1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget.....

Posted By: 1964Polara

1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget..... - 10/25/10 10:39 AM

Lets say, you have a 1974 440 Low Comp out of a 1974 Fullsize available and just want to spent a few parts:

Edelbrock Perfomer RPM Intake
+/-750cfm Carb Holley 4 barrel
wealthy Hydraulic Camshaft
(Lunati Voodo or Comp Cams X or Hughes)
Headers

How much HP can you expect from that poor 8,5:1 CR Engine?

Posted By: Mr.Yuck

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget..... - 10/25/10 12:11 PM

Not sure about HP numbers but it should be enough to have some fun with. I'd be real careful on your cam choice. You don't want a cam that's going to make your compression worse. Also the RPM is a great intake but unless you are going to do more to the engine later you can get by w/ a cheaper dual plane like a used Holley SD or Eddy CH4B.

Posted By: 1964Polara

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget.. - 10/25/10 01:18 PM

I would deal with Hughes for Cam Selection and their advise concerning Intake. Just thought the EDE Perf. RPM would be a good choice as it is one of the best flowing dual planes around....

Posted By: 69B3GT

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget..... - 10/25/10 01:21 PM

Quote:

Lets say, you have a 1974 440 Low Comp out of a 1974 Fullsize available and just want to spent a few parts:

Edelbrock Perfomer RPM Intake
+/-750cfm Carb Holley 4 barrel
wealthy Hydraulic Camshaft
(Lunati Voodo or Comp Cams X or Hughes)
Headers

How much HP can you expect from that poor 8,5:1 CR Engine?

Ill be watching this, the 440 i have is a 74 also. Good luck

Posted By: greenpigs

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget..... - 10/25/10 01:41 PM

The Voodo 302 should be good and unless you plan on running a 4.10 or steeper gear stick with a low rise dual plane.

Posted By: superbyrd

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget..... - 10/25/10 02:20 PM

if you are going to leave the engine as is,except for a mild cam,and you don't mention track time with you motor,a 600 holley will more than feed that engine. a 750 is just wasteful overkill.
the hughes whiplash series cams are designed to work with low-comp engines. the comp XE262 would be an excellent choice too as the xtreme-energy series have low-comp in mind also.even cheapie headers are a major flow increase over log manifolds.

Posted By: gch

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget..... - 10/25/10 03:05 PM

The performer intake will likely support this power level.An rpm intake will support future upgrades as well.
Definitely keep the cam short duration and designed for low compression.
Recurve the distributor to get more initial advance and a quicker advance curve.This will help the bottom end with low compression.
A 750 vacuum secondary will gain power over the 600 in the mid range/top end(lol it will be done by 5000rpm if not before).The 600 however will be fine for cruising and stoplight burnouts.
LOng tube headers will be a big improvement everywhere.
MIght make 360hp and 450lb ft of usable torque.

Posted By: gch

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget..... - 10/25/10 03:25 PM

A good demonsizzler thermoquad on a performer intake would be ideal for your setup.

Posted By: OrangeProwler

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget..... - 10/25/10 05:49 PM

I used the 346 head casting flow numbers and a 7:5:1 compression ratio on the Comp Cams program. With either the either the XE256 or 262 cam you are looking at around 300 ponies and 450 lbs ft of torque depending on which cam you use. I used the smaller ones for more torque. This factors a 850 cfm carburetor, standard flow intake, and small tube headers.

Posted By: DaytonaTurbo

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget..... - 10/25/10 06:29 PM

See here for some inspiration:

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

My old combo. I was planning to rebuild my 440 but couldn't make it happen financially so instead of letting all my parts sit I threw them together to have some fun with:

Stock 76 440, hone'n're-ring with new cast pistons
440 source heads
Lunati Voodoo 60303 cam
Summit el-cheapo headers
Stock intake w/ thermoquad
Recurved distributor
Stock converter and a 3.55 rear gear

Never had it to the track but tooled around with it a lot around town. Made a decent amount of power and enough to put on a good show when I nailed the GO pedal. Popped off the header cutouts and guys would come up to my car drooling, then grinning ear to ear after after I filled the area with smoke from doing a few hard launches and some doughnuts. It ran decent for what it was, however I figured the stock intake was holding me back and a bit more gear and converter would have made all the difference. A recurved distributor is a MUST. That combe needed a lot (18-20*)of initial timing to run properly. Throttle response during normal driving was good, almost as good as it was when I had the stock cam in there. I was pretty satisfied with how it ran all things considered.

Posted By: Von

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget.. - 10/25/10 09:50 PM

Quote:

I would deal with Hughes for Cam Selection and their advise concerning Intake. Just thought the EDE Perf. RPM would be a good choice as it is one of the best flowing dual planes around....

RPM would be a good choice.

Hughes for cam selection?

Id skip them and call Dwayne Porter. If you want the RIGHT cam for your combo.

