How many of you run 500" or bigger street engines?

Strokers are fairly common these days. I was wondering how many of you run these gas swilling monsters on the street.

For those that do, what is the car and combination? What kind of power does it make on pump gas? How are the street manners and mpg?

I'm getting back on my 541 build and wanted to hear from my Size Matters brethren.

Just a little 470" here. Had a single plane and big solid cam (gave it back to AndyF, it was his dyno mule short block). Didn't "turn on" till the revs came way up. Not fun. It's not a race car.

Changed to an Edelbrock dual plane, 850 Race Demon with annular boosters, an old skool MP528 solid cam, 1-7/8" TTI headers, 2-1/2" exhaust, Edelbrock heads max ported by late Jeff at Modern Cylinder Head, Passon alum case Hemi 4 speed, 354 gear. Talk about tire boiling fun but still with manners tame enough to drive to the local grocery store. Still has a very noticeable idle. I'm getting older (57) so swapping to exhaust manifolds and Borgeson power steering

What are your 541 specs?

Wife's daily driver from 1988 to 1997, '67 Fury III, 3.23 sure grip, 505 stroker, ~ 425 HP. Gas mileage not much worse than the original L code 440. Cam was, I think a Crane HMV 278? 452 (new) ported heads, standard valve sizes, CH4B intake, started off with a new Holley 750 POJ, don't recall what we ended up with. Idled nice, pulled the factory disc brake booster fine. Had constant battles with it running hot, never figured it out.

Got rid of the car, still got the engine.

1969 Super Bee. 512" low deck. 10.6:1 compression, Trick Flow 240 heads, Trick Flow single plane, Thumper 950.1&7/8 tti headers into 3" tti exhaust with X-pipe and Dynomax Ultra-Flow mufflers. .555/.563 solid lift cam. 18 spline Hemi 4-speed. 3.54 Dana. I don't know about MPG, but it made 491 hp at the wheels on corn-free 90 octane. I don't have the tune dialed in, but so far it drives nice. It's snappy at pretty much any RPM. I think there's probably another 10-12 HP in the tune. I know there is a lot more in the top end if I went with more cam, more head, more intake, more carb, more header tube.

493 not quite 500.

9:1 RPM heads cleaned up, M1 single plane TBI with an MP509 and in spite of that 500 HP 600 ft/lbs. All over and done with by 5300.

Kevin

505" with 10.3:1 CR and small .545 Howards hydraulic roller. I usually run 91 no ethanol pump gas but can run the cheapest pump gas out there with no issues. The 11" converter and 3.54 gear makes it a pleasure to drive on the street.

The last time I checked mileage on an out of town trip, it pulled down 11 mpg. It essentially behaves like a super sized 440. More of EVERYTHING!

It weighed over 3,700 lbs. (with driver) the other day after I got it home from the track. It runs 11.1 @ 121 n/a and ran 10.01 @ 133 that day with a small shot of nitrous.

The best part is, it is very low maintenance other than having to change drag radials like you change diapers on a baby!

500ci here.

I also just have a little 470" Eagle crank,Manley rods,Diamond pistons @ 10.2:1, Eddy heads. Comp street solid roller, RPM intake, Holley 800dp. Idles at 900 made 430hp @ the tire @ 5500rpm(lots more there) and 500+ ft lbs all the way up. It's in a 69 B'cuda FB with a 4 spd and 3:73 gears. Very driveable and not hard on fuel if ya keep your foot out of it(hard to do). RPMs like a chain saw and pulls like a freight train...lol.....tons o' fun!!

a few YEARS ago, maybe 10 + years ago when i sold it. i had a 624 CI hemi road runner. after the cylinder wall cracked i had a 572 ci hemi built to replace it.
my friend built the motor. he built at least 10 600+ ci hemi motors.
my motor was a low compression budget motor with stage 5 heads with big valves and a bunch of used parts.
i think it had 500+ft lbs of torque at 1000 rpm. with low 3.23 gearing i could do 70 mph at 1800 RPM and i could still easily smoke the tires at will.

the biggest problem i had with it was the push rods kept burning up at the rocker arms pivots. big ci motors with large valves and fairly large cams require some spring pressure to work. the spring pressure along with running at low RPM causes this problem. it's a problem because the push rod / rocker arm pivot relies on splash oiling. at low RPM there isn't much oil splash. my friend solved the problem by using chevy type oil thru push rods where the oil goes thru the push rod to the pivot for oiling. once he did that we were good to go.

