I have a 440 out of a 73 New Yorker on the engine stand. Motor looks to be in good shape but needs a rebuild. I have a few questions for you guys in regards to how to rebuild this bad boy. It will be going into the 66 fury, hooked up to the 727 that was in the New Yorker. I will be putting 3.23s in the rear end down the road, but for now it will have the 2.94s. I am looking to make ample amounts of torque to get this big boat moving down the road fairly quickly. Here is the combo I am thinking about.

stealth heads from 440source
lunati voodoo 60302
stock cast crank
stock rockers and shaft
stock distributor
rebuild kit from Summit Racing, not sure yet on compression ratio

Would the stock intake and rebuilt thermoquad work well with this setup, or should I go ahead and spend the cash to get the Edelbrock RPM and 750-800 cfm carb.

What would be a good compression ratio to run in this motor? Any suggestions to the combo would be greatly appreciated. This will be my first rebuild. I have a close friend that builds chevy engines frequently that will be helping me assemble.

Also forgot to ask, would exhaust manifolds work ok with this set up or would heads be needed? If have to use headers, I will use shorties as long tubes in a c body are a royal pain from what I have heard.

The stealth heads are overkill, but good for upgrades down the road. just order all Summit stuff and roll. T-Chain, re-built kit (hope you don't need a bore, if so get higher compression pistons), the Summit 465-488 cam works good (AMHIK), Used dual palne intake, Holley 750 and headers.. Should pull just fine. Use as many used items as you can(except engine internals) and it should be a cheap build.

I thought about just keeping the stocks heads on there. They are 346's. If I'm not mistaken, they have the semi-hardened valve seats correct? The motor has 170,000 miles on it, so I'm inclined to think it would be a good idea to rebuild them while they were off.

We finished my 440 build in February for my Barracuda and my entire build was determined by how I want to drive it. I went with a fairly mild build and it still dyno'd at 390 HP. I can link the YouTube recording so you can see the curve.

I went with stock heads, but my engine shop opened them up using the Mopar porting templates and we backcut the valves. These two things really let this stock 440 breathe. Since we went with hardened guides and a roughly 9:1 compression, the car will take mid-grade unleaded but I usually use super unleaded.

My Compcam has similar specs to that Voodoo. Mine has a 218 intake and 224 exhaust duration @ .050 and lobe separation of 110 and a lift of .462/.470. This is a fairly tame spec, but I can bump the ignition and crank it and drive immediately and it is a snap to tune. It has a good deep sound but not that heavy lumbering idle like a more aggressive cam will provide.

I also went with an aluminum Edelbrock Performer intake manifold for a little better breathing and some weight reduction. It painted up nicely and looks stock. For exhaust, I used the factory HP exhaust manifolds as they flow very nicely and they are stout enough to hold up the header pipes.

Be sure to hold off on getting your pistons until you know the final bore size. As for carb, I tried an Edelbrock 750 but the engine is FAR happier with the Edelbrock 1413 800 CFM.

I think everything you listed is fine. In fact, I kinda like it. You don't need headers. Have someone go through the Stealths. Cam is fine. TQ and factory intake is a good choice, but getting the TQ right might be a challenge. Buy the piston in your budget with a 2.06" compression height and you'll be good on CR. If your rockers are okay keep them, but this is a place that I like to upgrade.

I would like to see 9.5-1 with the aluminum heads and that voodoo cam.
A used edelbrock performer intake is cheap enough but the 73 intake is fine.I like the thermoquad carbs so long as they are right.
Stock rockers are fine but a new replacement set would be in order.
Get a ready to run distributor from Firecore.It has a much better advance curve and easier to hook up vs. converting the 73 to electronic ignition.
Manifolds are fine but the hedman shorties with a small starter is a good upgrade.
Should be a strong runner with gobs of torque.You might even keep the 2.94's with all the torque.

Good cam choice. Don't go bigger.

Use the aluminum heads. They won't cost you much more than redoing the 346s.

I hate the heavy stock 440 pistons, but if you are buying a kit try to get the Six Pack pistons, L2355F or something like that. They have a compression distance of 2.05, that will help build compression.
DO look at the KB pistons, they have a couple of nice slugs. Everything else you mention is good, if you can afford the Perf RPM that's the one, if not then the CH4B is miles ahead of a Performer, and shouldn't cost an arm and leg. The stock cast iron intake and T-Quad can work too. Put your upfront money INSIDE the engine, intake manifolds and carbs can be upgraded later.
At $165 the Firecore distributor is an easy choice.

