To stroke or not to stroke??

Looking for some input...

If I'm building a stock appearing 440 (original intake/heads/exhaust) with an upgraded 750-850 cfm Holley carb, does it make sense to do a stroker kit? The block had to be bored .030 already. I don't want to spend the extra $$ on the stroker kit if I am limiting the capacity of the engine with these stock components.

What's the intended use of the engine/car? For a pure street car cruiser maybe don't stroke it, but if you have to start from scratch and buy an entire rotating assembly I see no reason not to stroke it.

The only added expense when rebuilding the engine is a crankshaft. Why mess around with a 50+ year old crankshaft? I see no reason not to do it.

to add to Jeffs comment, more torque means a sweeter running low rpm motor. My choice would be as big a stroke crank as will fit in my oil system plans. Do a search on what will fit if you plan on an internal (stock) pickup. 4.375 might clear , but i am not sure. Cam choice should match the restrictive intake and exhaust, focussing on torque. It may be best to go custom on the cam, and it may be as tame as 228 at . 050 and less than . 500 lift. The end result should be like a stock 440 on steroids! Brutal torque, shifts at or below 5000 rpm. FUN!

4.250 stroke is about max. Since the 4.250 crank uses 2.20 Chevy rod journals, there is less fitment issues than a 4.150 stroke crank, and Mopar rod journals. 512ci is a perfect size street engine. More cubes, and torque, mean you can use a higher gear ratio as well.

With stockish heads, what you will gain is TORQUE. And lots of it. Not so much gain in acceleration.

And just move the peaks down lower. If this isn't a good effort at a stock appearing type of deal, then I'd have no issue keeping the stock stroke. The stock heads and intake are strangling 440 cubes to begin with.

Stock 440’s are pretty quickly limited by the heads as soon as minor induction and exhaust improvements are made. I would go ahead with the stroker crank but also port the heads, and bump the compression a bit while you are at it.

Stroke

Build a stroker with 440 source heads with an edelbrock ch48 or Weiand action plus.
Paint it all hemi orange or turquoise and stick it in.

Agree with the above from personal experience, except my 406" street 360 DID accelerate a lot better, even with basically stock heads.
Did a nice valve job & port-match, otherwise very stock except it already had headers.
Pulled 17 MPG @ 70; 3.21 gear, 28" tire, '74 Duster, & ran AC too. Engle HFT with about .470/.504 lift, 214/224 @ .050.
The more expansive answer depends on budget, the rest of the combo, and use.
The stock heads are the limiting factor, and for stock-appearing BBs I like ported Stealth heads.
Less stock-appearing to sharp eyes is a Performer RPM, but I've removed the Eddy lettering on those on a couple 440s.
You can move the torque curve & peak around a bit with stroke, it's pretty much longer = lower.

Any time you change a component of a stock engine to improve performance or economy of its operation you normally change the operating range of peak torque and peak HP, that being said do you want more power or not?
If so you can use the stock heads and intake with the slightly bigger carb and a stock type cam and slightly improve the motor performance from idle to peak power with that carb
If you increase the stroke a little bit to 3.91 or up it to 4.250 stroke and leave everything else the same the increased stroke will improve the motors performance by a little or a lot depending on which stroke you choose
I really like making and driving stroker motors on the street and at the strip, I like more power a lot
If money is not a real problem look at increasing the stroke to 4.250 with a good balance kit from a good company or buy the individual components and have it built and balanced locally the way you want it
Be careful on the final true final compression ratio with any iron heads, stock or modified I like and shoot for 9.5 to 1 or lower on my iron headed street and strip builds
Good luck either way

Imo, the only real hurdle for using a stroker crank in a stock appearing pump gas street BB is the lack of off the shelf quench dome pistons if you’re trying to use open chamber heads.
Sure, you can have some customs made, but who wants $1200 pistons in a mild built like that?

Just get warmed up to the idea of closed chamber aftermarket heads, and all is good.

I would use the stock stroke bottom end with higher compression pistons and spend the money on a set of aftermarket heads. The 440 has more than enough torque for any street car.

so from experience I can tell it is going to depend on what oil system you want to use. If you want a 1/2" factory style pick up tube then 4,25 is the biggest crank that will fit in a factory cast block. If you want to use a swinging pickup style in the pan, you can plug the factory hole and you will have to grind clearance right there for the rod to clear but a 4.375 crank will fit. I built a motor that was 4.375 X 4.375. It was a beast.Birdtracker

If you have the money stroke it to 500 inch, put an 850 carb on it, and you will be very happy. Built several for myself and customers. One was a 69 roadrunner, I ported the 906 heads, and it would run 10.90's with a 4.11 gear and a 2,800 stall on pump gas. If I remember right it was a .520 lift cam, 108 center and 235 or so duration, nice lumpy idle, but cleaned out well when you accelerated.

Simple and the least expensive is stock parts, they will do fine. Got cash sticking out your pockets go for it. I’d spend the money in the heads-cam first, light rods-pistons-crank next. Very easy to get to radical to quick.

stroker motor any day.why stay with a boring stock stroke

IMO, because if it's on a budget and staying with stock heads/intake/exhaust........ keeping those stock components and putting a longer arm in it would only make it more boring or, appropriate for a tow truck.


Stock 440 is already a lower rpm/torque engine.

If on a budget and you have a reciprocating assembly already, I would spend the money on head porting and cam upgrade long before keeping those stock and increasing displacement.

Since there are some widely differing opinions on stroke, i ran a simulation on Engine Anyliser. Basically the more stroke the merrior between 1500 and 4000 rpm, right where most street driving is going to be. If you want to get crazy, a 4.5 stroke crank went up to 510 ft lbs tq at 3000 rpm versus 400 at stock stroke.
The cam was critical. Duration at 220 to 224 on both sides worked well. Peak hp landed at 4250 with a 4.25 stroke. These calcs were done assuming stock everything but cam and carb. An engine built like this would need a very tight converter like a 2200 to 2400 stall. 3.55 max rear gears, as it runs out of breath at 5000.
The key to best performance would be invest in some aftermarket stock appearing heads with a little bowl work done on them. Some tricks to a stock intake might pay great dividends, (open plenum?) And the best flowing mufflers are a must to not choke off the top end power.

Still waiting on the answer to this.

Also are you planning on buying new/better rods ? What work are you doing to the heads , and fast68plymouth brings up a good point on the pistons ... says the guy with a $1200 dollar set of pistons and ported 906's

No reason to upgrade to a stroker with the original parts you want to reuse (original intake/heads/exhaust). Wasted money

I really appreciate all the thoughts on this... Thanks! Mostly just for fun street use. The pistons are going to be new... not sure about the rods yet. Planning on 906 heads with a little bowl work, hardened seats, 3-angle, etc. I need to stay with stock intake because the car has N96 and extra height will cause an issue with clearance.