Coming soon from MP: 440-inch SMALLBLOCK crate motor (LA-based wedge)

[Mike DC]

Seen this yet?  It's in the new issue or "Hot Rod" this month.  Looks like it might be pretty sweet.  They kept the stock deck height & everything and used a siamese-bore block.  Looks just like a typical crate 360 motor with an iron block & aluminum heads.  They're calling it 525 pounds total from oil pan to carb.


Now I just hope they get smart and keep the price down.  (Listen up, MP:  Nobody will want to pay 426 Hemi prices for a wedge-headed smallbock no matter how hot it is.  $7-8K is the absolute limit.)  But if they price these things low enough they'd sell a ton of them.

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[hemihead]

I just was reading about this.I'm drooling on my MP dealer's counter! 

[RD]

now here is the question.

what are the pros and cons of a:

SB 440 in comparison to a BB 440?

lets hear 'em!

[Ghoste]

Isn't valvetrain geometry an issue on the smallblocks?

[Mike DC]

I'm not sure about pros/cons yet, although I imagine we'll see plenty of magazine articles about it once these motors hit. 

Either way, it's not really about a heads-up comparo of the two motors.  Dollar-for-dollar, the overhauled & stroked 440s we're used to will still be a better deal.  I mean, the new 440 SB is using an aftermarket engine block and that's never cheap.  No matter what the specific prices of the 440 SB crates turn out to be, I'm sure the amount would build you a hot stroker 500" BB any day of the week. 

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The primary market will probably be to people who want the biggest-inch SB they can buy because of weight reasons.  (Think:  G-machines.)   So at that point it's irrelevant what marginal power advantages the BB has over the SB or why.  But the point is that we can finally play in the same sandbox as the Chevy & Ford guys in terms of big-inch smallblocks.

I think the bigger question is:
How does this 440 SB compare to the possibilities of a modern 5.7/6.1L Hemi swap?  Weight?  Power?  Future development of the engines?

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[dkn1997]

after you pay 10grand for it, then take it somewhere to be rebuilt it should run fine.

[Mike DC]

after you pay 10grand for it, then take it somewhere to be rebuilt it should run fine.

Man, isn't that the truth.

[sixpack70]

In one of my magazines they did a ford 428 FE VS 427 stroked windsor. The two engines were built to similar specs. Here are the dyno results.

427W
RPM   HP   TORQUE   VE%
2,500   193   413   76.4
3,000   243   433   80.3
3,500   301   459   86.0
4,000   360   478   91.3
4,500   415   487   94.7
5,000   455   481   96.2
5,500   478   458   96.2
6,000   486   424   94.6


428FE
RPM   HP   TORQUE   VE%
3,000   225.4   447.1   90.6
3,500   282.6   424.1   87.9
4,000   366.6   481.4   97.9
4,500   415.0   484.3   99.3
5,000   457.9   481.0   101.3
5,500   486.6   464.6   103.2
6,000   505.4   442.4   102.3
6,500   503.8   407.1   100.2


The big block made more torque throughout the RPM band. Our standard size 440's would probably be similar. The thing the small block stroker has as was mentioned earlier was weight. The other issue is we can always stroke the 440 to over 500 cubes and blow the crap out of the small block.