Hello,

Years ago I built a 440 Dart Sport with my students. Sold it too quickly. I decided to do it again, bought a bunch of stuff and then changed my mind. Tried to sell it.

I have a lot of low-end Mopar stuff now and can't give it away. Thinking of using it. Here is what I have on hand.

67 Valiant, cut for fender wells. Decent body lacking interior etc. $800 car more or less. Have mounts for 440. Think "patina'd" cruiser. Likely going to mini-tub it etc.

Engine is a 440 from 76, NIB single bolt timing set. Holley SD Intake. 750 Holley that is new. Good quality electric pump and reg. Engine is stock, willing to cam it, port heads etc. Not wanting to rebuild, good re-ring candidate.

727. Access to a good quality 3500 RPM stall if I want it.

Spring relocation kit.

8.75 or 8.8 I can narrow myself. 8.8 has 3.73 gears.

Fenderwell headers that are 1.875, not Hookers. Willing to run 3" or whatever exhaust.

If you were on a budget, and just wanted to go fast but still be streetable what do you think I can run for the ET?

Cam recommendations? This would be a once a week to work car, and a trip down the strip.

280° advertised duration and.480-ish lift would be my recommendation for a cam. Sounds like the car is pretty light, so mid twelves should pretty easy.

It depends on which track and how much traction you end up with, doesn't it
AKA aside, with less than 8.0 to 1 compression ratio and a good straight through exhaust system it should run mid to high 12s at Woodburn, better than that at Woodburn, Portland and probably Redding, depending on the cam and RPM limits

Years ago I had a 71 challenger ran a reringed low compression 440 77 block Mopar 284-484 Hyd cam, cleaned up 452 heads Holley street dominator, 750 vac Holley. Hooker 1 7/8 headers 3500 stall 3.90 gears 9x28 slicks. Ran consistent 12.20s I did taste 11.90s at 115 mph. It was a simple drum brake car that ran on regular in 1996.

I ran a 70 cuda with 73 440 out of a motor home. Low compression. Used the Mopar 474/474 cam. Holley 750 and headers. 3550lbs.
Ran 13.1.

I think you would get into the 12's easy. Maybe mid 12's if you get it running real good.

I did this build in 1983, no money, 67 Valiant, 440, Hemi cam, Hooker fenderwells, mild converter, 4.10s in a 8 3/4, I don't know how fast it was because it never got to the track but that was a fun car!!!

For the heads, decent flow can be had by going to 2.14 intake and 1.81 exhaust valves, and a bowl port. If you are willing to consider some cast replacement pistons ,if available same weight as stock but with more compression, that would really help. I am not sure what is available, just suggesting what i would check on to see if i could get by with just an overbore and rings to get compression up to a decent level.

Thank you for the help! I am quite able to make things etc. so we are going to cut weight etc. by removing some extras and that kinda thing. Of course by the time you tie the frame etc. you're really not saving much weight.

I want super simple and EZ to fix kinda car that is fun, and that can be used and worked on without concern. Really would like 12's in any weather condition.

Really going to have to keep the engine simple with springs, home porting and a cam etc. I know there is so much left on the table, but it is just going to have to be more simple for right now.

More likely than not, I would buy some aluminum heads next year and up the compression and start that, but for now this will need to work.

https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/threads/dyno-testing-a-stock-1972-440.249866/

Good read for a smog 440 build

Some years ago i did someback yard butchery on a low compression 340 for my son when neither of us had 2 cents to spend. I cleaned up the bowls with a die grinder, then back cut the stock valves by chucking them in a drill press and hitting them carefully with an angle grinder. We added headers, a 268h cam, and a TQ carb and that 340 performed very well!

THIS was the article I was thinking about when I first read this post...good post

Cool build, read it many times before, if you could follow that and get 400hp on track, thats enough with a good hook to run high 11's with exhaust in a...3200lb? all in car,..and your 3.73 gears with say 28" tyres would have you trapping@around 5300>5400rpm.. about right.

One more question.

The convertor I have access to is a 10" Dynamic 3500 RPM rated convertor.

More convertor than I need most likely!

For the combo mentioned above, approximately what ET loss will likely occur with a stock convertor vs. the Dynamic?

It's from a buddy and pretty inexpensive so I will likely run it.

Cam specs are going to be 230 at .050 neighborhood.

The smallest converter I ever ran was a 3500 in my 340 with a 284/484 purple and that worked really well, so not the best on that. I would however hazard a guess of at least .3>.5 loss with a stock verter and a .230@.50 cam. Sure others will have a better idea with more experience than me.

Friend has a 73 Duster at our local track, track champ like 9-10 times

Low buck car , it does not have one trick part on it

451 , ported by himself 906 heads .. 727 , Dana

runs 10.70's in bad air

10.50's in good air

He has 1000's of runs on it , never lays a wrench on it

This is as much a process project as anything. My current students are awesome and enthusiastic, but have almost zero experience with a wrench. I am making up my mind on which car to do here in about a month.

I have a newer performance car and it is a lot of fun, but I'd like to go faster for sure.

For those of us older types, we grew up with N50's sticking out the back and airshocks (a little before my time but....) etc.

To a modern teenager, that stuff is incomprehensible. I want them to learn some basics, have fun and above all learn something valuable.

Many on here are older, and there is a strong shortage of young people still doing this stuff.

Lots of enthusiasm, now we just need to find the right target to aim at.

If you can you should build the lightest car
you can.. there is 2 factors you will always
be playing with.. HP and WEIGHT.. your not
starting with a bunch of HP so you want to make
the car as light as possible.. the easiest way
is find the lightest car you can.. then take the
weight out of it.. push thoughs 2 factors on the
students and they they will get the big picture

69 Dart
Frames tied
6 point bar
Glass bumpers and hood, all else OE
9x28 slick
Short pipes w/junk muffs
3.91 SG

STOCK 68 440 shortblock
MP .484 cam
OLD Edelbrock Torker
OLD 750 DP
Pro parts 2" headers

MVB 727 and 11" OE converter

11.64/116 best
11.80's/114 heat of summer

91 octane pump gas.

Wow! You didn't port and mill the heads? That is alot of ET for not much work all things considered. You had substantially more compression than I will for sure.

I hear you on the weight. I am going to trim where I can and remove things like the back seat, battery in trunk etc. Typical stuff.

240 @ .050", 108 LSA installed 104