Carrot on a stick

[Lurker]

hi guys, i got off my butt finally and stripped my 68 charger and should be neck deep in sheetmetal work the next few weeks and figure i need some more motivation to keep me plugging away.

i have the 78 (i think) block from the car on a stand and have been drooling over the 500 kits from 440source and was thinking of building (or having someone build) a 500" indy ez head engine prolly in the 450-550 hp range with a 727

1. will that block with that power hold up in a heavy car running 3.55-3.91 gears on street radials hold up or should i be looking for a better block?

2. being a canadian and stuck in northern alberta i don't have a lot of choices in machine shops, the few locals i know of don't have much mopar exp and have rarely touched a stroker, can anyone recommend a builder in alberta with stroker experiance? i have built a pile of steel head smallblocks myself but if i invest in a 500" i want to make sure its 100% and think i should let the pros do it for me.

[Joshs68]

for that kind of power you could do a nice iron head big block thats not too wild and save the cash on the stroker and heads. It is just my opinion but a 9.5/1 440 with iron heads will make that without getting too fancy and less machine work.

[Lurker]

i could but i would rather go the stroker route

[firefighter3931]

Lurker, first off welcome to the site.

The 78 block will be fine as long as it checks out....there are a few things you should do before putting any money into that block for machining. The first thing you want to do is have it sonic checked to see how thick the cylinder walls are. If it passes the sonic check then you want to have it magnafluxed to make sure that it's structural integrity is intact. If it passes both of those tests then you're good to go with the build. 

There are a couple of engine builders from Alberta that post here that should be able to help you out. They are in the Calgary area if that helps.


Ron

[Lurker]

thanks FF i was a member of the old charger board and posted quite a bit so i am not totally new