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I'm just starting on one: 400 blk, 440crank/rods, KB 280 pistons(451) undecided on heads, I want some stealths.

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That's a good build. If you check out the for sale section on here you can get a used 440 crank for very cheap and build yourself a 451 for barely any more $ than a stock stroke 400 would have costed. 51 cubes for a few $ sounds like a good deal to me IMO.

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If you check out the for sale section on here you can get a used 440 crank for very cheap

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I'm just starting on one: 400 blk, 440crank/rods, KB 280 pistons(451) undecided on heads, I want some stealths.

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hey guys, GUUUYS, don't miss the deal here. HE IS NOT THINKING on build an stroker. NOT EVERY 400 NEEDS TO BE STROKED!!!

if you get the earliers 383 CR, what is pretty much easy changing the pistons you should be close to 330 HP, like earliers 383, maybe little bit more due the increased displacement and the spreadbore carb disposition.

so go with KB240 pistons, metalick headgasket, HP camshaft and you are done... should get same 383 power or little bit more.

The HP cam is not really a requirement since earliers 400 magunms got same 383 and 440 camshafts, but, $130-160 more investment won't hurt and will be noticeable. since 74 400 magnums got the basic camshaft

if you want little bit more, port and slightly mill the heads. 383 got power also con OPEN HEADS soooo no need to change the heads either, but if you have acces to closed, that will be fine!!!, an advice is install hardened valve seats. Maybe don't really needed but better just in case.

383 and 400 are same engines but bigger and lower pistons... change the pistons height and VOILA.

not everyone wants to race!!!!

I'm going right now with same pistons and camshaft upgrades and some job on heads

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I would build it like a 383. Use the closed chamber heads and get a cam in the 230 to 240ish @ 0.050 range a good intake and carb, headers, and it shoudl be an easy 430/460 hp/tq motor. Compression is the issue and open chamber heads are harder to work with in this regard.

Assuming it's a cast crank you can go up to 500 hp easily. If you had a forged 383 crank laying around I would use it for insurance, but the cast is fine for mild builds...just creates some unique balance issues during the build. No big deal really becasue it is good insurance to nuetral balance the rolling assembly anyways.

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Exactly what Im thinking. I scored a single plane weiand intake the other day for $50. I could run that with a 1 inch 4 hole spacer along with the appropriate carb and be set in that department.

Then add closed chamber heads with hardened seats and a good three angle valve job. Then headers and the other typical bolt on hot rod stuff. Windage tray etc.

Looking at cams to maximize low end torque as well..

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Looking at cams to maximize low end torque as well..

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Turning an apple into an orange?

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Looking at cams to maximize low end torque as well..

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Turning an apple into an orange?

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MMMMM...oranges

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Budget build goes like this.Cast 72-78 440 pistons .030-040-060 over.About -.020 deck height.New rod bolts/resize.Balance to taste.If you use the steel 383 crank rebalance is mandatory.Low end torque?, go with the 60302-3 Lunati Voodoo.Dual plane not single plane intake.I prefer 915's to 906's and either to the 516's.If you prefer the 516 use the 1.74 exh valve not 1.81.2.14 int valve is fine in any of the heads.

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I built one last summer.Used the stock cast pistons I have hit it with a 200 shot for a year now.

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I thought if you ran 440 pistons in a 400 you needed to cut valve notches into the pistons? Seems clearance would get mighty tight with that tall of a piston and no notches...?

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I thought if you ran 440 pistons in a 400 you needed to cut valve notches into the pistons? Seems clearance would get mighty tight with that tall of a piston and no notches...?

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Possibly, but lots of guys run the the flattop TRW's in 440's and 383's that are only slightly down in the hole (or zero deck with a light cut) and they seem to run fine?

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I did this one a few years ago. 400 with a 383 forged crank, Hemi rods and 451 pistons. With lightly ported Edelbrock heads and a decent roller cam it makes 600 hp. Made for a slightly radical A body car that my buddy drove to the track and back.

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Looking at cams to maximize low end torque as well..

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Turning an apple into an orange?

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exactly , a single plane intake is NOT the best intake for LOW END TORQUE ...

this build is all over the place ...

now I'll jump on the band wagon , you have to build a stroker

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I thought if you ran 440 pistons in a 400 you needed to cut valve notches into the pistons? Seems clearance would get mighty tight with that tall of a piston and no notches...?

