440 6-Pack Stroker - Build Underway

[Musicman]

Sorry guys... I could have sworn that I posted this thread earlier, but after reviewing my own history I see that I haven't... so here it is. This will be the short-short version however since a lot has happened from day one until now.

I started my new build back in June... When I took the block to the machinist I informed him that I would not be needing the block for quite some time so he has been treating it as a back burner project, working on it during the slow periods at the shop. My job has taken me to South Carolina for a while, and I probably won't be back home in CT for another 5 or 6 months... until then, the work continues... Here's what we have so far (the condensed version). I'll start this one with a series of posts to keep it somewhat organized.

OK... This is what I started with... a greasy 1977 440 block stripped and ready. I had already reamed out the appropriate oil passages in preparation for the new 1/2" oil pickup system and HV pump before taking it to the machine shop.

[Musicman]

Here's a few shots of the block at the shop after the initial preps before machining..IE: Oven cleaning, a run through the shot tumbler, pressure testing, etc.

[Musicman]

Here's a shot of the oil pickup being enlarged from the standard 3/8" system to a 1/2" Hemi style system. The hole was purposely drilled very slightly off center to maintain the structural integrity of the block around the area of the inboard threads.

[Musicman]

After that the block was De-Flashed, ARP studs were installed in the lower end, the caps were clearanced, cut and squared, and the block was Align Honed. Sorry, I don't have any pictures of the earlier operations (at least not with me), but here is a shot of the block with the align hone operation in progress.

That's all for now...

[oldschool]

WOW ,THAT SHOT TUMBLER DOES A REALLY NICE JOB OF CLEANING THE BLOCK!!

[Musicman]

WOW ,THAT SHOT TUMBLER DOES A REALLY NICE JOB OF CLEANING THE BLOCK!!

Well actually... it's the oven that does a real good job, the shot just knocks the remaining stuff off and polishes it up a bit

[tan top]

  looking like a well preped block    good stuff , keep the pictures coming 

[Chatt69chgr]

What do you plan to overbore the block to?  What heads?  What static compression ratio.  What rods, crank, and pistons?  And have you chosen a cam yet?

[firefighter3931]

Looking good Mike ! 



Ron

[Musicman]

What do you plan to overbore the block to?  What heads?  What static compression ratio.  What rods, crank, and pistons?  And have you chosen a cam yet?

The block will be bored .030 over
The crank, rods, and pistons are from 440source (Standard 4.25 Stroker Kit)
Stealth heads... reworked receiving a proper valve job, and 10 degree Comp Cams locks & keepers.
Compression will fall somewhere in the ballpark of 10.
Lunati 60302 Cam and Lunati Micro-Trol lifters

[firefighter3931]

Lunati 60302 Cam and Lunati Micro-Trol lifters

Mike, just a heads up ; the #302 cam is waaay small for a 500in build....power will peak at 4500 or less. 

I would be looking at the 304 or 305 cam profiles. Mike's (MFR 426) Stealth headed 505 peaked at 5000 rpm with an Engle K60 which is 234*@.050 duration. Big engines eat duration...it's difficult to overcam them but easy to undercam. 

http://www.lunaticams.com/ProductGroup.aspx?id=287&cid=62


The other problem you can encounter with a cam profile that is too small is increased cylinder pressure. Too much dynamic compression and it will detonate. 



Ron

[Chatt69chgr]

Out of curiosity, why a 6-pk?  I have read that even though they say the cfm on the carbs is 350/500/500 that these numbers are rated for 2bbl carbs and if you rated them for 4bbl they would total up to 950 cfm (I have no idea if this is true or not).  But besides that, why not a dual quad setup?  I see that Edelbrock has a nice dual quad manifold.  Or you could buy the max wedge dual quad setup from A&A Transmission that fits a 440 head.  I suppose a lot would depend on what rpm you intend to run and what rpm you want your torque to occur at.  I think the 6-pk manifold are 1500-6500 rpm where the dual quad manifold from Edelbrock is 0-6000 rpm (per their website).  I have no idea what the tech characteristics on the max wedge that fits the 440 heads (small port) are since there is no data on the A&A Transmission website.

