have a 383 that is stock and wish to get some new aluminum heads and a camshaft.
Also a new intake.
Looking for bottom end torque.

Motor has about 6000 miles on rebuild
3000 stahl converter

best bang for the buck.

Would like to get around 400 hp

Any suggestions???

Not hard at all to get 400hp from a 383. First question, how far down in the hole are your pistons? Next, what is your rear end gear ratio? And how heavy of a vehicle?

If it's in a B body with at least 3.55's or 3.73's and numerically higher, I'd do:

For intake, I'd go with an Edelbrock performer RPM. If that won't fit, knock up ebay for a holley street dominator to fit a 383/400.

If you're running stock rocker arms and do not want to buy adjustables, I would run a comp XE268H, if you want a solid cam, I would go with something of similar specs. If you've got the money to spend, roller cams are the ticket these days. Might want to scale back on the cam by one step if you've got granny gears like 3.23's or if you're in a very heavy vehicle.

Stock heads, or better yet stock heads ported with the MP porting templates will get you to your 400hp if you've got at least 9:1 calculated compression. If you want more flow and more power and shed some weight, a set of Eddy RPM heads or a set of 440 source stealths would do it.

Headers are a must.

have a b body convertible. Can you recommend a set of headers that WILL fit???
Have heard of a lot of problems with these.

Thanks
Easy

what year 383 you working with?

For best bang for the buck: If the short block is good, I would just change out the top end with the 440-Source stealth heads and an Edelbrock performer RPM airgap intake and maybe use an Edelbrock carb.

Here is my thinking: The stealth heads flow like the edelbrock heads, but the stock sparkplug placement allows the use of manifolds or standard headers. The TTI Edelbrock headers are nice, but really expensive. Also the smaller chamber size of the aluminum heads will increase compression ratio. The performer RPM air-gap manifold is about the best manifold (from 1500-5500 RPM) avaliable for the "B" block engine. The Edelbrock AFB or AVS style carbs work good and cost less than a simular Holley carb.

The stock '68-'71 magnum cam is actually a decent grind for a near stock engine/chassis combination.
If you plan to replace the cam, there is a wide range of cams avaliable depending on what your application is and if you plan to replace stuff like the gearing, torque converter, etc.

The HughesEngines HE2328BL is about the largest cam you can use with the valve springs supplied wit the stealth heads. The Stealth Valve springs have 130# seat pressure and 300# pressure at 0.485" lift. The Hughes 2328 cam is 223/228 duration @ 0.050" with 111 LSA and 0.506"/0.524" lift with 1.5:1 rocker arms. Also, if you use a larger cam, with stiffer valve springe you should replace the stock rocker arms.
The hughes cam is simular in duration to the Comp XE268H.

working with a 1968 sport satellite convertible. Heavy car. Not sure what gears in the rear. At about 60 mph and turning 3300 rpm.
Thanks,
David
ps, there wont be any stealth heads till sometime in august. For the price these sound good. I am not looking to abuse the engine so should be ok.

Edelbrock 84 cc heads (stock valve train), RPM intake and the MP484 114 cam with a holley 700 or 750 DP carb. 1 3/4 TTI and 2 1/2" exhaust would be a pretty good set up. 3:55 or 3:91 gears?

I am not sure what gears are in the rearend. It is a automatic trans. There is no tag on the pumpkin. I do not know how else to find the ratio. I do know that the compression ratio is close to 9 to 1. The person that rebuilt the engine put stock pistons with a 10 over bore.
again, header suggestions from experience of installation on a b body similar to 1968 would be appreciated.

David

I hear TTI headers fit great, but very expensive. I know summit headers fit poorly, but very cheap. The summit headers are a good choice if you don't mind spending a day in the driveway with a hammer and every four letter curse word in the book spewing out of your mouth. But you do save a lot of $.

To find out what your rear gears are, jack up the back of the car so both rear tires are off the ground. Scratch a small mark on your driveshaft. Put trans in neutral and rotate the tires one full revolution. Count how many revolutions the driveshaft makes a single revolution of the rear tires. That's your rear end gear ratio. If it's pretty much 3 and a 1/2 revolutions, then you probably have 3.55's. If it's just a hair under 4, then 3.91's etc.