Ok this is the issue I'm having. After speaking with a friend of my father who has his own 71' Roadrunner (and an original 440+6 superbird)he has helped shed new light for me.

I'm not sure if he kept his original 383 or not, but he now has a 440+6 in his roadrunner as well. As we went through what all I wanted to do with my 71' Roadrunner and what I had for parts to make a 550hp/550lb 440 for the roadrunner. This is what I have to work with:

-440 virgin RV block (30k miles)
-XE285HL comp cams cam (.545/.545 lift)
-750 Barry Grant carb
-Large dual plane intake
-mini starter

This is just what I have so far as performance parts. I know how this cam behaves as my father runs it in his 440 67' Dart GTS. It runs like a raped ape!

But I think the one thing that kinda made me feel out of place was his comment "Those days are over. No one races on the street anymore cause you will go to jail and these cars have become too valuable." His big point was keeping the car original as it will be more fun than going all out like I was planning. His biggest suggestion was going with a .474/.474 camshaft and leaving it at that and maybe a good set of heads.

So what do you guys think of all this? I've always felt like I was born in the wrong era or generation as I listen to all music from the 60's and 70's, love the cars, loved the thoughts of people in those days, and how they were somewhat simpler than what they are today. I don't know of too many kids who are 19 that share the same passion (at least not around me) that don't drive rice burners and have no moral values.

You need a lot more parts!
But to your point, and the advice you were given--you have to know when to use the power , and when to not. Thats not always easy. Buts its ALWAYS great knowing its there.
You live in TEXAS! Don't you have LOTS of low populated, wide open spaces?
Or a dragstrip?
Build what YOU want!

Ha yeah we do. Unfortunately somewhere along the line we fell in line with California law where if you are caught exhibiting any sort of speed or racing, they arrest you and crush the car. Nearest drag strip being about a 3 hour drive.

I'm much like you actually, except I'm 27. I am building a stroker motor Duster, mostly a street car. It'll be mostly a cruiser but it's like a gun, it's nice to have in case you need it. lol

Build your muscle car to be reliable and fun to drive. Then build a race car and have the best of both worlds. It's hard to do both with one car.

Build your car basically stock with the hipo cam. Then take your time to build your hotrod. It is real hard to use a monster motor for daily driver. You won't be happy.

Them monster motors are fun but not to just drive around. Big cam motors with lots of comp don't like putting around. Build it mild for daily use and build something else all out for saturday nights

Leave it alone and work on restoring the rest of the car.

There is ALWAYS something to fix/spend money on. ALWAYS.

go big or go home. do it the way you want it mo power to ya. Car shows are like watching grass grow

Some good advice here for sure.

My car makes about what you are shooting for, as simply as a 440 can.

That said, it is a pain to keep cool, and not fun for a cruise at all.

I do like to take it for short street drives, and open it up once in a while on the street, but never street race. Usually the guys who want to street race me have 15 second cars. so it's not really an issue.

I'm working on a 49 fargo truck, as my street rig. Closer to 350 hp, instead of 550, and much nicer to drive.

Build what you want, but remember that the fast track car, and the fun cruiser comb is a really tough build, best left to strokers.

With a supercharger you can have the best of both, mild cam for cruising and the power for when you need it!

If you want to build for 550hp/torq, go with a set of edelbrock rpm or 440source heads and a piston with a compression height of 2.060 or taller. That way with some milling you can get an honest 10.5 compression which with that cam and pump gas will do what you want. Then a set of headers and a good intake like a holley street dominator or edelbrock rpm. Carb you'll want to step up to an 850 since you'll be revving it over 6000rpm.

I say build the high-po street machine you want. Just stick with a carb that has a choke(tune the carb well, including the choke), recurve your distributor to setup your advance properly and run the right stall converter/gearing for your cam. That will help it be as driveable as possible.

