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My brother is building a 440 for a 69 valiant we recently picked up and he had started building this engine awhile ago. The engine is a 440 block .40 overbore, arp main bolts, LY rods, keith black forged flat top pistons, no cam yet but thinking conservative solid roller around 250 @ .50 and .620 lift. edelbrock victor heads standard port not max wedge, comp 1.5 offset rockers, m1 single plane intake, hooker super comp fenderwell headers, no carb yet,or ignition, 3800-4000 9.5" converter he has and 727 manual valve body, 8 3/4 rear spool 35 spline axles and 3.91's. He has most of this stuff already. Guestimate on horsepower and any suggestions on other opinions would be appreciated.

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I thought the Victors were already maxwedge ported...guess not...if thats the case, that cam isnt going to be used to its potential, like said...


sounds like its going to be a strip/street machine w/3.91 gears...

what I would do and this is me..I think outa the box at times..have those heads ported and opened up to Maxwedge ports and get the Victor intake from Edlebrock and have it port matched...lose those LY rods...have the entire rotating assembly balanced..etc etc..then you can take advantage of that cam...probably need more like 4400-4600rpm stall..I was using a 5500 on my 448..was a bit much for LY rods..snap

Im sure you will get a lot more dos and donts...

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My brother is building a 440 for a 69 valiant we recently picked up and he had started building this engine awhile ago. The engine is a 440 block .40 overbore, arp main bolts, LY rods, keith black forged flat top pistons, no cam yet but thinking conservative solid roller around 250 @ .50 and .620 lift. edelbrock victor heads standard port not max wedge, comp 1.5 offset rockers, m1 single plane intake, hooker super comp fenderwell headers, no carb yet,or ignition, 3800-4000 9.5" converter he has and 727 manual valve body, 8 3/4 rear spool 35 spline axles and 3.91's. He has most of this stuff already. Guestimate on horsepower and any suggestions on other opinions would be appreciated.

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I thought the Victors were already maxwedge ported...guess not...if thats the case, that cam isnt going to be used to its potential, like said...


sounds like its going to be a strip/street machine w/3.91 gears...

what I would do and this is me..I think outa the box at times..have those heads ported and opened up to Maxwedge ports and get the Victor intake from Edlebrock and have it port matched...lose those LY rods...have the entire rotating assembly balanced..etc etc..then you can take advantage of that cam...probably need more like 4400-4600rpm stall..I was using a 5500 on my 448..was a bit much for LY rods..snap

Im sure you will get a lot more dos and donts...

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Probably save some money by using a solid mech cam. You can call a few cam guys and have a custom grind done for about $200 and it will work with what you have. In any event it should be an easy 10 second car.

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My thoughts exactly! 10 secound street cars are cool! Well not as cool as 9 and 8 secound street cars but still kinda cool!

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Tell him not to rev it beyond 6500.
Ask me how i know

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I would go with a bit more duration (260?) but use endurance type roller cam lobes for better life of the parts. So much depends on what you do with the heads, and the cam /carb that it is impossible to give any hp estimates at this point. Figure out how to make the heads flow as much as possible, get a cam to use the flow, max out the compression for the fuel used and get the piston to head clearance down close (.040?) and you should have a winner. It should be easy to get this deal into the tens, but how far depends on a lot of your choices. One thing I am not fond of is the low converter stall. If this is a street strip deal, you have to live with some compromise. But if this is race only, get the stall up above 5,000 rpm, preferably within 1200/1300 rpm of shift point or maybe closer.

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I agree completely with the cam, I run a 275@50 in mine and also I run a 8" 5000 converter. He got a really good deal on alot of these parts including the tranny and converter. Im sure a 1050 domi. would also be the ticket for carb. Thanks for the recomendations everyone. Keep em coming. This is what I really like about this board!

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Probably save some money by using a solid mech cam. You can call a few cam guys and have a custom grind done for about $200 and it will work with what you have. In any event it should be an easy 10 second car.

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My thoughts exactly! 10 secound street cars are cool! Well not as cool as 9 and 8 secound street cars but still kinda cool!

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I agree 10 second street cars are cool.

I had Dwayne Porter spec a flat tappet cam for my 493. He also suggested that if I drive my 63 alot on the street to go with a flat tappet and since I put alot of miles on it I went with the flat tappet. The cam is 264 & 270 at .050 and with 1.6 rockers it has .624 and .630 lift and a 110 LSA. The cam was nitrided and I have it on a 106 ICL. I also thought all Victor heads were Max Wedge ports but I have been wrong before. You cant go wrong having Dwayne Porter spec you a cam which ever cam you decide on. Good luck with it , Ron

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don't use stock rods.

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It would be cheaper to do the rods now instead of later when you window the block. LMAO!!!

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don't use stock rods.

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No sh!t. I gotta jigsaw puzzle made outta a stock LY rod that I threw at the 1000-ft mark one Friday night at the track. It also cost me a crank, a block, a camshaft, an oil pan...

Good rods are part of the foundation for any performance build. You can do a basic head swap in an afternoon, but replacing rods needs to happen at the start.