, they are sending me a whiplash cam, timing gear and springs specially designed for low compression 440's.
They also recommend a 750 cfm carb
I Will post results once all is said and done

 

[67440chrg]

I put a whiplash cam and edelbrock heads on my 440 that already had a torker II intake and 750 holley and other parts. I would recommend a good ignition, headers, exhaust and a duel plane intake. I think my single plane looses a little hp compared. I am happy with my MSD 6a box and distributor.
You will like the sound of that cam.

 

[Kern Dog]

Anyone use the compressed steel shim 0.020" gaskets? Any idea how much that increases the CR? Assuming not much but every bit counts?

Those were the stock gaskets. When people replace them with the common .039 Fel Pro gaskets, the compression ratio drops below 8.0 to one!
A common trick was to mill the heads .050 and deck the block .010. The consensus was that this raised the C/R to 9.2 to 1 with a .020 head gasket. I did this in 2002 with a '78 440 from a New Yorker. I used a mild cam, a Mopar Performance 280/474. It idled nice but made pretty good power. I used an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, a Holley 750 Vacuum secondary carb, 1 7/8" headers and an MP electronic ignition. The car ran 14.0 at 101 with a pitiful 2.2 60 ft time. I'm not a drag racing guy so with some improved techniques, I should have been capable of shaving 2 tenths or so from that number.

 

[IQ52]

I have a 1976 440 that is bone stock
8.1:1 comp ratio, cast crank, 452 heads, Stock flat top pistons. 4 barrel holley 650cfm, and hp exhaust manifolds.

Please tell me your cam choices to wake this up. also what easy (read cheap-***) ways to increase compression ratio, without needing a machine shop.
If milling the heads would be the dealbreaker from "She's maxed out" to "Holey crap-that's got some balls" then I am not opposed to that. I just want to keep it simple and not break the bank.

I am not going to drag race it so it, Heck I don't even speed, I just want an enjoyable ride with a little pep
Thanks.

"I just want an enjoyable ride with a little pep"

What can you do, just to the engine, for that result?

You need nothing, you already have it. You have about 400+ LB_FT and 250 HP. If you up the compression to 10:1 you may have 265 HP...............Whoop-tee-damn-do.

Enjoy what you have until you can build a real engine.

Oh, these engines are the reason I posted these dyno tests........

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/threads/dyno-testing-a-stock-1972-440.249866/

 

[happyjackdaddy54]

1st of all your running a Mopar. Ain't nothing cheap about them! Diesel dazzle has the best idea for something inexpensive

 

[Mike in Boston]

I read your dyno results thread, that was great. And the main reason I am going to keep the stock rotating assembly and heads in place.
I am keeping the hp manifolds, mainly because I already have them, and i think they look cool, the Stock intake manifold and having an edelbrock 750 shipped out.

All I need is just a little humpfh, About 650 bucks worth...
Cam, lifters, springs & gasket set 525.00
Edelbrock 750 off ebay, 125.00

 

[IQ52]

Sounds great. I'm not one to spend much time recommending camshafts, but I will say, I do not recommend the 509 cam we used in the build. It just happened to be laying on the shelf, so basically it was free.

 

[69 GTX]

If you search the classifieds you can probably score a intake for 50$

 

[Kern Dog]

Yeah that 440 4 barrel intake is likely a ThermoQuad pattern. It gives up 20-25 HP to the Edelbrock Performer RPM or the Holley Street Dominator. Also, look around for feedback on that Edelbrock 750. It does not have the best track record.

 

[Mike in Boston]

OK, I just ordered an Edelbrock performer RPM, Scratch the stock intake.
The reason I went with the edelbrock 750 carb is I had one once on a Pontiac 455 and I got really good at tuning them, and I like how the top comes off without spilling gas everywhere. Plus I still have a tuning kit here with jets, springs and needles.

So the list grows
Hughes camshaft, lifters, springs.
Edelbrock performer rpm intake.
Edelbrock 750 carb.
Hp exhaust manifolds.

 

[IQ52]

Sorry, with a little more reading I've gotten a little more confused. Boston? I thought it was Bah-sten? I have a brother-in-law from Bah-sten, MA. He now lives around Atlanta, JoJa.