400 biuld question

[sailpanel]

 I'm getting ready to biuld a motor for my 66 and have a very low mileage 72 casting 400 block. I was tempted to go the 451 stoker route but.... since this is going to be a low R.P.M. cruiser motor I was wondering if it would be worth the extra money. I know some of you have used .030 over 440 pistons in your 400s what results did you have ,,problems etc. etc.? Or should I just get some better 400 pistons and be done with it ( KB240s or diamond 52407s?) ? I'll be using a Erson BP270 cam stock iron heads with a 3 angle vavle job, Hedman shorty headers (13/4 tubes) 2/1/2 exhaust, AVS carb with HP intake ( or have access to a old holley dominator) 3.23 gears with auto trans. My pockets have shallow bottoms so I need all the  advice I can get.

[jg68]

I'm getting ready to biuld a motor for my 66 and have a very low mileage 72 casting 400 block. I was tempted to go the 451 stoker route but.... since this is going to be a low R.P.M. cruiser motor I was wondering if it would be worth the extra money. I know some of you have used .030 over 440 pistons in your 400s what results did you have ,,problems etc. etc.? Or should I just get some better 400 pistons and be done with it ( KB240s or diamond 52407s?) ? I'll be using a Erson BF270 cam stock iron heads with a 3 angle vavle job, Hedman shorty headers (13/4 tubes) 2/1/2 exhaust, AVS carb with HP intake ( or have access to a old holley dominator) 3.23 gears with auto trans. My pockets have shallow bottoms so I need all the  advice I can get.

I'll tell ya, i loved my 451 low-deck, don't let some tell you its a high winder, its not, it'll just rev. quicker (like a small block) with its lighter rotateing assembly, you can get a kit from 440source balanced for around 1800.00, it comes with all needed for the bottom end, now if you want alittle more, go for the 470, you can go 499 but you'll have hockey pucks for pistons, not a good idea for a street cruiser, i ran 10.91 with a very mild 451 in my duster running BONE stock 906s shifting at 5600

I think the 470 would be a good choice for your build, it'll still run VG with iron heads & down the road, you can change to a better set like the EZs & a moderate solid cam & have a nice screamer, even with 3.23s

[firefighter3931]

If a stroker isn't in the budget then use a good forged piston (diamond) to get the compression up....shoot for 9-9.5:1 

If you haven't purchased the cam yet i would suggest you look at an Engle k56 hydraulic bumpstick. 




Ron

[sailpanel]

Its not neccesarily that its not in the budget, it's just I'm starting to question whether it's really worth it considering  the car is mainly going to be a cruiser. Cam is allready purchased as are headers. Yes 9.5 I'm thinking, should probably be my limit for C.R. If I go with a 451 then I know I'm going to want better heads and then better this and better that etc. etc. and the next thing ya know Ive, got a crap load of money tied up in this motor ( not that I don't allready have a bunch tied up in the car ) that will never probably see the 1/4 mile.  Can I get decent torque out of a new set of pistons that will bump up the C.R., a good 3 angle V-job and the aformentioned parts and have non-overheating fun for way less coin than the stoker? If the stroker is the way to go and will give me miles of pleasure then I'm up for it. At this point I've never had experiance with either so I'm in uncharted waters here. I'm not looking for 10. second quarters here just a little tire hazing and an occasional banzi blast every now and then. I've just installed new 5/16 fuel line from one end to the other so I don't need so much H.P. that I over tax the fuel supply. I'm only going to get one shot if this leans the storker direction so I've got to get it right.

[jg68]

Its not neccesarily that its not in the budget, it's just I'm starting to question whether it's really worth it considering  the car is mainly going to be a cruiser. Cam is allready purchased as are headers. Yes 9.5 I'm thinking, should probably be my limit for C.R. If I go with a 451 then I know I'm going to want better heads and then better this and better that etc. etc. and the next thing ya know Ive, got a crap load of money tied up in this motor ( not that I don't allready have a bunch tied up in the car ) that will never probably see the 1/4 mile.  Can I get decent torque out of a new set of pistons that will bump up the C.R., a good 3 angle V-job and the aformentioned parts and have non-overheating fun for way less coin than the stoker? If the stroker is the way to go and will give me miles of pleasure then I'm up for it. At this point I've never had experiance with either so I'm in uncharted waters here. I'm not looking for 10. second quarters here just a little tire hazing and an occasional banzi blast every now and then. I've just installed new 5/16 fuel line from one end to the other so I don't need so much H.P. that I over tax the fuel supply. I'm only going to get one shot if this leans the storker direction so I've got to get it right.

Yeah, you can make them 400s run very well with more comp. & a moderate cam & you can get by with very mild iron heads & not leave much HP on the table, but with say a 470 stroker, you'll be leaving alot more on the table with mild irons.

[Corellian Corvette]

I talked with my engine builder this week about stroking my 400. I'm in a similar situation as you as I'm sort of on a budget and I don't have a need to overdo it.

I spoke with Brandon at 440source (VERY nice guy) and he recommend the 470 as an awesome street motor (I want good vacuum, good reliablity). Another advantage of the 440source kits that I haven't seen posted before, is that you can get pistons to match your heads, instead of machining the heads down to get the right CR. So instead of spending money to machine my 88cc heads down to get 9.5:1, they have pistons that work with the 88cc heads. And they have pistons for almost every Mopar BB head.

Some things that come in the kit (pistons, rings, bearings) you'd need to replace anyway. So all you're buying new really is the crank and rods. But again, you'd probably need some machine work on your crank anyway just to polish it up and obvioulsy balancing.

My builder and I talked at length and went through the numbers, and he caluclated the cost of all the new parts, and subtracted the costs of machine work (Head milling, crank milling and balancing, etc.) and determined that the stroker kit was only going to add about $400 to the total cost of the build, with the advantage of having all new internals. So, for me it's a no-brainer. 70 more cubes, another 100+ HP, and only $400 more. Easy call for me.

[supserdave]

What are the specs on the cam?

[sailpanel]

After speaking with several different sources by phone on Tue. I have since decided not to go the stroker route. It just wasn't in the cards with what we had in mind for the car not to mention our budget. I'm sure I'll have plenty of other questions ( allready have a cam question on another thread) and I appreciate all the input very much.