Good morning,

I have been doing some reading and preparations to get my 440 done. One thing I have been curious about is how much actual crank HP do the following combo's have, about?

Stock smogger 440-76 or so? HP?

"mildly modified" RV grind, and headers 440?

Your combo and the HP it makes?

I am putting together what is essentially a tow engine even though it is going into a car. I am mainly just curious about the stocker 440, and what it actually produces.

Thank you for your help, I am off to work.

ROB

The mid-late 70's 440's were good for around 220hp/350ft-lbs for the regular passenger car version. The 440-hp was good for 275hp/380ft-lbs if memory serves. That was for 1974. In 1976 both the regular and the hp 440's dropped 15-20hp and ft-lbs, but I suspect that was mainly due to catalytic converter and tighter emissions regulations. Remember these are SAE net figures and cannot be compared to the 1971 and prior SAE gross numbers.

Put in a (very)mild street cam like the 440-hp had, then add headers, a recurved distributor and a well-tuned carb and you will be well into the 300's HP and 400's torq. You can make more hp and torq higher up in the RPM range if you go with a bigger cam, but if you primarily want to tow, I would recommend against going with any more duration because it will start to cost you low-rpm torq.

What do you mean you are preparing to get your 440 "done"? If you are having it bored out for new pistons, please don't waste your money on having the stock mid-late 70's pistons put in. For any build you are always better off picking some pistons that have more compression than those mid-late 70's stockers, with their half a mile in the hole design.

"What do you mean you are preparing to get your 440 "done"? If you are having it bored out for new pistons, please don't waste your money on having the stock mid-late 70's pistons put in. For any build you are always better off picking some pistons that have more compression than those mid-late 70's stockers, with their half a mile in the hole design"
What he said, I'd go one futher and order 6-pack replacements. Even the stock 69 Speed Pro's you'd be lucky to get 9:1.

Actually I have pretty much completed the engine.

It is a 76 440 that I am doing a "low-buck" build on for my 74 Dart Sport. There was no measureable wear in the cylinders so I used the stock pistons to save some coin. Yeah, I know.......

The combo is as follows:

stock 440 bottom end
Cleaned up, bowl ported 452 heads
Hughes 223-230 cam 504-519
Matching springs
Holley Street Dominator intake
Eddy 750 Carb
Comp Cams timing chain
Windage tray

I know the lack of compression is going to kill the performance and efficiency. However at this point I am going to run it.

I have been saving money and then using it for other things while attempting to get the car done for the last two years. It is time to get going on it.

I am closing in on 40 years old and haven't had a real fast car yet. Not that a low-compression 440 in an a body is "fast" but it will be for me

If it really floats my boat, I can tear down the engine next winter and ad some compression etc.

Thanks for the help, ROB

There are some variables here.

Your combo as you have it written will probably be a nice driver. It'll have some torque, sound mean, but not a real screamer.

If speed is your only goal, I have seen guys put really nasty cams in these smoggers with decent results(glenn440 on here?). The thing is you need a lot of stall and gear to make it work since they have no compression.

I think you should run it as you have it. It'll make MAYBE 300 hp, but it will make a lot of torque, and be nice to drive.

There are day's I wish I had a motor like that in my car.

really should have spend a few hundred bucks to have the block decked to get some compression. But, since its already together, I'd have the heads milled a good bit to close the chambers. Compression is the missing link on this one.

i have a very simular motor in my 4x4,except no porting and stock rv cam. the piston are flattop cast but when compared to another stock piston theye messured.045 taller.could theye be from another year?the block is 76 r.v. can i safely deck .040-.050 off my 452 heads and how much compression do i gane? thanks

I think 300 sounds a little conservative, seeing as how the mid 70's 440hp's made 275hp. Should be able to run 12's in the 1/4 if the rest of your combo is decent judging by the smogger 440 thread.

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...&PHPSESSID=

stock 440 bottom end
Cleaned up, bowl ported 452 heads
Hughes 223-230 cam 504-519
Matching springs
Holley Street Dominator intake
Eddy 750 Carb
Comp Cams timing chain
Windage tray


With all due respect, I don't see this running 12's in anything over 3000 pounds.

The cam duration is low but will work decently with the 7.5. Still it'll be ballanced, but low output.

I think the street dom is a bit of a mismnatch too, but that's just me.

I don't think factory horsepower ratings are relavent here, but If we are comparing to factory stuff, the 10:1 440's only made 375.

I stand by 300 honest hp. which is lots for a street A body, and will be a nice car.

The "good news" is that I have a bit of a stall, 4.10's, the car is an A body. It also has welded in subframe connectors, and drag shocks etc. I am removing the PS and putting in manual.

It would be nice to address this issue now, but since I am a shop teacher, the extra work is not always a liability. Kids have to learn somehow, and I have had kids build most of it as it is.

It is my intention to get it to the strip this spring and run it a few times with the kids helping. I am still in contact with most of the ones that have worked on it. However each year they get further away.

That and riding in a loud, semi-fast car is something that they may never experience in this day and age. I know the few that I was exposed to as a kid had an effect on me.

Course many new cars will run faster, but that isn't the point.

Thank you for the help. Gotta check the checkbook again.

ROB

On a serious note, is the street dominator a bad choice here? I know the compression is a killer, but I was hoping that the intake was OK.

I have a Weiand single-plane high rise which I know better than to install.

I thought the SD was decent???

Sounds like easy 12's if the tune is right. I didn't see headers in the build? The SD intake is a good choice. Everything sounds better than a 375hp 440 except the comp,that will kill around 25 ftlbs of torque and close to the same on top end,but you'll run fine on cheap fuel.Go have fun with it.

With an A body and 4.10 gears, I think the SD will be okay. An eddy rpm would have been a little better considering your compression, but those gears and the fact you kept the cam duration reasonable should both help. Try it, you can always change it later.

I,ve screwed together a couple motors almost identical to this. In a 69 cuda one went 7.58 best in the eigth. This was with a 76 440 with a 509 cam headers and a single plane intake ,headers and a dist. with the advance slots welded up almost halfway shut with light springs 3500 stall,3.91 gears with 10x 28 slicks.

Sounds like a fun build.The sd will work pretty good with what you have.I would suggest getting a holley 750 and throwing that edelbrock in the trash(j/k sell it).A vacuum secondary can be had cheap and won't kill you vs a double pumper.
i would run as much initial timing as it can stand and get all of the advance in by 2500.
That is a good cam.I loved in a mild 440 I had.
How about some pics?

I forgot to add that I have the Schumacher kit with their headers and 3" dual exhaust with dumps for now.

ROB

3" exhaust is overkill for what you have but will support upgrades later.

I have kinda built everything but an engine. I figured since I didn't have an exhaust, may as well build for when I do have an engine.

ROB