I have had several 440's over the years but they were all late 60's early 70's chargers, Roadrunner's etc. Im now restoring my 78 Power wagon factory 440 truck atuo, A/C, CC, loaded cool truck! but I know that 440 is lacking on a bunch of stuff the early ones had! Any suggestions on performance upgrades? thanks

Up the compression, easiest way is install a set of closed chambered heads (915 or 516). Edelbrock RPM intake, headers, 750 carb for starters.

Depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

If you just want to wake it up a little without spending a bunch of money or giving up any stock manners, get a degree wheel and a new multi key timing chain set and advance the cam 4 degrees. Add a good dual exhaust system, make sure that Thermoquad is well tuned, recurve the distributor and it will impress you compared to what it was and probably gain a few MPG.

Kevin

I would replace the heads with a set of aluminum 440 Source 80 CC heads or a similar set of another cheaper brand imports like Speedway or Pro Comps. maybe even a set of Eddy 75.0 CC cheaper RPM heads
That will give you bigger intake and exhaust valves with a lot better set of ports so the motor will breathe better, add a good set of headers and or a 2.5 or 3.0 complete dual exhaust system with straight through muffs and let that truck rock and roll with more power and torque
add tuning the carb and degreeing and advancing the cam will really wake that truck motor up

The bigger difftween earliers and later engines is the compression rate. Factory lowered down with lower pistons. The correct way to bump up would be then get the correct pistons.

Then you can choose the camshaft, HP exhaust manifolds, windage tray, valve springs. But need to bump up the compression rate.

The cheaper and cost efective for this is KeithBlack pistons. They have two for 440, one flat top, and one with quench step. On $400 rate

You can also get closed heads as mentioned, but that could be more expensive than the pistons ( $1000 rate ), althought easier to bump out the compression rate and to work. If you can build the engine by yourself, the pistons will be cheaper and still the correct way. Since 69 all engines where open chamber heads, so you can live with the heads you have. Maybe mill down a bit will help a bit more. Get metallic headgaskets.

After get the pistons, you still can get closed chamber heads depending on which pistons you get and how they fit into the block, block height, headgasket used etc... but pistons first.

Those engines were designed for a very different purpose that you want it for.

If the engine has the stock pistons, closed chamber iron heads won't help much. Stock pistons are .080" or more down in the hole. And that means that there is no way to get any quench at all so detonation is very likely. I have worked with these engines quite a few times. In fact, I still have a couple in the barn.

Improvements certainly can be made, but they detonate like heck with stock pistons so it usually takes a lot of trial and error to see what they can put up with. Optimal timing is impossible to get.

Do you have a budget or level of difficulty in mind? The better flow with new aluminum heads would help and would work with any future improvements, so that would be the first thing I would do. Then cam, intake, carb, and headers. In other words, the only desirable parts on the engine are the block, rods, and crank. Even the oil pan should be changed for more capacity.

twocents

If the engine is getting rebuilt anyway, put in pistons with a little better compression ratio. This is key to getting the engine up to its potential.

If the heads need a lot done to them (guides, valves, etc) then replace them with an aluminum "replacement" head like the E-street head or the Stealth. Much cheaper in the long run to buy these then rebuild 40 year-old cast iron heads. You'll also benefit from lighter weight and a little better flow.

KB got actually 3 pistons for 440 with stock stroke

KB184 which is pretty much stock CH with quench step.
KB236 which is flat top and 0.065" higher CH
KB237 which is quench step AND 0.055" higher CH

These are going on the cheap, casted but Hypereutectic on $400 rate... after these you can go Diamond, Ross etc... being forged on $600 rate

If you dont want to rebuild the short block: Usd Eddy heads, Performer RPM, corresponding cam, headers. Even at low compression with the right cam this combo runs very good. I'd spend money on heads instead of short block every time.
Doug

There was a dyno test on a low compression 440 that showed a 62 horsepower increase by adding 516 closed chambered heads. I can't remember where I found it but I wrote down their results. (pic)

Detonation with pistons .080 in the hole?

You forgot to note the most important part. The heads were ported. http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=j2s0u5u3emvjtb9c9a33hc00s1&topic=104749.0

Yep, big time. And no amount of octane will calm it down. Timing has to be backed off so much that it starts running hot, which makes it worse. Real balancing act trying to get the timing where it won't ping bad. Most of those motor home big blocks of that era rarely made it past 60k.

My experience with low compression motor home 440’s is very different from yours. Ran a 73 in a 70 Cuda, complete with 213 heads, two different cams, intakes, carbs and exhausts, and detonation was never a problem.

Would like some more? I have several in the barn, some with trannies. Virgin territory.

I've got a 75 440 with factory smog pistons with 516 closed chamber heads, run 87 octane and have never heard even a hint of pinging and it's in a 1954 (heavy) flat fender 1 ton Power Wagon. Too much compression and advanced timing causes pinging (pre ignition).

Way back I did a dyno test on my 78 Ramcharger with stock 440, all it has for mods is dual exhaust, performer intake and edel 750 carb. It runs great, starts great even in -30c, doesn't burn a drop of oil, but put down a whopping 120-ish rwhp. The compression on these motors is down in the 7's.
A modern rotating assembly and decent heads is the only good way out.

I have a 78 440 out of a motorhome with 516 heads and I can't get it to ping, even at sea level, with 87 octane fuel.

I am pulling it and going to rebuild so it will be apart, so pistons for sure already have the eldebrock RPM and I also bought the matching edelbrock carb I really wanted to keep the thermoquad but there was this little "fire thing" that happened. The truck is a restoration with the exception of the intake and carb. Its a loaded truck A/C, CC, PS, PB, AMFM and everything still works too!

Before you install that CarterBrock carb, consider the new Street Demon. Kind of an updated version of the Thermoquad. It is all I install now on stockish engines. It is the best out of the box carb for those applications that I have ever used.

The CarterBrocks aren't a bad carb, but their calibrations really need an update.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/street-demon-750-carb-review/