Increasing hp in 440

[Boomer21]

I'm restoring a 1973 charger and I purchased a 440 motor from a 1975 dodge d200 pickup. I looked up the specs and saw it was rated at 275hp at 4800. I want to rebuild the motor and install a edelbrock dual plane intake, a comps cam, it has a 850 cfm thermo quad which I rebuilt, and install headers when I put it in. I was wondering on what kind of horsepower increase I can expect.  Also what kind of carb and cam you guys recommend, and if its worth it to mill the heads to get 10.5 to 1 compression  and port and polish them.
Here is the parts list

Cam- https://m.summitracing.com/parts/cca-cl21-672-4

Intake- http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/mc/manifolds/chrysler/performer-rpm-bb.shtml

Headers- http://www.jegs.com/i/Hedman/500/78030/10002/-1

[BSB67]

I want to rebuild the motor and .....

What does this mean to you? and what is your budget?

The power is in the pistons (i.e. compression ratio) and heads.

[Boomer21]

Not all of the horsepower lies within the compression, but a good portion of it does. I was trying to better the flow to gain more horsepower. But later on I was going to maybe go to a machine shop and have the heads milled to gain better compression. I can spend lIke a grand or a little more on the parts and whatever it costs for the machine work.

[c00nhunterjoe]

Not all of the horsepower lies within the compression, but a good portion of it does. I was trying to better the flow to gain more horsepower. But later on I was going to maybe go to a machine shop and have the heads milled to gain better compression. I can spend lIke a grand or a little more on the parts and whatever it costs for the machine work.

Put a set of max wedge heads on your 1975 440 with 7.5:1 slugs and let me know how well that compression works for you. Or even more realistic slap a purple 509 in it and see how much power it makes. Compression is the key to everything in the combo. Too much or too little on top of the total build will ruin it.

You said you want to mill, port and polish iron heads and your entire parts budget for the engine is 1000 dollars. I suggest you call a machine shop and ask them the cost to ONLY do what you are asking for the heads. You will have sticker shock.

[BSB67]

Not all of the horsepower lies within the compression, but a good portion of it does. I was trying to better the flow to gain more horsepower. But later on I was going to maybe go to a machine shop and have the heads milled to gain better compression. I can spend lIke a grand or a little more on the parts and whatever it costs for the machine work.

Ok.  You are not rebuilding anything.

You have a $1000 parts budget and have some allowance for some machine work that you are going to throw at a tired, low compression 440.  Is this correct?

Also, what is the goal for the car? and expectation for the motor with your budget?  I get the whole budget thing, but I'm concerned that there might be a miss match between your budget and your expectation. 

[heyoldguy]

I'm restoring a 1973 charger and I purchased a 440 motor from a 1975 dodge d200 pickup. I looked up the specs and saw it was rated at 275hp at 4800. I want to rebuild the motor and install a edelbrock dual plane intake, a comps cam, it has a 850 cfm thermo quad which I rebuilt, and install headers when I put it in. I was wondering on what kind of horsepower increase I can expect.  Also what kind of carb and cam you guys recommend, and if its worth it to mill the heads to get 10.5 to 1 compression  and port and polish them.
Here is the parts list

Cam- https://m.summitracing.com/parts/cca-cl21-672-4

Intake- http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/mc/manifolds/chrysler/performer-rpm-bb.shtml

Headers- http://www.jegs.com/i/Hedman/500/78030/10002/-1

Will compression help? SURE! But, what if you don't increase the compression right off? What can happen then?

Okay, well, I don't recommend the 509 camshaft but that is what we used for this dyno test because it just happened to be on the shelf and we were never going to use it for anything else. This is what you can do with a low compression engine like you have. But in reality you don't have the budget to do the iron heads correctly and with a 509 cam you'll have to have some gears and converter.

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

[Boomer21]

I susposse it is my fault for not specify what I wanted to do for this engine. I didn't want a strip car but rather a street car that has power to have fun. My uncle has rebuilt a lot of these types of motors, so I was going to get his help to tear apart the engine give it new gaskets bearings, seals and other things to make sure it works correctly. While I did that I would install the new parts. Then later I would decide from there I was just trying to find out what power output I could expect with these upgrades.

[BSB67]

In reality, you are probably starting with about 220 hp.  If you make the changes you suggest in your original post I would guess that you will in the 260 range, but the car will drive like crap with that cam choice.

IMO, tearing down a motor and replacing gaskets and bearings is a waste of time and money unless you know that there is actually a bearing problem.  Once you open it up, it is really hard to get back out on the cheap.

[69wannabe]