Budget BUILD Smog 440 Help

Well with the economy how it is, I cant muster up the money to build the healthy 440 I had planend so i set that block and heads aside.

I have a 77 440 motor that i dissasembled with 50k miles.I'm going to hone it, clean the pistons up and re-ring /new bearings etc.

I have a set of fresh 516 heads. Will these work good? I'm going to be using stock rockers,double roller t chain and a hydrualic cam.

I am torn between what cam to go with and i was wondering if the masters can chime in with their opinions. The motor is going in a 73 cuda which will be a street cruizer but I want it to get out of its own way. gears will be 3.23-3.55 with an auto trans. I want the car to have a nice healthy lope and work good with my engine combo.

Open to suggestions and opinions. THANKS!!!

A hughes whip lash cam should work real nice and yes I would use the 516 heads if I had them sitting around ready to go. A lunati Voo-Doo or comp XE cam would be good also. Something in about the 220@.050 lift range would be about right. Those heads don't flow great so getting the valves open as fast as possible should help get it flowing at it's peak sooner and longer.

For sure stay at 224* @ 050 or lower on the intake side. While everyone wants a nice lope, lope = overlap = compression bleed off = bad for a low comp smogger 440.

See here for some inspiration:

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...&PHPSESSID=

With only a 3.23 gear you don't want to go overboard with duration, probably not more than 220, with a 3.55 you could go up to around 224. You can run a bigger cam but then a quality built torq converter built to flash to 4000+ like a PTC or Dynamic is a MUST.

good info so far and thanks for that great link!!

I have a fresh set of 906 heads also... Should i use the 906's or 516's?

906 http://www.moparts.org/Tech/Archive/bb/42.html

I would use the 906 heads and have them angle milled to 75cc to help get your compression up.I would be conservative on the cam with your lower compression.Something like 218 @ .050 on the intake side and 224 on the exhaust.I believe their is a voodoo cam close to that with decent lift.Build it for torue and throttle response and you will be much happier.Big lumpy cams sound great but you don't have the supporting cast to make it work.

Summit 224 234 465 488 with a 114 lda. Works great and is only about 100 bucks with lifters.

I will go against the flow and say 516s. If you install the bigger valves they flow almost the same as a 906 and you also get more compression and if you get flat top pistons at zero deck you can get some quench that helps HP TQ and MPG.

Over lap does not affect cylinder preasure as much as the late intake closeing point on a long duration cam but it will make it lope more at idle. The whiplash cams are desighned with tight overlap angles or LSA to make them lope and short duration to get the intake valve closed sooner and build cylinder preasure with low compression, they have very fast rates of lift to open the valve faster to the peak flow area of the valve lift.

for a cam, I'd look at a lunati voodoo 60302 or 60303.

heads, 906 will flow better, 516's will help compression. I'd use whichever ones are in better shape.

Thise closed chamber heads will help w/ compression. I'd also look for a used dual plane intake. A CH4B would be ideal. Also try and snag a used pair of headers or you can buy Summit brand for $129 or so. While you're on the phone w/ then get a t-chain set, and the 488 cam lifter set. That should wake the 77 up and w/ 3.55's you should have a pretty strong runner.

Well just placed my order. 500$ for everything cant beat that. cant wait to start the build. parts will be here thursday, but i have to wait for the flexxhone to get here friday. i'll keep you guys updated!!

BTW, whats a good hemi orange engine paint that you guys use when you paint the valve covers,block etc. I dont wanna go the spray bomb route. Eastwood?

well what did ya get?

Inquiring minds want to know? Jay

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Inquiring minds want to know? Jay

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So we can critisize and ream you out over it. just joking