So a couple seasons back, I had a 1976 Volare set up with race suspension and was looking to trade. A guy I had dealt with offered to
Trade me an older built, but barely street driven 1970 440 HP engine. Being I only had $3300 in the car, I decided to trade. I got a bunch of paperwork and some info on the engine. Apparently it was built 19 years ago by a very reputable machine shop in my city and never really got installed in a car. It was said the previous owner has a problem with the car & it sat for 15 years before being sold to the new owner.The guy finished the car, took it out and scared himself a couple times that he now wanted amore mild engine as this was too much ‘motor’ for his needs. So I have pics of the paperwork and came with some info I could barely decipher. 440 block, bored over, Indy 440SR heads, Harland sharp rockers, TTi headers, 440-6 intake and 727 trans built for This engine. I’m thinking it might be a great motor swap in my 1970 Cuda, but not sure if it’s too much power for a fun street car or put it in another vehicle. Any suggestions?

I have more pics of the paperwork, but bad reception where I’m at. When I get home, I can load some more pics.

No better reason to spend a weekend and dump it into a current bb car and see what she does... or pop for a little dyno time.

Id pull the pan and covers for a look myself.

How much HP would 'to much" for you on the street?
Better yet how much HP have you owned and driven on the street?
If that is a stock stroke pump gas build I would expect it to make slightly less than 600 HP on pump gas tuned up well
I didn't try to read or decipher the receipts with them side ways on my desk top screen

I am only 43 so I haven't done this as long as some of you guys. But has anyone actually had a car friend that built a motor that was so powerful they took it out? Yeah me neither lol.

I would at minimum pull the pan off and have a look around before I went through the effort of installing it. I would also make sure I pre oiled it just to make sure there was no red flags there.

Here is the cam specs. Sorry I’m not up on racing specs as mostly the stuff I deal with Ian upgrades and replacement parts. Here is a couple more pics, bad load time out here. . Sorry for the pics. Out on job and no laptop til tomorrow morning.

With the specs on that cam coupled with that intake I would guess it ran like crap is why it was taken.out. Personally? I'd tear it down and see what's inside, and make sure they didn't wash down the cylinders.

Migs, come on now. Is there really even such a thing aside from building a transmission and rear end to hold up to it? It won't have too much power for the street. Heck, I'm building a 1200hp supercharged LS- based motor with nearly 1000 ft lbs of torque for my 3/4 ton, 4wd truck. I mean, it does have a throttle after all..

As long as the compression was up around the 10;1 or a little more, I'd have no worries driving that cam on the street in that combo. It would be a healthy street motor with an 850 cfm carb.

Great thread Migs.

What did I buy?
Any rebuilt engine will be around $3000 and above, depending on spec.?
If it hasn’t been dyno’ed then who will ever know it’s quality?

Seat of the pants is all well and good, if you know what a 10 second run feels like!
Sometimes a high ten can feel comfortable, other times a low ten feels really scary and loose...

Then folks say “it spins the tyres in every gear”, SO WHAT, on street tyres and slick asphalt...

But a ‘hooked up’ car on the street with 500 horses will scare the hell outta most folks...

I have built many engines for folks from ‘mild to wild’ and no one is ever happy lol.
“I expected more” for my 500 bucks rebuild (of this 78 smog motor)...
Or “[censored] me, I nearly killed myself the first time I floored it”...doh...

Horses for Courses, methinks...

Ps, don’t think a stock flexplate really says 600 horses...
Probably 450 ish...

Talking of cams...

An old mate of mine running a 440 in a low eleven 1970 Gtx bracket street-car said to me.

“I went to the Compcams dealer for a new cam and the guy told him around 550 lift 270 duration.””
“So he said to the Compcams dealer, I already run a 590 lift 312 duration Mopar cam...” doh...

Surely Compcams grinds aren’t that good...

Ps, Every engine shop build sheet runs into THREE pages...
If you look closely they even charge for ‘tea breaks’ too...

No.... the only true way to determine if that engine is really making serious horse power is by using the ages old practice of putting a $20 on the dashboard, having someone in passenger seat, and if when gunning it, the $20 dollars is his if he can grab it... If he grabs the $20, you know you were ripped !!

At least that is what I have heard

Just some thoughts.

1) No idea what pistons are in it so who knows what the CR is
2) Cam seems to be around the old DC 509 cam or the RB SSH-44 which are stout street cams probably best behind a stick on the street
3) The intake has got to go
4) Any time I have gotten involved with a rebuilt/overhauled/remanufactured engine that has sat for God knows how long in God knows where, disassembly is a good idea
5) This HP topic came up at one of our car club meetings and the consensus was that for a comfortable, pleasant street car. abut 500 hp is all that you really want

Why?

That's not a particularly big cam. Yes, it does have some decent duration @0.050", but otherwise I'd say it's probably in the upper end of what Joe-average would consider streetable, no?

The intake should give it plenty of air for street use. If that was meant to be a racing engine I would say yeah, the intake would hold it back, but otherwise, this would be fine for the street.

If anything I'd want to make sure the static CR is in that 10.5:1 ballpark figure though.

Built and tuned correctly that motor would scare most "street" guys. I take it as a point of personal pride to scare the hell out of my customers, with their engines, every chance I get. Heck if it does not scare you a little what is the point? If I build you a motor and we don't break something in the drive line then I consider that a loss. Some guys are not scared with 1000 Hp and some cannot handle 350 well. Opinions vary. With a tall deck SR motor you will have to look at your header situation for fitment. Todd

I agree. A friend on mine had a 71 RoadRunner (4000#) with him and a 440 with out of the box stealth heads 10.5:1 and used a cam similar to that one. It ran mid 11's best in the quarter. Doesn't look that bad to me. I would guess his was around 500hp.

Yep...as well as the intake & valley pan cover, timing cover too. Remove and inspect oil pump.

I agree with Diplomat, we have a similar build in our 70 Charger and it is about all you need on the street. My 2 cents

Ours with 906 heads, bigger valves, pocket ported and port-matched to the 6 barrel.
4:10s, 727 muscled up, and a 383 hi-po converter.

SSH 22 cam, (.484, 284/284) 10.25 compression, dynoed at 465 HP, 480 Tq.

Been a blast for the last 7 years.

Joe

PS we changed the pistons to a raised type to get some quench, allows us to squeeze a little more timing,
which it loves

If you’re not good with carbs, the 6bbl might be a bit of challenge to get the street manners sorted out with that cam.

Aside from that, looks like pretty standard “hot street” fare to me.

I’m sure with something like a Brawler 850 or 950 on it, it would be just fine.

I do agree with the pulling the pan idea before putting it in the car though.

With those heads on an RB block, you’ll want the TTi’s made for the raised port heads.

Looks like it’s didnt have any way to vent the crankcase.
Needs some breathers.

If it were me, I would pull it completely down and inspect everything!

It only costs time and the price of a gasket set.

I bought an engine that looked great and had been rebuilt recently. Thought I was good to go. Pulled a piston and rod to be sure and the rings were broken in that cylinder...and the next...and the next...

Would have been a PITA had I installed it as-is. Apparently someone didn't know how to install pistons with a ring compressor.