Posted By: charger
help me pick heads, hyd. cam for 440 - 01/10/11 04:59 PM
hey everyone; building a street motor for a 5 speed manual.
Car is going to be street only. Goal is to have as much torque as possible to move a 68 B-body in street trim.
Shortblock is fully machined 440, forged steel crank, trw pistons, stock rods, about 10:1 with iron 346 heads.
I want to re-use an edelbrock Victor intake since I got it already, and will be using a mechanical secondary 750 holley.
So need a new cam and heads to make as much torque as possible. Need headers too so I could go with RPM's or Victor if I go edelbrock.
Car is street only, I have another race car; so torque is king.
Suggestions?
Posted By: RapidRobert
Re: help me pick heads, hyd. cam for 440 - 01/10/11 09:15 PM
for heads 440sources' alum stealths. From what I understand they are the cheapest alum closed chamber heads available. I gathered your short block is fresh/balanced? so you wouldn't want to mill the domes any (if those TRW's have them). Have Cometic make you some head gaskets so you can get .040" quench and may be able to judiciously grind the chambers out some to adj your static CR. Dependent on your fuel/cam choice max out the dist curve and you will end up w an efficient long block
Posted By: DaytonaTurbo
Re: help me pick heads, hyd. cam for 440 - 01/10/11 10:46 PM
Well if you're running a 5sp overdrive trans you leave the door open to run some aggressive rear gears then. Any thoughts on what you want to do in that department? 4.10's okay?
IMO a carbed edelbrock victor intake has no place on a street only car where you say you want to build it for torq. Same goes with the victor heads. All that will do is cost you port velocity which will lower your bottom end torq/throttle response on the street.
Now are you looking for pure torq or a good balance between the two for a hot street car? With a 5sp and some decent rear gears, anything you put together will have a lot of torq. I would look at something like edelbrock rpm or 440source heads, and a lunati voodoo hydraulic cam. I run the source heads and the voodoo 60303 cam with the stock source head springs and stock rockers/pushrods. Very nice streetable combo with a good amount of torq.
Posted By: 6PACMAC
Re: help me pick heads, hyd. cam for 440 - 01/11/11 04:27 AM
The General Kinetic 282 P grind in my 6pac bee is a nice little street cam. It is the same as the larger Summit cam at 282/292, 224/234 at .050, .465/.488 lift. 114 lobe sep. Idles like a kitty cat but will lay down 100+ yard burnouts in third gear of the 4sp. And get 14 mpg with 4.10 gears. Engine is a blueprinted stock 69 440. Just a thought and they're low buck.
Posted By: ahy
Re: help me pick heads, hyd. cam for 440 - 01/11/11 04:52 AM
Agree the Ed or 440 source heads would be ideal. Build for around .040" quench and compression in the low 10's to keep it efficient and pump gas friendly. The Edelbrock Performer RPM dual plane or Holey Street Dominator single plane manifolds would work well.
On cam, how much "personality" do you want and are adjustable rockers in the budget? A fast rate cam with around 230 degree intake duration like the Hughes below would make use of the breathing potential of the aluminum heads and give lots of mid-range torque. It starts to wake up at 2000 RPM which would work well with the 5 speed. Good adjustable rockers, 10 degree (or "super 7") valve locks and retainers and correctly fitted 3/8" pushrods would be recommended for durability. The "Big Summit" cam with its lower lift would probably get along fine with stock valve gear but it gives up valve lift and torque.
HUG HEH3237BL
HYDRAULIC CAMSHAFT 110º LSA+3
FLAT TAPPET HYDRAULIC / ONE BOLT TIMING GEAR
Posted By: DaytonaTurbo
Re: help me pick heads, hyd. cam for 440 - 01/11/11 06:20 AM
I'd say it's noticably lumpier than the stock HP cam. My brother has that cam in his stock headed 440 and you can definitely hear the cam at idle. Not crazy lope but you know it's there.
Posted By: DaytonaTurbo
Re: help me pick heads, hyd. cam for 440 - 01/11/11 07:43 PM
I still recommend sellig the victor intake and picking something up more oriented for street use like a performer rpm. For a hot street motor you can run a decent cam with stock rockers if you use the 440source or edelbrock rpm heads. The victor heads as you know take their own special rocker assy $$$. Depends on how much money you feel you want to spend.
Posted By: DaytonaTurbo
Re: help me pick heads, hyd. cam for 440 - 01/11/11 11:27 PM
Well you do have the intake so you can try it. I just know from what other members have commented, the RPM seems like a great street/strip piece. If you google 383 intake shootout part 2 you can find an article by hotrod magazine where they dynoed a bunch of different big block 383 intakes. IIRC the RPM beat the Victor on peak torq by a little with the victor having a little more peak hp. The RPM had more avg torq through the whole powerband under 5000rpm. This was on a 383 with a very lumpy cam and cnc ported edelbrock rpm heads if memory serves.
Quote:
Hey, are you from Winnipeg? I've never seen your car around...I just moved to Regina from Winnipeg.
No I'm actually a bit south of the peg. I did have my car in a couple years ago at the sunday cruise night at buffalo bills on regent. Okay that was maybe more than a couple years ago. 
Have it torn down right now for numerous upgrades.
Posted By: gomangoRTSE
Re: help me pick heads, hyd. cam for 440 - 01/12/11 12:48 AM
Street only car, low end torque,.....those are are not synonomous with an Edelbrock Victor. This manifold will be the weak link in your build. Silly to worry about $175 for the correct intake manifold when your spending all the money elsewhere.
Posted By: pressureangle
Re: help me pick heads, hyd. cam for 440 - 01/14/11 02:44 PM
Low/Midrange torque=port velocity. Stealth or Eddy Performer aluminum, or a set of 451's sent to Hughes for big valves ($800)
I'd use a CH4B manifold you'll have to find used; I could mash my 440/.509/850DP to the floor from idle and it took it without hesitation. Consider an aluminum flywheel-you'll lose some drivability in traffic but the difference in acceleration is stunning. With the 5-speed you won't much worry about it after you're moving and it will help with the slow shift of modern transmissions.