Thanks for all the input everyone. I'm looking to stay away from the machine shop in this one. The link that kowalski440 posted contains an interesting buildup, sort of what I'm going for. To summarize the article, they used an m1 single plane intake, headers, 850 cfm carbs, 516 heads. Made alot power surprisingly. I'm going to run a dual plane intake, a decent carb (850 seems a little much, not sure if my 440 will run that carb without being super rich), and either a .509 purple cam or the .484 lift can. A good port job on the heads as well to insure good flow (If a set of 915# casting come up, I will snag em, but otherwise it's the 452# or 250# heads I have.) And a set of headers as well.
I built and dyno'd the 440 engine that kowalski440 referenced you to. There is no way I would suggest you run the 509 cam we used. The best truck engine I ever had was a bone stock 440 out of a 1973 Chrysler New Yorker. I used it in a 1 ton welding truck and towed some big trailers with it at the same time. Don't use the 250 heads as the 452s are a better head, clean them up and run them. The 452 heads are easier to get flowing for the amateur porter and will get better flows than the 250 heads. Keeping the stock pistons I definitely wouldn't run a cam any bigger than 220 @ .050". A stock cast iron 4bbl intake manifold from 1968-1970 works fine in a truck application. Use the CH4B, or the Performer RPM if you must.
