440 build for a truck

I just bought a 79 440 cast crank with 30k miles on it. My plan is to cram this motor into my 87 ramcharger and put a 46rh overdrive trans behind it. It will be a year round driver and hauler to bring my charger to the track. Seeing as how this motor is very low miles and there isn't even a hint of a ridge in the cylinder walls I'm thinking about milling the heads .050 to up the compression on the 90 cc 452 heads. They are true flat top pistons (I'm not sure how far down they are).
What do you guys think about the milling and possible power output? I'm not building a high rpm screamer just a strong 440 with gobs of low end torque to pull my 3500 lb car. Also, any cam and torque converter suggestions? This motor is externally balanced.

I tossd my stock 78 low milage MH 440 in as is,just bolted on a RPM intake with a q-jet,center dump manifolds,727 with a stock HS 10" TC.

with 3.91sg it is a blast to drive my 88 truck around town.

Welcome! Taking 50 off would help you tho I'm not sure how much/if it'd be worth it. Check manifold fitment when mocking up after they're milled. Should be good but check. Measure the deck height when the heads are off so you can plug all the specs in to Kieth Blacks calculator & get your exact SCR . I would spend alot of time dialing in the dist as there's alot of gain to be had there. I took 60 off of some 906's & advanced the fairly wild cam 4 deg & I definitely felt the improvement. Myself I'd drop it in as is as Scratchn said & get it running nice then go from there

If you cut the heads that much, the intake will need machine work too. Not sure how much compression that will make either. If you're not going to us a upgraded camshaft, headers and top it w/ a decent intake I wouldn't bother.

This all sounds good except for the OD transmission. They have demonstrated weakness in OD with a load (when towing with my '99 Ram I always ran with the OD switched off), you will have to saw off the front of the trans and replace it with an Ultrabell or some other conversion, because there is no stock BB application and the gas mileage payback for all this expense is so far down the road you will never see it. Far better to install a beefed, readily available 727 and just use it for it's intended (towing) job.

I'm going to run a pair of under chassis headers with 2 1/2 inch exhaust, a performer rpm ait gap intake and a holley 750 carb. Electronic ignition, and total timing will be dictated later. I'm a huge fan of the comp extreme energy flat tappet cams as that's what I'm running in my 70 charger 440. Just not sure which grind would work best for building great torque, and if I should run a stock stall speed or not. I should add that later down the line I'm probably gonna convert this to efi. And I would have to estimate the the pistons are about .15 below deck atdc. As far as the trans, I know its a bit of work, but its either convert a big block 2wd 727 trans that I already have to accept 4wd or go convert an overdrive 4wd trans to accept a big block. I think the bell housing is cheaper than having g someone gear down the 727. Also, I would like the low highway rpms and the overdrive trans it a 47rh out of a 92 w350 diesel with the correct t case.

Let's start out by saying that Chrysler regularly built engines at muuch less than the advertised compression ratio, and that every Mopar bigblock of which I'm aware came with a steel shim head gasket. So no easy compression gains by switching to the steel shim.

Your 440 has pistons that may be as far as 0.180 down in the hole. Actual compression ratio is in the low 7s.

If the block is in as good a condition as you say I'd seriously consider replacement pistons and don't spend the money on milling the heads. Check out the cost of milling both the head and head intake surfaces. It could be well above $200.

Let's say the 440 has a swept volume of 902cc. To get to 9:1 you need no more than 112.7 cc above the piston. The head is 93cc, let's make thatt 92.7 so the numbers are even. That means no more than 20 cc above the piston including gasket. Even the thinnest gasket is 5cc, leaving 15cc between piston and top of deck. This is equivalent to 0.060". So your piston is currently 1/8" LOWER than 9:1.
Rats!
Let's go to 8:1. That lets you have 129cc above the piston. Subtract 93cc, subtract 5 cc for the steel shim gasket, you have 31cc left. That puts the piston top at 0.129 below the deck. Still higher than your (my guess) 0.180"
Rats!

Lets figure out compression at 0.180" down, 93cc heads milled 0.060", thin gasket.
Heads are now at 79cc, gasket is 5cc, 0.180down is 43.3cc. Volume above piston is 127.3cc.
(902 + 127.3) / 127.3 = 8.1:1 That's AFTER milling 0.060 off the head's deck surface and 0.074 off the intake face.

Gotta get that piston up! You could actually use a 4.15" stroker crank with aftermarket 6.760 rods and your stock pistons and have very close to zero deck, which would boost your compression ratio out of your range.

Stay tuned for more.....

R.

or.... grab an old Paxton SN2000 for $800 or so and be done with it. Keep the boost under 8psi and you'll be G2G.

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This all sounds good except for the OD transmission. They have demonstrated weakness in OD with a load (when towing with my '99 Ram I always ran with the OD switched off)

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Nonsense. Don't slam into OD under heavy throttle and you'll be fine.
278,000 miles on my 92 D250, much of it hauling through 37 states. No mechanical issues with the transmission. The OD guts are the same as a gasser.