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Possibly, but lots of guys run the the flattop TRW's in 440's and 383's that are only slightly down in the hole (or zero deck with a light cut) and they seem to run fine?

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And what TRW/speedpro piston in a 440 would that be ? The only pistons available are either .020 in the hole , the 6pk piston and it has valve reliefs or the low compression pistons and the closet one to the deck is .100 in the hole ?????

as far as the 383 , the flattop is .015 in the hole , anything else is deeper or have a valve CANYON ...

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Yeah that KB 383 piston is pretty much a canyon I thought the 440 piston came closer to the deck than .020.

At deck height spec the F-M 424 440 piston should be roughly .010 in the hole in a 400. I'm wondering could you get away with a flattop 0 deck piston in a 400 without valve reliefs with say a cam of about .500 lift?

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Looking at cams to maximize low end torque as well..

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Turning an apple into an orange?

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exactly , a single plane intake is NOT the best intake for LOW END TORQUE ...

this build is all over the place ...

now I'll jump on the band wagon , you have to build a stroker

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A stock 383 HP intake would probably be better than that Weiand (Team G?) single plane if you're worried about low end tq. Best bet would be a used rpm perf. Even an old torker or tm6 didn't do too bad down low in Hot Rod's b engine intake test.

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A stock 383 HP intake would probably be better than that Weiand (Team G?) single plane if you're worried about low end tq. Best bet would be a used rpm perf. Even an old torker or tm6 didn't do too bad down low in Hot Rod's b engine intake test.

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It's a old school weiand 7511 and it looks similar to an eddy torker.

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A stock 383 HP intake would probably be better than that Weiand (Team G?) single plane if you're worried about low end tq. Best bet would be a used rpm perf. Even an old torker or tm6 didn't do too bad down low in Hot Rod's b engine intake test.

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It's a old school weiand 7511 and it looks similar to an eddy torker.

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don't matter , adding a spacer is not going to restore your bottom end .

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A stock 383 HP intake would probably be better than that Weiand (Team G?) single plane if you're worried about low end tq. Best bet would be a used rpm perf. Even an old torker or tm6 didn't do too bad down low in Hot Rod's b engine intake test.

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It's a old school weiand 7511 and it looks similar to an eddy torker.

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Those X-cellerator intakes are very poor performers. I have one. Tried it on my 383, and its sat on the bench every since. Any edelbrock will far out perform it.

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I did this one a few years ago. 400 with a 383 forged crank, Hemi rods and 451 pistons. With lightly ported Edelbrock heads and a decent roller cam it makes 600 hp. Made for a slightly radical A body car that my buddy drove to the track and back.

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I did this one a few years ago. 400 with a 383 forged crank, Hemi rods and 451 pistons. With lightly ported Edelbrock heads and a decent roller cam it makes 600 hp. Made for a slightly radical A body car that my buddy drove to the track and back.

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What kind of machining was involved? What 451 pistons?

I already have the 400 block and forged 383 crank please advise!!

Dan

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based on my own use of one on an 383HP in a street car and the Hot Rod test, stay away from the Holley Street Dominator intake for sure if you want low end grunt. Don't know anything about that old Weiand.

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based on my own use of one on an 383HP in a street car and the Hot Rod test, stay away from the Holley Street Dominator intake for sure if you want low end grunt. Don't know anything about that old Weiand.

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Why's that?

I am running one now it pulls great for me in my 383. The holley SD intake rated just fairly lower than the Edelbrock RPM that one of mags tested a few years ago with a whole bunch of intakes on a fairly vanila 383 IIRC. If that's what you have it's not a terrible intake.

Ohh here it is...hot rod did it with a bunch of manifolds. http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/hrdp_0712_mopar_intake_manifold_comparo/index.html

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based on my own use of one on an 383HP in a street car and the Hot Rod test, stay away from the Holley Street Dominator intake for sure if you want low end grunt. Don't know anything about that old Weiand.

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Why's that?

I am running one now it pulls great for me in my 383. The holley SD intake rated just fairly lower than the Edelbrock RPM that one of mags tested a few years ago with a whole bunch of intakes on a fairly vanila 383 IIRC. If that's what you have it's not a terrible intake.