My rule when I got this car was to keep the car as stock as possible (minus a cam) and keep my 1980 malibu the all out custom car. This way I can have a balance. Got the malibu as my first car, dad told me if I was going to learn how to drive and wreck my first car, it was going to be a chevy. Never happened but anyway, yeah from what I've heard from other older mopar guys is that the 4 speed is alot of fun (don't know why yet)and along with the stock AC it should be a lot of fun to drive. Hoping to get it restored within the next 3 years before my senior year of college.

I really appreciate the input guys. I do see the good in keeping the car original, to a point, while improving little things. IE the drum to disc brake conversion in the front and a slightly larger cam. The big improvement will be if I decide to go with 440source aluminum heads.

My dad is running a set of 516 heads that are full ported and rival the flow of the aluminums. He mentioned if he decides to go with aluminum heads, along with the 8:71 blower, he would sell me the 516's for cheap.

As for the racetrack, I know which one your talking about. It's a helluva drive from Boerne,tx all the way out there. And last time the guy was a [Edited by Moparts - Family Friendly Site - Keep it clean] cause he didn't like the burnouts in my malibu. It was either too much or too little for him.

This is the malibu and you can see the roadrunner covered in the background.

Being a young gun and my dad telling me not to "cut up" my car and keep it stock-ish...all i have to say it build the car how you want it done, you can always got back to stock later. And for the street racing, when i was younger my parents used to take me to them in the back of my moms barracuda, since then ive been hooked...if you race on the street dont be an idiot about it, go to an empty road with no side streets and plenty of room for shutdown if you need it.

Impound the car and crush it? Can that really be true? This sounds like some sort of urban legend. Even with the liberty oppressing administration, I can't believe that any jurisdiction has the power to destroy a citizens property. What recourse does the accused have in this instance? Does the case have to go to trial like a regular misdemeanor or do they treat it like drug forfeiture?

Pretty much like a drug forfeiture. It was recently passed a year or two ago. They basically rely on the officer's testimony and some sort of proof that the race occurred. It is in plane jane writing that they have the right to crush the car. I've seen a lot of these ricer guys lately lose their cars when found guilty. Luckily, this state does give wreckless endangerment tickets, so you can go as fast as you want and it will simply be a speeding ticket always.

While I did do some street racing in my younger days I never had anything REALLY fast and never hung out with "that" crowd. I have always been much more interested in having a reasonably fast car that handles and stops well AND can be driven long distances without concern (or 8mpg or less). My son's 440/4sp 67 Dart GT convertible is the perfect example of a FUN street car. The motor is a little tired now and needs some attention, but I have put over 600 miles on it in a weekend several times.

So yeah, I'm in agreement with what you were told.

Also, yes there have been publicized cases here in California of cars being impounded and crushed. I think I read some reports of some right here on Moparts.

I'm sure there is a huge difference (to the Police) between a car guy out in the middle of knowhere spinning his rear tires, and 2 young idiots with ricer's or VW's street racing, where they (or bystanders) can get hurt or killed. Crush your car? Doubtful. A good Lawyer would eat that one up, the punishment doesn't fit the crime. I am willing to bet that the powers that be would be buying you/building you a new car. California sucks in so many ways anyhow, if you aren't happy with Texas copying there stupid laws, write a few letters and remind your elected officials who voted for them. Laws like this are overkill, and responsible car nuts don't need them. And I, for one, am tired of being over-regulated! Build what you want, and run it hard when you can!

Here's my opinion, and I should say that I've modified rare cars, restored rare cars, modified "normal" cars, and been around race cars, historical cars, etc for decades:
Curious yellow 4-spd A/C Roadrunners are beyond rare, probably a single-digit amount were made. That means it's very valuable, and extremely cool in stock form. That body is also pretty heavy, and not even close to the best platform for the kind of performance you seem to be after.
Stick the big motor in something else - earlier B-body or '67-up A-body - and it'll be easier on drivetrain parts and you'll have the best of both cars/worlds. And you'll have one of the rarer & cooler Roadrunners on the planet.
Lumpy cams & A/C aren't very compatible anyway, and you'll find that the lumpy cam in your imagination won't be as driveable in real life stop-&-go driving. I learned long ago to make the hot rod the hot rod, and to maintain the rare stuff intact.