Recommendation for my new 440 Magnum
#871989
12/05/10 03:19 PM
12/05/10 03:19 PM
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 6
Florida
Isherman440
OP
member
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OP
member
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 6
Florida
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Hey guys, Quick question here, I just bought a 1972 Charger with a 440 Magnum in it. The engine is a little newer. I believe from the later 70s so I'm aware it was one of the ones with controlled emmisions and less HP. Question here My uncle and grandpa have been building and restoring old cars for forever and they know what they're doing. However, they dont know anything about power and dont care about horsepower. I DO!!!! They will do anything I want to the engine but they dont know what to buy when it comes to power. I believe the car is making about 280-300 HP gross. I need at least 400HP. What would be the first thing you guys would buy to get to 400HP or more. It has the 4 barrel carb. Should I go with a sixpack manifold, or just a better manifold and keep the 4barrel conf? I dont know if I can afford new heads as for now so whatever best way to get cheap power is, I'll take. Thanks a lot 
Last edited by not_a_charger; 12/05/10 03:20 PM.
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Re: Recommendation for my new 440 Magnum
[Re: Isherman440]
#871990
12/05/10 03:46 PM
12/05/10 03:46 PM
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 36,041
Lincoln Nebraska
RapidRobert
Circle Track
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Circle Track
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 36,041
Lincoln Nebraska
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look at the eng as an air pump and attack the most restricted area 1st which is usually the exhaust system though HP manifolds are no slouch. Headers/free flow pipes/muffs if you're up for them/better carb/tweak each subsystem of the dist timing/better cam.
live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth
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Re: Recommendation for my new 440 Magnum
[Re: Isherman440]
#871996
12/06/10 01:41 AM
12/06/10 01:41 AM
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 21,318
Manitoba, Canada
DaytonaTurbo
Too Many Posts
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Too Many Posts
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 21,318
Manitoba, Canada
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Quote:
Well... This might sound dumb, but how do I check what type of engine it is exactly?
Look at the front of your engine. Look where the bottom of the distributor goes into the engine block. You will see the hold-down bracket(held on by one bolt) that keeps the distributor in place. Directly beside the hold-down bracket is a raised, machined pad, located near the front, drivers side of the intake manifold. This pad has a bunch of letters and #'s stamped on it. The numbers may be covered by years of dirt and grease and layers of paint. Clean the pad off if needed and post those numbers up and they will tell us what you really have.
Quote:
I believe it's one of the slow ones. The owner didnt know much about it either though and I got a crazy deal there. The car says 440 Magnum all over it but who knows? I know it's a 440 for sure. I just dont know what type of 440.
It is a 4bbl 440 Magnum. You're saying the one that makes around 275hp is not a magnum though?
There is really no such thing as a 440 magnum. "Magnum" was just a marketing name. Through the 440 production run, chrysler made two main versions of the 440. The regular 440 and the 440-HP. The HP stood for "high-performance". The HP 440 was just a regular 440 with a little more aggressive cam, different valve springs, HP exhaust manifolds and a couple other odds and ends. The regular and HP 440's shared the same pistons and compression ratio. In the muscle car era, when Mopar installed the 440-HP into a Dodge, it was called the "440 Magnum". When they installed it into a Plymouth it was a "440 Super Commando". When they installed it into a Chrysler it was called a "440 TNT". Later on the 70's when the muscle car era died, the 440HP carried on but with lower compression pistons and the marketing names like magnum, commando and tnt went away.
Don't obsess too much about what it is, just post the ID pad info so someone here can tell you what year it is. Chances are it has the 70's smogger low compression pistons. In your position, I would probably look into a Hughes Whiplash cam like the one Junky has a thread about right now. Add headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, new valve springs, ebay yourself a used edelbrock ch4b intake manifold, find yourself a holley 3310 750cfm vacuum secondary carb rebuild it if needed and get a tuning kit for it. After you buy all your parts talk to the guys at 4secondsflat.com about selling you a recurved distributor to fit your engine's new needs.
But even after all that you will still need to know and possibly change your rear end gear ratio to really get any performance out of the car.
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Re: Recommendation for my new 440 Magnum
[Re: Isherman440]
#871998
12/06/10 09:12 PM
12/06/10 09:12 PM
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,321
Prospect, PA
BSB67
master
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master
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,321
Prospect, PA
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Quote:
You need to know more about your engine before you make changes.Like what compression you have and what camshaft is in the motor.
You asked what is the first thing - this is it. Then find out everything else about the engine in its current state. More meaningful actions can then follow.
Second thing - read. Then read some more.
Then come back with questions.
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Re: Recommendation for my new 440 Magnum
[Re: feets]
#872001
12/08/10 04:36 PM
12/08/10 04:36 PM
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 2,648
GA
Boosted
master
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master
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 2,648
GA
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Put a 150 shot on it and a good fuel pump.Cheapest way...
2011 RAM3500
1967 Fastback Barracuda with some go fast goodies.
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Re: Recommendation for my new 440 Magnum
[Re: Isherman440]
#872002
12/08/10 04:39 PM
12/08/10 04:39 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 24,562
Brookeville, Md
Mr.Yuck
Not enough dumb comments...yet
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Not enough dumb comments...yet
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 24,562
Brookeville, Md
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Quote:
Hey guys,
Quick question here,
I just bought a 1972 Charger with a 440 Magnum in it. The engine is a little newer. I believe from the later 70s so I'm aware it was one of the ones with controlled emmisions and less HP.
Question here
My uncle and grandpa have been building and restoring old cars for forever and they know what they're doing. However, they dont know anything about power and dont care about horsepower. I DO!!!! They will do anything I want to the engine but they dont know what to buy when it comes to power.
I believe the car is making about 280-300 HP gross. I need at least 400HP.
What would be the first thing you guys would buy to get to 400HP or more. It has the 4 barrel carb.
Should I go with a sixpack manifold, or just a better manifold and keep the 4barrel conf? I dont know if I can afford new heads as for now so whatever best way to get cheap power is, I'll take.
Thanks a lot
if you can't afford heads you can't afford a six pack. W/o knowing what's inside it's hard to give advice. But say it's just a early 70's 440. I'd drop a mild cam in it, headers, dual plane intake 750DP carb, decent ingnition system and tune and roll. If you have a few extra $$ you can get a 2400 stall and some decent gears.
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