I've torn the heads and cam from my 70 Challenger 440 4 BBL.4-spd 3:55 posi. I've done all the reatoration body work and paint job myself but need engine help.
The engine has had a recent (within 1000mi) overhaul with 30 over on the pistons and everything else stock. I have a 770 Holley street avenger carb and Hedman headers and orange box ign. I want to put a mild cam in it and maybe a matched intake manifold. Looking for some nice street "pop" but no racing. What do you guys suggest here and where can I go to learn how to tune after I put together? tahnks

First, tell us about your pistons. Are they flat tops? Do they have valve reliefs? Are they domed pistons? Dished pistons? And very importantly, how far do they sit in the hole when the piston is at TDC? Measure the front and back pistons on each bank and let us know. Also, which cylinder heads do you have? They will have casting numbers in the valve cover area. This is important info before suggesting a cam. I have a couple ideas what cam you might like but would need to verify piston info so we can know what your actual calculated compression ratio is.

Pistons are flat no valve reliefs not dished or domed. Cylinder heads are OE cast jobs. I'll get numbers when I get over to the car in the next day or so. Thanks Daytona

Just checked #1 and #3 cylinders there is just a whisker under 3/16" clearance from top of piston to deck at TDC. The heads are at the shop right now and I can't get any numbers, but they appeared to be stock cast iron heads---thanks ,bob

JohnRR is not joking. If those pistons are indeed that far in the hole, whoever rebuilt that engine used mid 70's 440 replacement pistons. Basically the worst possible piston to put in a 440. With stock open chambered heads, which I'm assuming is what you have, compression will be in the 7.5-7.8:1 range. This means you will want to be very tame on cam choice and you will be down on power compared to a 440 with proper pistons. To be honest, since you have the engine apart, in your shoes I would take this time to replace the pistons. You will thank yourself later. But if that idea does not appeal to you I do have a couple cam suggestions.

I ran a lunati voodoo 60303 cam in a 440 with those pistons. 3.55 gear, headers, stock intake. It ran decent but needed more than the stock torq converter, with a stick shift I think you would be okay.

Hughes makes two cam shafts for big block called the "whiplash" cam. They are specifically designed for 440's with smogger 70's pistons. I would take a look at their 440 whiplash cam. With your gear and stick shift I think it would do well. They are supposed to give you that lopey idle you want but still perform decent and drive well in a lower compression 440.

Thanks for the advice and information. I guess at this point I'd rather not get into the pistons if I can get the performance improvement with other combinations.(Guess I'm anxious to get rolling) . Here's a question....with the heads in the shop right now, would an option be to take a little off the heads? Nothing has been touched there yet. Another piece of info--b4 I tore down, took cold crank compression it was 125-140 psi on average

oh yeah I did use a ruler to measure. (Told you I wasn't an engine guy) If I ned to get more accurate i can bum some tools.

I'd have them take .060" off of the heads' decks then a corresponding amt (there's a formula) off of the intake face of the heads'. Use a 6" small steel scale across the bore & feeler gauges stacked under it to measure down to the piston depth & that'll be plenty good enough

Using the stacked feeler guages, I get .190 from top of piston @TDC on #1. If I go with milling the heads, still recommend using the Whiplash cam?

Milling those heads .060 will bump your compression some. You'll be closer to the factory advertised 8.2 compression than the real life 7.5 compression those engines were actually built with. My 76 440 measured out to the pistons being .150 in the hole. I've heard others have measured theirs as up to .180 in the hole. Doesn't sound like much, but in terms of compression, a piston that is flush with the deck versus one that's .150-.180 in the hole makes all the difference.

Having the heads milled will help. If you mill them .060 you will need to have the intake flanges on the heads milled as well. As said there's a formula, it's not a 1:1 cut.

Also keep in mind if you mill .060 your stock pushrods may be too long. If it was a .030 cut I would say you'd be okay but I think .060 will call for new, shorter pushrods. So by the time you have the shop mill the heads and buy those pushrods, how far towards the purchase of those new pistons are you?

I've never personally ran one of the whiplash cams, but if I was to ever slap together another low CR big block, I'd give one a try.

I'd be looking at another set of heads if the heads off the engine haven't had any real work done to them , something closed chamber would help .

Thanks for all the info, Daytona I'm beginning to rethink replacing pistons. Couple of questions here--how tough will it be to do with the block in the car? There is almost no ridge on cyl walls, will I need to hone or crosshatch? (there is about 1000 miles on this piston rebuild)and lastly what pistons should I install?

You would need to pull the engine to do it properly. It's a big decision, depends on what you really want out of the car.

Thanks Daytona. Think I'm gonna go with working the heads and cam. I looked over that whiplash cam you suggested looks like it might do the trick. I'm really just looking for something to have a little fun with that sounds good also. Right now the way it runs just doesn't cut it.

For intakes, the Edelbrock Performer RPM is nice, but it really can cause clearance issues with a flat hood. The Holly street dominator intake works well and sits pretty low for more hood to aircleaner clearance.

For what he's doing, I think he would be better off finding a used edelbrock ch4b intake. With stock heads and low CR, the holley street dominator is less than ideal.

Here's where I think I am gonna head---please let me know how this sounds/changes I should consider.
Heads--orig cast iron, milled 0.60 with new push roda to match
Intake--Edelbrock RPM dual plane
Cam--Hughes Whiplash
Ignition--Mopar Orange Box/electronic
Carb--Holley Street Avenger 770cfm
3:55 gears. 4 speed, Hedman Headers,TTI exhaust
Once Again, thanks for all the help and suggestions

Orange box no good? whats the scoop rRobert? How does the rest of this setup look?

Yes there's been enough reported problems with the newer orange boxes (plus it's pricey) that I would highly suggest going elsewhere. Even tho there's many ways/options to go, a generic parts house ECU will get you up and running cheaply with more than enough ign power for now. The rest of your choices look good however I would mockup and check lifter preload before I committed to a particular pushrod length. I'd sure be nice if you could get some 915 closed chambered heads for the CR boost & even with slight milling (maybe a .030" truing cut) your pushrods (preload) may be good as is plus you could use the shortblock as is as opposed to boring/honing (& possibly balancing)for new pistons. Minimize the downtime.

Be sure to get the factory style .020 steel shim head gaskets instead of the generic replacements that are in the .040 and thicker range. You lose all your milling gains with those head gaskets.

I would still recommend the edelbrock ch4b intake over the performer rpm in your application. The ch4b will have a little more power down low than the RPM, and with stock heads you will lose nothing up top. Another plus is the ch4b won't require a drop base air cleaner like the RPM intake will. Now if you had aftermarket or nicely ported stock heads, then I'd go with the RPM intake.

Got it on the head gasket--thanks
I have a good deal on an Edelbrock Performer Intake. How would this perform compared to the CH4B? Haven't bought anything yet so thought I'd ask

Any leads on where I can find the factory style head gaskets? everything I see in Summit catalog is in the 0.40 range

Summit has them , look in the Mopar Performance line , Mr. gasket has them also .

The performer intake will work .

I would hold out for the ch4b intake, they show up on ebay and on the moparts classifieds all the time. Don't know if it's much better than the performer but I like to think it is!

Scored a used CH4B manifold(thx Daytona) tonight on the web.Heads are being worked and I'm ordering the whiplash cam tomorrow. Now all I have to do is put it all back together without screwing up. How can I determine if my push rods are gonna be too long? I'm using Hyd lifters. Can you guys walk me through this process? Thanx