I have been picking up some parts for the 408 for my91 Dakota. My next pieces to by will be pistons and cam. I need some advice. This will mainly a street motor that may go to to the strip once in a while. It must burn 92 octane or lower. I want a cam that has a little lope. But not to wild. I have a set of Magnum heads. But depending on your advice,I may go with a set of EQ set up for higher lift. Heres what I have so far.

76 360 block
Eagle cast 4 inch crank
Scat H beam rods
Crane 1.6 roller rockers,gear,pushrods
Stock 318 Magnum heads[Crack free]
Any advice on cam,pistons,heads,etc, will be greatly appreciated.

For pistons I would go forged due to the piston speed with the 4" crank. Look at Keith Black pistons part number KB745.

Get the magnum heads and have them ported or buy edelbrocks. If you don't get a head with decent sized valves and a good flow rate your going to be leaving a lot on the table. Your adding 50 cubes so everything including the cam needs to be upgraded to match.

Once you get the heads worked out call a cam company and let them help you. They are going to want to know the vehicle weight, stall convertor, gearing, heads, mechanical compression ratio, ect. The cam, convertor, and gearing all need to work together.

What about Ross or Diamond pistons. Also I have been reading in other posts about the Engine Quest heads with larger valves and springs good for around .600 lift. Any more comments?THANKS

i have a 360/410 stroker in a 96 Dak, i have ported cast heads(587), with a comp cam XE274H. It has a decent lobe, but not to crazy, I have hooker long tube headers, RPM air gap intake, holley 770 carb with a 904 trans.. for my CR I have 10.2 with forged flat tomp pistons, my block is decked and CNC machined.

I thnk you will like this cam.

What brand piston are you using?THANKS
Curt

so whats ur hp @ tork on the 410 im just finishing a 408 dynoed

I dont know what part number the pistons are, but they are KB flat top forged .040 pistons.. www.strokerkits.com they are the ones that got everything together for me..

I am not sure abut the HP at a guess id say 435 to 440 or so.. with my mild cam

what did you 408 dyno at??

Im running a 408 in my 96 Ram with a rotating assembly close to yours; (Cat H Beams, cast MP crank) Since mines mainly a fun street cruiser with an occasional trip to the track (13.8 in a 4400-lb truck so far) Im using cast Ross pistons and a Comp cams 210/220 .512 cam. I based my build on a package offered by KRC Performance. For street use, a mellow cam and steel heads, cast pistons should be fine.

What kind of intake are you using? Carb'd or FI?

i am runnin a holly 770 carb with a crosswinds intake (POS)

In a 96 Dakota w/904 and soona 8.8 rear with 3.73s.

the Crosswinds is like an Air Gap isnt it? Should be able to pick up better low end than mine does. You'll be happy with that Street Avenger carb too, I run one on my 440 and love it

I will be putting mine in a 91 shortbox 2wd. It currently has a warmed 81 318 in it w/an A500 that will get a preformance rebuild and a converter based on what cam I decide on. It is now running a 650 edlebrook carb. And will stay carbed. I now have 3.55 gears in a b body 8 3/4 in it. But I have 3.91 and 4.10s if I need them. This truck started out built with parts I had laying around. Now I want to refine it. And smoke some tires. THANKS

745 are flat tops...no milling required.

Is this for real ????

I'll finally be able to put a good stroker engine with iron heads together !!!!
408 stroker
62cc Iron heads
10.2 cr pistons KB745
Hughes engine cam inl close 46 deg ABDC
dynamic cr 9.19:1
190 lb cyl pressure

I don't think the 190lb cranking pressure figure will be right.

Can you explain why ??

You didn't give any cam specs but most will bleed off some cranking compression because of overlap. A 9:1 motor will be more down in the 165-170psi area normally.

I assembled mine and they were .020 out of the hole by the time I got my decks squared and same height. I put them in a piston fixture and cut each piston top in a lathe to acheive .002 out of the hole. These were the kb745's with step dish. I used graph paper to do a rubbing of the step dish shape and came up with approx 1cc less dish volume as a result of cutting .015-.020 off the quench pad of the piston.