[acelondon]

6-pack is all about the gut wrenching throttle response. my old 1958 volvo had "The Notorious Stromberg 97 Tri-Power" that i was told "no man can tune." After a month of screwdriver magic, i got all 110hp out of that little v8. Fastest car i have ever owned, with more throttle response then my 92 Lexus SC300 with EFI.

[Musicman]

I'm back home in CT for the weekend so I stopped by the shop to see how things are going...

After align honing the block, it was measured for deck height and squareness, and a rough 85 CC measurement was taken from the heads for calculating final compression. Factoring in the -17 cc pistons, the .040 crush depth of the MLS head gasket, the very slight ridge taper at the top of each cylinder, and giving a 2% blow by factor for the rings, it was decided that we needed to go roughly .005 in the hole to achieve the desired final compression. Final measurements will be taken, and adjustments (if any) will be made once the block has been Bored & Honed, and the lower end components have been test fit.

In the mean time... Here's a shot of the block being Squared and Decked

[Musicman]

This is a shot of the cylinders being bored .030 over...
After this a Torque Block will be mounted on the block and the cylinders will be Honed...
...but that will be another day and a different machine

[Musicman]

This is a shot of the block all squared, decked, and bored .030 over 

[firefighter3931]

Looks great Mike !   


Ron

[Musicman]

Thanks Ron... it's moving along slowly but at least it's moving forward. I have to make a decision on a rocker assembly pretty soon, any thoughts? I've been toying with the idea of moving up to a roller.

[firefighter3931]

Thanks Ron... it's moving along slowly but at least it's moving forward. I have to make a decision on a rocker assembly pretty soon, any thoughts? I've been toying with the idea of moving up to a roller.

Mike, the rocker arm choice will depend on what type of roller cam you want to choose. A hydraulic roller will give you several options.....Crane/Isky ductile iron, Crane gold aluminum or on the high end Harland Sharp or Comp Pro Magnums. A solid roller needs a fuller rollerized rocker arm to survive on the street due to increased spring loads....which increases the cost significantly. The entry level rocker of choice is Harland Sharp for the solid roller cam and you will also need to upgrade the valvesprings.

With the hyd roller you can simply add an inner spring to your current stealth "stock" springs and be fine. 

It just boils down to how much you want to spend. For your type of build and driving style a hyd roller would be my choice. 



Ron

[Musicman]

Thanks for the input Ron

If I go anywhere with this it will be Hyd... that much is certain. I was looking at the Crane Golds and the Pro Magnums, but given the cost of the magnums, well... they just don't seem to be very practical in terms of cost verse advantage. I haven't really looked at any of the ductile iron stuff yet.

[Musicman]

Just some new toys I picked up for later on in the build 

[Musicman]

Picked up a brand spank'n new set of 1.6 ratio Crane Golds for my build on eBay real cheap... cost was about the same as a stock set of stamped rockers.

(Yes, I know Crane is temporarily out of business... I just don't care)

[Musicman]

Just thought I'd post a shot of my new ignition system from FBO (aka: 4secondsflat.com)

[Musicman]

Well, I'm back home in CT for the moment, so the build continues...
The block will be getting the final cylinder honing this week or next, and then it will be time for the pre-assembly checks, followed by the actual assembly. In the mean time I am doing my part... I have the heads and the 6-pack intake here in my shop. I will be gasket matching the intake to the heads. After that I will be doing some clean up work on the heads themselves before they go back to the shop for the valve job.

Below is a couple of quick before & after shots of the gasket match work on the 6-pack intake so far. As you can plainly see, the ports on the Edelbrock 6-pack intake are not even close to matching the supplied Edelbrock gaskets... just par for the course I guess. The gaskets do match the ports on Stealth heads pretty well however, so there won't be a great deal of work there. Most of the effort on the heads will go into cleaning up the runners themselves.

[Musicman]

Recieved my new headers today...

Hedman Elite's #78038
1-3/4" tubes to a 3" Collector
Coated 14 Gauge mandrel bent tubes
3/8" Flanges front and rear

Wasn't really looking for a ceramic coated header, but the Hedman's had all the spec's that I was looking for at the right price, so that's what I got.