440 Daily Driver

I was wondering what everyone thinks of this build for a daily driver that I’ll take to the strip once in awhile:
Mopar performance (or eagle) forged crankshaft: 3.750 stroke, internally balanced
SRP 440 forged pistons: 4.350 bore, -6.00cc
Edelbrock performer RPM heads: 84cc
Comp cams hydraulic flat tappet xe268h: 268/280 duration
Hedman elite headers
Some type of vacuum secondary carb (maybe around 750-850 cfm)
TKO-600 with .82 overdrive
Dennys driveshaft (wondering if i would need a 3 in or 3.5 in)
3.55 rear end with detroit truetrac differential

Welcome to Moparts! What type of vehicle is this going into?

Its a 1970 charger

Daily driver? I should by gas stocks

Welcome aboard! What part of North Carolina are you from?

Never had a 440 that averaged much better than 6 mpg.. I know, I know, someone on here gets 22 mpg with there 440.. Yeah right...

If you haven't driven a car that gets 6 mpg recently, the fuel gauge moves about like a tach needle does... Really quickly....

Edelbrock Performer RPM dual plane intake would make a nice addition to the package.
Avoid the low RPM dead spot and skip the Edelbrock carb. They are great on many engines, but not a 440 with a little bit of cam.

I'd get TTI headers instead.

An Edelbrock 800 AVS with the adjustable air door would be ok. The 750's are the ones with the stumble that's difficult to remove.

Years ago my brother put an Edlebrock 800 cfm non-AVS carb on a 455 Buick and it ran nice and smooth. No fuel boiling, hard starting, & bogging that so many people say is unavoidable with these carbs. Set the floats in bot directions and the idle mixture screws and they are fine on the street.

The Eddy is a fine carb for daily use on cammed 440s. I ran one for a couple decades.

The build sounds okay and I'd agree with the suggested RPM intake.

My 65 Plymouth with the twin turbo 440 pulled down 19+ mpg on the highway with the overdrive transmission. MPG dropped when I went back to an automatic. If I recall correctly, I got around 14-15 mpg in the city.

I'd buy the crank from Eagle or Scat or 440Source, not Mopar.
I like the more-stock-appearing 440Source Stealth heads; I'm kinda sneaky like that...likewise the Eddy dual-plane after grinding off the name.
I'd also prefer either an Eddy or a Thermoquad for carb duty, better MPG than a Holley in my experience, though the Holleys are easier to tune.
Check the Archives here for pages of 440 builds, and mind the compression ratios, quench, timing & cooling advice and you'll be fine & happy.
If you need a crank & pistons, the hardest part is resisting the temptation for more stroke...

Consider a FI setup such as FITEC

FiTec is what I'm planning for my Imperial.

I actually have an edelbrock performer (not the RPM) i forgot to mention it because it came with the car.

Why the -6 pistons & 84cc heads? Why not flat tops & 74cc heads?

I had a 68 Charger R/T 440 automatic with 3.23 sure grip. Running Union 76 Leaded 93 Octane I got a best 11.9MPG. That was in 1984 and I had to baby it to get it

If it is a 2.06" CD piston, zero decked, it would probably be about perfect with a 84 cc head, going from memory.

As with any new combo, it will probably take a while to work all the kinks out and get it optimized. So be prepared with a back-up plan for the unavoidable down time that will surely happen.

Personally, using any specialty vehicle as a DD takes some of the magic away. Especially when you have to work on it just to get to work or the grocery store.

At his point in time, it is often unrealistic to expect to use our half century old dinosaurs for dependable daily transportation.

Then there's the safety factor. (Air bags/SRS/ABS/etc)
Good luck.

Assuming you're using one one of SRP 2.062" CD pistons, I like what you're planning for a true driver that you are intending.

I would consider using the std Performer intake, or the factory spreadbore intake with a spreadbore style carb. I have done this on a build very very similar to yours. You might give up a couple hp, but the daily drive characteristics are phenomenal.

Parts availability can be an issue for the unexpected mishap.
When properly maintained these cars gave great service.