BTW, have any of you cam experts ever run a low compression motor with a cam that on paper is too "big" for the actual compression?

Posted By: Von

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget..... - 10/25/10 09:55 PM

Quote:

w/ a cheaper dual plane like a used Holley SD or Eddy CH4B.

Holley SD is a single plane.

Posted By: Blues_Cuda

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget..... - 10/25/10 10:55 PM

One of my responses from this post...

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...rt=all&vc=1

Back in the early '90s we threw a '74 cast crank 440 into our 3775lb '64 Savoy to go have some fun.

It was literally a $200 junkyard motor and trans. We left the stock pistons, rods, crank, bearings...everything. We put in a used .509 cam and lifters, Team G single plane intake, 750 Holley, TCI 10" converter, and 4.56 gears. The car ran 12.80's like clockwork. We then freshened the 452 heads and put on a Max Wedge intake w/ two 600 Carters. It ended up running 12.40's @ 108 mph. The engine would just not give up...it still ran when we pulled it in the late '90s for the 'good' engine.

The short block is actually still under the bench in my parents garage. We all joked that it did not have enough power to blow itself up.

Oh yeah...the compression worked out to be 7.8:1 in the good cylinders.

Attached picture 6268466-DSC00792.JPG

Posted By: Blues_Cuda

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget..... - 10/25/10 10:57 PM

...and oh yeah, don't expect it to be 8.5:1 compression either. Ours was much less than that running a steel shim gasket.

Found a pic from the early 90's. Looking back, I can really tell how bucks down we were.

Attached picture 6268471-64Engine1994.jpg

Posted By: 69B3GT

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget..... - 10/26/10 10:31 AM

Quote:

One of my responses from this post...

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...rt=all&vc=1

Back in the early '90s we threw a '74 cast crank 440 into our 3775lb '64 Savoy to go have some fun.

It was literally a $200 junkyard motor and trans. We left the stock pistons, rods, crank, bearings...everything. We put in a used .509 cam and lifters, Team G single plane intake, 750 Holley, TCI 10" converter, and 4.56 gears. The car ran 12.80's like clockwork. We then freshened the 452 heads and put on a Max Wedge intake w/ two 600 Carters. It ended up running 12.40's @ 108 mph. The engine would just not give up...it still ran when we pulled it in the late '90s for the 'good' engine.

The short block is actually still under the bench in my parents garage. We all joked that it did not have enough power to blow itself up.

Oh yeah...the compression worked out to be 7.8:1 in the good cylinders.

No compression and 12.80s would make me happy, id be able to beat almost all my friends cars, and it would run on dog water

Posted By: Von

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget..... - 10/26/10 02:18 PM

Thats what I was looking for Blues...

A member on here (forphorty) has a low compression 440 (high mileage short block also) with a 292 Comp cam, Torker intake, stock valved 906s (chambers were polished, so compression is a hair lower than stock), headers, 750 DP, 3500 stall, and ding ding.... 3.23 gears. 3500-3600 lbs. Car has ran in the 12.30s.

Posted By: 1964Polara

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget.. - 10/26/10 02:56 PM

Thank you guys for all the Input!!!

Posted By: Twostick

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget..... - 10/26/10 03:03 PM

If this is truly a budget deal ie you're not rebuilding this engine, I would call Dwayne Porter
http://supercarraces.com/Porterracing.html for a custom cam for your combo. I would get the distributor re-curved and run a good coil with an MSD 6AL or go with one of Firecore50's ready to run setups and the best headers I could afford sized for the combo. I would save my $$$ and keep the stock intake and Thermoquad carb. Unless you get the heads ported or go with Edelbrocks or something it will be out of any serious steam by 5500 anyway and the stock intake much as you might hear to the contrary is as good as anything out there up to that point. It should do 1HP/cubic inch give or take easy.

Kevin

Posted By: fourgearsavoy

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget.. - 10/26/10 04:30 PM

I used a 78 cop motor with a 509 MP cam and got 12.88@108 with a stock TQ intake and a 750 Holley Spreadbore double pumper.
On thing that you may have to do is trim the tops of the valve guides down

I had retainer to guide issues with a 509 and 452 heads.
I was only running a 3.23 gear and the car weighed 3700#
Gus

Attached picture 6269655-burnoutpicturegus.JPG

Posted By: 1964Polara

Re: 1974 Low Comp 440 what can you expect on a budget.. - 11/24/10 12:07 PM

Quote:

I used a 78 cop motor with a 509 MP cam and got [Email]12.88@108[/Email] with a stock TQ intake and a 750 Holley Spreadbore double pumper.
On thing that you may have to do is trim the tops of the valve guides down I had retainer to guide issues with a 509 and 452 heads.
I was only running a 3.23 gear and the car weighed 3700#
Gus

Is the triming of the valve guides what Comp Cams means if they write: "Requires machining on cylinder heads" ???