Thanks for replies. I know there are tons of aftermarket and stock rods, pistons and cranks that are better than a stock 70's 440, my main question is can I re-use my stock rotating assembled and get my hp from machine work, head porting and cam. I don't want to buy parts that are more expensive than reusing my own.
A late 70's 440 is going to have pistons almost .150 , or maybe .170 , in the hole , you do not want to zero deck those pistons , it's going to cost more in machining the block that much , then heads and of intake to make it all fit together after hacking that much off the block , than it would to buy a set of 6pk pistons that are only .020 in the hole and have valve reliefs.
I'd look for something used that needs to be freshened maybe .
You could do it as Von suggests , buy used parts when you can ... but it sounds like you don't want to take a year to do this build , or do you ?
Plus it's a crap shoot buying someone else's used up junk ... and there is a lot of that out there .... being passed off as good and ready to go ...
X2 or 3..
440 compression was rated 8.2 the last 5 or 6 years of production. Any pre '70 pistons are an improvement. I did that swap to a '71 440, quick hone job and select fit pistons that were higher in the bore. 6pac's are the way to go
71 pistons still weren't low in the bore like the 72+ were. If you had any kind of a ridge in your cylinder on a 72+ 440, I'd be worried about the rings on the new pistons catching on it.
I'm aware of that. I just wanted more. As far as a ridge goes, a ridge reamer used carefully will take of that.
.... being passed off as good and ready to go ... 