Personally I use a '76 P/U for regular service through out the year.
I keep it maintained myself. I have also always had a back up, just in case. Do you have room for two cars?

Any car can leave you stranded. I prefer one I understand and can work on myself. If you can't, it is very hard to find some one that knows how to work on vintage tin.

It all depends on your knowledge, ability and willingness to keep it running.

Mileage? I assume you are aware of the limits here.

My vote? Go 4 it.

For every person that says they had good results with the Edelbrock 750 or 800 on a normally aspirated 440,there's 10 that didn't. I've used the 750 and 800 on warmed over 440s and found that unless the timing is dialed way back, the only fix is a different brand carb. Try doing a search for "Edelbrock off idle stumble/dead spot", It's a common problem.

stroke it (& get quench & the SCR & the cam exactly what you want/need). I would get one of those carbs that have all of its' systems adjustable

According to the website its 2.062”.

Might want to consider something with a steeper overdrive. 0.82 and 3.55 gear will give a final ratio of 2.911; which is even numerically higher than what I'm running with a 4.10 and 0.69 OD. RPM is a bit high for a daily driver for me on the freeway, especially if you treat speed limits like guidelines.

EFI will make it nicer for daily use for sure, but I would not expect better mileage necessarily...

On my 493" I would get 14mpg with a 750 vac sec holley, and 10-11mpg with a 950 HP. Both with a little attention to IFR and PVR tuning. The best I got with the FITech has been 14mpg so far, and it took quite a bit of tuning to get there. This is with 3.55's and a 28" tire, no OD, non-lockup 9.5" converter. I cruise at ~3000-3200 rpm on the freeway, ~70-75 mph. I can fit a 30" tire, but got tired of swapping tires.

I'd put a long arm and a light rotating assembly in it. Otherwise, I am jealous that you live somewhere that you can daily drive something cool...

Holley 750 Street Demon isn't that expensive and will probably get as good mileage as any other carb, will bolt onto your Performer. It's the latest design out there and appears to have taken some of the Thermoquad's design advantages and modernized them. It'd be my choice for a daily driver.

The Edelbrock 750 is a love or hate carb. AndyF has had very good luck with the Edelbrock 800s, both AFB and AVS, although if I was buying one it's be the AVS Thunder series.

R.

I daily drove basically the same combo but with a thermoquad and no overdrive. I didn't do much highway driving but a lot of town driving and I thought mileage was ok. I never checked it but mpg seemed about the same as driving a 90's pickup.

6 mpg??? That's what a 10,000 pound 440-powered RV would average. I think some can even get closer to 8 mpg. Even my Satellite with a 440/727/3.91 gears with an 850 Holley double pumper averages 8 mpg.

I experienced the same results on multiple cars. My 440, a 360, a warmed over 351 Cleveland, 302 with cam and heads, and the list goes on.

I could get a bit better power out of the Holley (VS and DP) but the street manners and mpg was always better with the AFB.

For a while I had a Holley DP that I would drop under the turbos to get better power but it always got swapped for an AFB on the street. I ended up ditching the Holley and putting an alcohol injector above the AFB for big power under boost.

6 or 8 mpg, they both suck.....

When I was in High School (circa 73) my GF lived across town.. I would take my fathers car to pick her up in and then transition to my car (in my pic) to be able to afford to even go out that night... All I ever remember is being low on gas in that pig..... and it was 36 cents a gallon...

I now have the red 67 ( less two carbs than the A12 car) and I am looking for gas at 100 miles on a tank...

Red car has original block 040 over, original 915 heads, original HP exhausts, original carb and manifold, and a stock 375 HP cam.. Compression was lowered ( using forged pistons) to appx 9.2-1

I'm getting 14mpg driving my Diplomat every day.

I'm running two 500 edelbrocks on a .528 cammed, edelbrock headed 440 with 3.31 gears, running 3-3400 rpm on the highway.

The 528 cam with the 3.31's in a diplomat must make for a fun driver!

The A833 between em makes it a blast to drive.
I love it.