BB 400 Ideas

Set of CNC ported 440source stealth heads, 11:1 compression, MP.557 solid cam, edelbrock victor intake, converter that flashes to at least 4500 and you will rev that sucker to near 7000rpm.

If you're dead set on running stock heads, that will be your biggest bottleneck. Stock mopar heads just don't flow and the cost of getting them ported will quickly equal the price of a set of aftermarket heads. But if iron heads is what it's going to be, I'd be getting some work done on them by Dwayne (moparts member fast68plymouth) of Porter Racing Heads. He's a straight up guy and would be my first stop when working with iron heads.

MP max wedge heads maybe. Iron and period correct. Since you are not going stroker, you won't need much $ for the rest of the build. Not sure if it would really be any benefit over the stock port window. closed chamber might help with the compression.

You could offset grind that 400 steel crank to 3.52 for an extra twenty cubes. Unlikely your GM buddy would be any the wiser.

First off, congrats to the OP for raising a daughter RIGHT!

I'd use a tunnel ram, especially in a truck where there's room in there. Unless your daughter has specifically agreed to 1X4bbl, she's leaving performance on the table (IMO). I don't know which TR intake will work with a MW head, but someone here will.

And a roller cam is going to make more power than flat tappet. There are a number of guys on this board who'd be more experienced than myself at picking a grind; I'd expect to use something similar to what a super stock big block would run if this were to be a 'no prisoners' thing.

With the budget putting a ceiling on this thing, the Herbert valvetrain stuff might be pretty good. I'm running their lifters (in a pickup truck, with a tunnel-rammed "B" engine, natch), and the few dozen hours of run time I have on 'em have been okay.

Hard to work names like T&D and Jesel into the $5000 engine.

Picking pistons for a buddy's low $$$ 440 recently, we went with KB forged, because they were lighter than anything else in our price range, and were attractively priced to boot!

If I were building this motor myself, I'd look into a 7.1" rod w/ chev journals. The longer rod will help make the head 'look' better. Less rod angularity means that the peak piston speed during the middle of the travel won't be quite as high. So, it is slightly more forgiving of ports that don't have a lot of size.

You can buy 'em w/ ARP2000 bolts from RPM under part no. LG3-7100H for a few bucks less than 440Source sells 'em w/ the 8740 bolts.

Plus, it frees up about .175" of crankpin diameter if a little offset grinding is desired.

-Bill

Another vote for the long rods and following the rules.

Block will need a minimum of bore and hone $200
383 steel crank fresh and ready to run could be had for $200
Re-worked 440 rods for $200
KB pistons are what $ now 3-400 ?
Rings, bearings, gaskets theres another $300
Balancing $200

So your going to have mabey $1500 in the short block.

That leaves $3500 for the top end, can max wedge top end be done for that much? Do you have a carb or is that another expense? If so you can build a heck of a 850+ CFM thermo-quad for $50 thease days. Unless someone knows a good deal sitting around on a set of max-wedges you will probably want a 915 head ported by dwayne or someone else and that is likely to cost around $1000-$1500 ready to go, $300 for a new intake like a victor? We could say $2000 for a period correct topend.

Then for a cam you will spend a couple hundred for a good roller cam, $500 for roller lifters $100 for pushrods. $300 for some good rockers. You could spend a grand on a good valve train.

Now you have $500 for headers, distributer/ignition, plug wires, windage tray...

Don't forget to find any spare weight you can chuck out easily, then go spank that ugly old chevy