400 to 440 conversion

[390power]

I am planning on converting my 1973 charger engine from the original 400 to a 440 and am looking for some guidance. When complete I would like the car to produce roughly 450-500 horsepower and I need to find a good 440 block and crank. Is there anything I should look for when looking for the block and crank such as 2 vs 4 bolt mains etc or are all 440's alike? Would it matter if the engine came out of a truck or motorhome? Any help is appreciated - Pete

[Nacho-RT74]

I don't really know for sure, but as far I know 68s 440s that I think have mechanic lifters

[aifilaw]

I am planning on converting my 1973 charger engine from the original 400 to a 440 and am looking for some guidance. When complete I would like the car to produce roughly 450-500 horsepower and I need to find a good 440 block and crank. Is there anything I should look for when looking for the block and crank such as 2 vs 4 bolt mains etc or are all 440's alike? Would it matter if the engine came out of a truck or motorhome? Any help is appreciated - Pete

motorhome usually means it has special motorhome heads, those should be scrapped. Honestly the costs you are looking at require a freshening of the block, crank, et cetera.... you could spend the same amount of money, and then pay less by getting a stroker kit for your 400 block because you already own it. There are a ton of stroker kits out there that will turn your 400 short deck big block into an absolute beast... and depending on what you want to do with the engine, there are plenty of avenues to turn that 400 in stock stroke form into a 500 HP beast with minimal spending.

[Nacho-RT74]

[dukeboy_318]

Definetly agree.  i think mopar muscle magizine is built one for a street/strip car a while back that had around 500 horses.  it was a 400 bb bored and stroked to 451.  Here's the link good luck.

http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/projectbuild/mopp_0703_barracuda_engine_build/

[72pettyblue]

check out 440source.com and see the stroker kits they have to offer.  More bang for the buck

[firefighter3931]

Pete, just stroke your 400 motor to 451-470. 



Ron

[Challenger340]

I'm with Ron, "stroke the 400 block to 451 or 470"

You don't have to get this involved, or go this far, but it may give some ideas/expectations of what can be done with the 400 block, on pump fuel, quite easily, 574 h.p/583 Torque

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,22274.0.html

or

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,23089.0.html

Bob out.

[390power]

Thanks to all of you for the outstanding support. I really appreciate all the input. I think I'm going to use some of your links and stroke my 400. It's numbers matching to the car and the only reason I was thinking about going to a 440 was the engine shops around the area told me that it was pretty difficult to get 500hp out of a 400 without sinking some serious money into it. This is the first time I have been on a forum and it is a great experience. I hope in the future I may be able to bring more to the table than just questions. I will keep you posted on this winter project. Thanks again.....Pete

[73chgrSE]

With a 400, can you put in a 440 crank(increase stroke) without increasing the bore? or is there a reason that the bore needs to be greater too? What else needs too be changed out?

[Nacho-RT74]

you can keep same bore. Increase bore is just if block need to me bored like regular rebuilt job.

basically just need cut the mains on 440 crank to fit on 400 block... or enlarge 400 mains, what is harder and expensive. Then get teh right speciall pistons to teh stroker

Rest are miscelaneous that can be named by the experts here.

There are several threads about

[Ghoste]

As easy as it is and even with the numerous and affordable kits available to build a stroker, it still isn't quite as simple as just changing the crank and away you go.  As Nacho said, there is some machining involved and by the time you are that far into the engine, with that amount of money spent to that point, to worry about retaining the stock bore becomes unnecessary.  Building a stroker is cheap and easy these days but there is no sense jumping over dollars to pick up pennies either.  I'm not saying you have to go into big time credit card shock or anything, just spend it where you should.

[Nacho-RT74]

the fact is 451 stroker is the cheapes engine build up and stroke you can get since you can make it basically with MOPAR STOCK OLD PARTS with just piston exceptions...

then you can go with some more "irons", like lighter rods, some heads mods ( or new perfromance ones ) same as manifold and headers, but those are just optional to get better numbers of course... you can go with stock parts easily to begin to play.

you can choose between 440 or 400/383 rods depending on rod ratio you want, and there is a "debate" on that: some choose 440s since gets less stress on cilinder walls, specially for racing use, but 400 rods aparently makes good the job too for street strip use. 400/383 Rod ratio are still on good numbers.

Longer rods helps on get longer skirts piston too but lighter or thinner piston head itself with higher pin point, of course 400 rods are opposite. Nothing worng anyway, just you choose your setup depending on use.

You can go perfectly with 400 rods and rest of stock parts if you already have 400 parts, and then upgrading step by step the exterior parts, like manifold, heads and headers. Thats what I will do in a future once I get my first performance game I'm playing around right now.

Another stuff to get in mind is if you have casted or forged 400 setup. Mostly all are casted, but I have known some 400 with 4 speeds were earlier forged build.  If you have casted 400 crank and go with forged 440 crank, then will need also 440 balancing damper and pulley they came out. Some builders logically don't recomend 440 casted cranks on 451 strokers and is logical, but personally and being honest, without build up and performance knowlegdment, on numbers I have read 440 casted crank is able to drive the stroker easilly for street use and maybe a little bit more, like a street challenge . I have read they are able to drive 500HP without problem... once again is what I have read.

I'll try to get some links around

[Nacho-RT74]

Opps, noticed Challenger340 already posted the info he already got on its own experience!!! that was the thread I was to search.

here is one more and I think one of the main informative sources:
http://www.arengineering.com/articles/articleframe.html