Find a pair of HP exhaust manifolds and go 2 1/2" back with an H-pipe and my favorite Dynomax Super Turbos, the 17748 or 17749.
Why H-pipe? It's less expensive and gets the job done. Nothing wrong with the X, but one can fabricate and install an H in a short time.

I'd keep the 2.94s, it'll be a great cruiser, and FAST on the highway.

R.

With 170k it will need a bore. I hate to bump up the budget but with new pistons, a crank grind (most likely needed), tork convertor for a cast crank etc. you will be more than halfway to a drop in stroker kit for $2k and that would give you lots of lowend grunt for that C-body. Just something to think about. The other stuff looks good.

Sheldon

Thank yall for all the input. I'm going to talk to the machine shop sometime this week and see how much they would charge to redo the heads. A friend of mine had a set of 351 modified heads rebuilt by him about a year ago and he charged $500 to rebuild the set. That included putting hardened seats in, but I don't think he had any port work done. I would love to go the stroker route, but 2300 bucks is almost what I hope to build the motor for. I am hoping to keep everything down to around 3000$, or as close as possible. I definitely agree with putting what money I have into the internals. Will look into a set of HP manifolds as well. The New Yorker already had electric ignition on it. Mopar orange box. Definitely will check out that distributor though as I always hear bad things about the orange box.

Dooh, almost forgot. I would consider a Blaster II coil. You can peel off the sticker and paint it black and it looks stock.

If you already have an ignition system use it and put the $$$ towards heads. "I have heard" are the three most dangerous words.

The Firecore needs a box just like your present distributor. I am using an MSD6 that I bought on the 'bay for less than $50, it's worked for five years now. But unless your orange box isn't making spark it'll work for the time being. Now, if you're looking for the last tenth, that's a different story. But it seems you're not.

The $500 valve job is exactly what I'm talking about. By the time you spend $500 for valve work, plus $2-300 for "porting" which for that amount is nothing more than a little cleanup, you're right next to a pair of Stealth heads.

Better find out what's inside the engine before you do anything else. 170K is a lot of miles for a 1960s engine.

R.

The New Yorker has the 5 digit speedometer, and it is at 70,000 right now. Car was not parked until 2004, so I'm just going worst case scenario and thinking its more like 170,000. With the valve covers off though, there is nothing that I have seen that scares me. When I take off one the heads it might be a different story though. Good thing is that the motor is free. A little Marvels and a few days wait and she turned right over. I agree with you on the aluminum heads. I believe that is the best way to go. The combustion chambers on the Stealths are also much better than the stock heads as well, correct? I added up the just the major parts alone and right now I am looking at 2,700 dollars. This is the rebuild kit, edelbrock intake, holley 750, stealth heads, voodoo cam & lifters, double roller timing chain, rocker shafts, rocker arms, pushrods. I'm gonna be very happy when this is done but very broke...

I would not recommend the 750 holley on a heavy c body with highway gears.It will run just fine but gives up low end with the larger throttle bore.Did that years ago on a stock 440 in 68 Chrysler 300 with 2.76 gears and it became a turd off the line.Just my opinion.
I might opt for an AVS carb or the eddie 800 afb if I were going squarebore.Check for hood clearance with the rpm intake.It is the best intake but tall.

There is very little functional difference between a 750 vacuum secondary Holley and an 800cfm Edelbrock Thunder Series (AVS) carb.

Saying one will work and one won't on a C-body is just wrong.

R.

DO NOT get the Edelbrock 750 with that block and that cam. The Holley 750 is probably fine and the Eddy 800 is great.

If you have a Eddy 750, we can make it work but if you are buying a carb, I would stay away from the 1411. There are plenty of other carbs that are less likely to give you problems.

i just bought the 800 avs eddy for my 452. i like

I was looking at the Holley 4160 for my carb choice. The stock thermoquad is a 800 or so correct?

Another option might be stock type pistons and Edelbrock 72cc E-Street heads.

You would get similar compression to stealth heads and flat top pistons, but take advantage of a more modern combustion chamber.