440 rebuild

[Hank Hill]

My son's  73 charger has a low comp 440. I am considering building a mild but better street motor for him. I need lots of advice. I would like to start with a different motor, but want to be sure one that will fit realitively easy. How much and where to start,  Thanks

[andy74]

i wouldnt replace the 440 you have,just build her up!some decent compression,and a mild cam/intake /carb will be more than enough to get you and your son in trouble,there are tons of 440 threads here,just use the search tab,and any qustions just ask

[ChgrSteve67]

Stay with the 440 and put EFI on it.

Lots of parts for the 440 and real easy to make lots of HP.

You will save yourself lots of money in not trying to make a different motor fit correctly.
(Motor mounts, stearing, break lines, and so on)

Talk to you local engine builder or tuner, they will tell you what you need to get the results you are after.

Oh and don't just talk to one person, talk it to several \ many people.
You will quickly figure out who is full of crap and who knows what they are talking about.

Steve (Just my 2 cents)

[andy74]

i wouldnt spend the dough to get an efi set up,but thats me personally-a lot of decent power builds,and budget friendly too use carbs

[defiance]

EFI on a non-EFI car is really great if you like the project.  No matter how good a kit you get, you'll spend a good bit of time 'getting it right'.  It's not really all that expensive - a sub-450-or-so-hp system can be put together now (since the victor manifolds are now out) for around $1k.  Better cold starts, better idle, a little better throttle response, etc.  Of course, a carb is a LOT cheaper, easier to set up initially, and there is no real HP gain with EFI (unless you count the fact that if you put it on a dyno you can tweak the curve a bit better and might get 5hp here & there on the curve), so...  It's a tradeoff.  Most people staying with a 440 should stay with a carb, though, mostly just because of the amount of time the EFI will require you to spend tuning (I spent around 40-50 hours tuning mine, still wasn't satisfied, then decided on a major rebuild, so I'll start over when that's done ) .

Why would you want to get rid of a 440, though??  

[Hank Hill]

dont want to get rid of the 440, only thought of starting with a pre 73 block, besides its to fun to drive to miss out while build is in progress.

[SeattleCharger]

There is a thread somewhere on here about older blocks vs. seventies blocks, if you are going to rebuild yours, shouldn't matter at all, some say newer blocks are at least as good, plus you prob. already have the six pack rods in that,   difference though would be steel crank vs. cast, but shouldn't matter if you aren't going for mega high horsepower/racing,    I have saved lots of 440 build threads from here, let me find my list and I'll put the links in here for you this evening or tomorrow morning,

[defiance]

Ah, gotcha, OK  

If depending on how your build is going to be set up, (i.e., if you're replacing the heads and rotating assembly), the later 440's aren't as bad as most think. 

One build I looked at before settling on my current plans (one that came highly recommended here, actually) was basically just to switch out to Speed Pro L2355 pistons, deck the block to -0 with the pistons for quench, and put on some edelbrock alum closed chamber heads. 
Another option to consider are stroker kits; the kits from 440source (www.440source.com) now come balanced for $150 more , so they're pretty affordable.  Either (or both) way matching up the cam nicely will lead to a good setup

Also, 440source has some GREAT info on their site- If you're doing any signjificant rebuild on a 440.  As they point out on their blocks page, the later blocks are really just as good as the earlier ones, and you can often find them cheaper.  The only reason they are "bad" is that they pistons are way below deck, so compression stinks, and the heads are less than optimal... both of which can be easily fixed in a rebuild.

Anyway, what kind of hp/budget are you targeting?  There are some guys on here with a LOT more knowlege than me that I'm sure can pipe in once you set the parameters.

[SeattleCharger]

Someone posted this on the site,  it said,

       "There is nothing wrong with later 440s. Thay are actualy "better". This is a must read http://440source.com/blockinfo.htm . "

[SeattleCharger]

Here are some informative links I have saved to read while planning my 440 build.   I myself wouldn't spend the big money on aluminum heads.  Like someone said, a nice cam and intake and maybe carb and hp exhaust manifolds or headers, 400 or 415 horsepower area,  plenty for fun power, roasting em off and going fast.       That's just for me, everyone will have different thoughts on the subject though   

   You may have to copy and paste these into your address bar to open each thread:


http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,782.0.html

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,4195.0.html

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,7950.0.html

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,13148.0.html

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,22131.0.html   (engine pics collection links)

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,21349.0.html     (cam thread)

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,21355.0.html      (intake thread)

[Purple440]

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,21349.0.html     (cam thread)

Cool Seattle - I've been kinda doing the same thing....got a word doc filled with links to threads and articles.  And that thread in particular was outstanding and is in my list also.