Was given a fresh 72 440 short block .60 over with cast piston sitting .120 in the hole. Also came with 906 heads. I want to use as is. Is there a good cam out there to help the low compression out? Want a nice idle and vaccum. Plan is putting it in my 70 Charger RT/SE auto with a 3.54 Dana. Would comp cams XE268H, XE274H, or the Summit 488 cam work well? Thanks Terry

Something with very low overlap is the best you can hop for. Also with a high LSA and low duration. These three things all come in combination any ways, and this will give you high vacuum and great idle. Don't go with anything bigger than a "6 pack" cam. 120 in the hole is terrible. If you ever rebuild don't be afraid of compression and quench it makes the motor more efficient at any performance level!

I would TRY and find a set of closed chambered heads and cut-them a-tad.

COMPRESSION is everything. This combo with 906 heads will be slow.

Slap that 465 488 Summit cam in at about 105-106 and let her roll! You will love it! It is one of the best grinds around for a streeter I think Erson does them---just a great sounding tire melting set up and don't worry about the CR unless you want to dig on down into your wallet--use what you have and HAVE FUN vs. spending $$ There are lots of lo comp 440's that run great and will melt tires--regular pump gas sounds like a BIG plus to me!

I agree the Summit cam is a good performer.Ive run it and it has good street manners and a nice lope.It almost sounds like a lot bigger cam.Crane used to make them.One I had is still in a 383 that we installed 25 years ago.Rocky

How's the budget?
Any $ for decking the block .060?

Best bang for the buck is some domed pisons.

Divorced with child support. Dont get me wrong. I will be 44 this year and its a good thing the boy came along. Hes now 3 and I love him to death. I'm really not looking for a huge lopey sounding cam. I had a 509 in my Cuda and didn't have enough compression. The cam was in the new engine when I bought the car. What a dog. Before I sold it, I put a Comp cam XE274H in. Boy, what a wake up. It had a hemi 4 speed and 355 gears. I could have the clutch all the way out and a slow roll, step on the gas and it would start going side ways and do the same thing in second. I was very happy with that cam. Like I said, I was just given this engine and went to measure how far down they were today. After that, I new it was in trouble. Just sold my 70 Challenger RT 440 car. It had a Comp Cam 280/480 in it when I bought it 9 years ago from a buddy. It was ok. I would like to try the XE268H in an engine some day. Thanks for all the help, Terry

my 440s got the basic rebuild 8.66:1 pistons in it - heads shaved a little bit. i used the XE268H cam in it and i like it...not a race car, but that's not what it's supposed to be. it will still move pretty good even with highway gears, though and sounds pretty good.

These pistons are flat tops, no dish.

I'd put different pistons in it, .120" down is gonna make for dog of a motor IMO.

I did the same thing, bought a fresh 440 short block with the piston down like that. I bought a set of TRW 2355 pistons and sold the flat tops on E bay. Got good money for the flat tops, so the new pistons didn't cost much. Glad I did because my motor runs great and make big power.

BTW the short block was included in a package deal with a car and a whole 49' trailer filled with parts. The seller had it listed as a 360 because there was a 360 air cleaner in the parts.

There are alot of good running dogs out there.

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...e=0#Post4656289

I'm not so familiar with smog 440s do they have a taller deck or something to cause the piston to be so far down the hole?

shorter pistons...the kit the machine shop got me came with 1.99 CH pistons, which puts them .120 below deck. it's a pretty popular rebuild kit - wish he could've got me a deal on a little bit taller pistons, but jumping up to those pistons was a HUGE improvement over the stock ones, and it's supposed to be a 78 440 police motor

Chrysler made the '72-up 440 pistons with a shorter compression height. Ballpark 1.900 instead of 2".