Quote:

I think you'll find that the 400 lacks the power you seek.



Yeah, and the only 440 he's likely to find that could be dropped right in is going to be a low compression era 70's 440, which comming from experience is no ground pounder in bone stock form either.

If I had to do it again, instead of converting from 318 -> 440, I think I would build a turbo or supercharged 318 instead. Either that or find a 80's+ 318/360 with a factory roller cam and use that as a basis for a stroker build. But I know the OP wants to keep the budget down. I guess it really depends what your long-term goals are if you have them.

Just remember, bare minimum if you buy your big block motor/trans you will need a shorter driveshaft as well as either a big block K frame or the engine-swaps.com conversion mounts.

But if you want to drop in the big block, run it in stock form at first and slowly start throwing parts at it like an intake, headers, very mild cam, etc over the next couple years, the 400 is a good candidate. For the price, just deal with the 40 less cubes of the 400 and move on. 400 will be a little easier to work on under the hood because it is a little bit smaller than a 440. Slowly over time throw your mods at the 400(but keep it very mild so long as you are running the stock low compression 400 pistons) and slap a 383 pie tin on it and call it a day. If you ever decide to rebuild, some say the 400 is a better block for a stroker build than the 440 if you ever decide you really want to get some cubes out of it.