Ohh here it is...hot rod did it with a bunch of manifolds. http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/hrdp_0712_mopar_intake_manifold_comparo/index.html

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at 3000rpm the SD is down 17ft lbs to a tm6, down 27ftlbs to an rpm perf, and down 37ftlbs to a plain performer. Imagine what those numbers would be at 2500rpm? That's a serious gap in tq for a street cruiser.
The SD made great power up top but gives up 17ftlbs more at 3000rpm than any other intake tested. That's exactly how it felt on my engine vs the stock intake and rpm perf. I can see using a SD on a stroker or a race engine, but I can't see using it on a street car based on my butt-o-meter. Maybe you should try a torker or rpm perf on yours, you might like it even better if it's a street car.

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All that is true, but there's a big difference in spending $230 on an intake and running what you have on hand. Kind of the same situation this guy has. If he's got a single plain and he's not looking at spending a ton of $$ than use it. It's better than stock and it won't be terrible...A lot depends on gearing and converter too. I'm running 3.73's and a 2600 ish converter so the motor is in the power band above 3k often.

I'll gladly swap an RPM on if I can get a good deal on one but those aren't old enough intakes to be found in the swaps much. Free is good though if your offering...

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based on my own use of one on an 383HP in a street car and the Hot Rod test, stay away from the Holley Street Dominator intake for sure if you want low end grunt. Don't know anything about that old Weiand.

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Why's that?

I am running one now it pulls great for me in my 383. The holley SD intake rated just fairly lower than the Edelbrock RPM that one of mags tested a few years ago with a whole bunch of intakes on a fairly vanila 383 IIRC. If that's what you have it's not a terrible intake.

Ohh here it is...hot rod did it with a bunch of manifolds. http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/hrdp_0712_mopar_intake_manifold_comparo/index.html

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at 3000rpm the SD is down 17ft lbs to a tm6, down 27ftlbs to an rpm perf, and down 37ftlbs to a plain performer. Imagine what those numbers would be at 2500rpm? That's a serious gap in tq for a street cruiser.
The SD made great power up top but gives up 17ftlbs more at 3000rpm than any other intake tested. That's exactly how it felt on my engine vs the stock intake and rpm perf. I can see using a SD on a stroker or a race engine, but I can't see using it on a street car based on my butt-o-meter. Maybe you should try a torker or rpm perf on yours, you might like it even better if it's a street car.

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All that is true, but there's a big difference in spending $230 on an intake and running what you have on hand. Kind of the same situation this guy has. If he's got a single plain and he's not looking at spending a ton of $$ than use it. It's better than stock and it won't be terrible...A lot depends on gearing and converter too. I'm running 3.73's and a 2600 ish converter so the motor is in the power band above 3k often.

I'll gladly swap an RPM on if I can get a good deal on one but those aren't old enough intakes to be found in the swaps much. Free is good though if your offering...

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You hit the nail on the head with that one! The clue is that Im poor as dirt. Big $$ items are out of the question, Im 27 and far from rich.

I say it's better for me to experiment and find out than to tinker with honda civics and be really dissapointed overall in many ways

If anybody wants to donate a decent cam, headers,carb,tray or roller timing chain Im all
ears

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I'm 'cheap' too, I've never bought a new intake. Over 10yrs I've grabbed good deals on about 1/2 dozen different b block intakes just to try them out, including the rpm perf. That's the one on the car now (with efi).

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We'll all I can say is that you're a lucky guy! I WISH i could find a used B block RPM manifold at the swaps. I jsut checked ebay for grins and I found a couple and all of them were $250+.

I ain't knocking the intake...just saying that compared to stock the SD is really not that bad.

That Mopar muscle article was also WAY more foregiving of the SD than the Hot rod one. For some reason the Hot rod one had great results on just a plain jane performer!?!?! I wanna call foul on that one. That vanilla performer is basically an aluminum version of the stock intake! I have one here on the shelf too and I KNOW the SD runs way better than that intake did on my 383.

Bottom line is if you got it and you have taller than 3.23 gears I don't think its a bad call to use it...unless you have an RPM than it's not an argument.

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As I posted earlier there is a way to build a decently compressed stock stroke 400. Cut the crank pin to 2.2", Use Scat rod# 6680022(A) @6.800",and either KB 825 @1.480 or KB 828 @1.485. With a 9.98 deck the piston is either 0.010" or 0.005" in the hole, both pistons have a 4.5cc valve relief. Depending on head and gasket combo the CR can be in the mid to upper 9's.

Randy

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