This 499" ran 6.85 in my 3,500lb Cuda. 250/260 FTS. Eddy heads ported by Modern. Kinda choppy idle, but not too bad. 10.9:1 on pump gas. It's sitting on the floor now.




That wedge came out for this 540:




But my gas mileage did not improve.

526 wedge. RPM heads, M1 intake, “1000 cfm” quick fuel 4150, 10.6 comp, cam specs I’d have to go look up. Shorty headers( nothing full length fits my car) 2600 stall, 3.23’s great street manners. Got 13.8mpg on the way to Carlisle ( 3 hour drive) at about 80-85mph.

The 512" RB Duster I had isn't all that comparable to what Feets is doing, but FWIW:
440Source rotating assy, Indy EZ1 heads & single-plane, 750 or 850 Holley depending, Comp hyd roller that idled & ran "bigger" than specs indicated.
TTi headers into 3", 2.5" tailpipes, Milodon 8-quart, FBO/MSD6/F150 coil ignition.
727, 3500 stall, 3.91 & later 3.23 gear, 275/60R15s.
Could bust the street tires pretty much at will, sounded stout, basically pretty hysterical.
Never bothered to check MPG but it was a thirsty thing, guess 8-10 but never got enough highway use for accurate info.

Fueled my lust for a stock-appearing 438-505 low-deck for my Road Runner, I can tell ya that...

I'm playing with the 440 Source 543 kit (measures 541). My plan was to build it into a torque monster that still had a full conventional rpm range. It's going in a 5300 lb Imperial running 3.23 gears and power everything so street manners and are important. It should also be relatively low maintenance and reliable, too.

I called cam grinders and received answers that were all over the place. I've received suggestions that run from 230 duration well into the 250s. Lift suggestions are ranging from .540 to .630 but the heads might not accommodate that. I had settled on the Comp 236/242 hyd roller with .544/.541 lift but received a good suggestion and will look into that before dropping the money.

When I get the opportunity, I'll mock up the engine in the car and check for hood clearance. If possible, I'll run the intake off my TT440. It's the bottom half of a Weiand tunnel ram topped with a 390 cubic inch plenum and a forward facing 1700 cfm throttle body. A Holley Terminator will run fuel and spark. If I can't get that to fit I'll have to go back to a Performer RPM, throttle body injection, and a drop base air cleaner. That would move the torque curve 300 rpm earlier and cost about 30 hp up top.

I'll complete it with heavily ported Eddy RPM heads, TTi headers and 3" exhaust. I plan on having a relatively quiet exhaust note and opening some cutouts when I feel silly.

I've used Dynosim6 to model the engine. It doesn't do part throttle and idle quality well but I can get an idea what the build might do. Right now, it's rolling in well over 500 lb/ft at 2000 rpm and carrying 600 lb/ft from 3100 to 4900, 400 hp by 3400, 500 hp by 4100, and topping at 570 hp at 5200. If I can achieve those numbers I'll be happy.

I've attached the graph and table from the simulator.

I have a 528 Hemi in a pretty stock appearing 68 Coronet with a 4 speed and 3.54 Dana out back. This combo has been together for about 20 years now. The hemi runs a 245/256 @ .050” hydraulic roller cam, 10:1 compression, MP single 4bbl intake, MP heads with mild port, and 850 demon carb. It has great street manners with good idle and low range. The torque is incredible as the gas pedal enables the tire crayon mode in pretty much any gear at any speed. Only downfall so far is fuel economy isn’t great, but you don’t build something like this and expect a Prius. I’m probably 6-8 mpg around town but never really drive it easy, and really haven’t driven much on the highway to know how it does there.

Those heads make a world of difference. I wish I was able to run something like that. They open up 100+ hp on this kind of build.

Comp hydraulic roller lifters are garbage. My friend (and others) had no end of issues with them in his Dart. Once he swapped the lifters for the same Howards that I have, no more issues.

Thanks. I was planning on doing the Howards lifters.

Mine is just a 493 so its a tad under 500 cubes. I think most know about my street/strip build in my 63 as its run a best of 10.76 through the pipes on 92 pump driven to track. It did dip back in the 10.70's last year at 10.78 and 125 mph but it only runs in the 70's on good days. Usually runs 10.80's. But we are building a supercharged eng for my boys Dart Feets so you might like that one since it will be boosted. Hope to have it out by this summer if all goes well. Ron

I have a 572 16 plug, 16 injector 10-71 Bowers blower. Should be on the street by this fall. Not a daily driver and definitely not a trailer queen. If I get 5 mpg I'll be happy.

Now add boost to the equation! My 545 blown hemi makes 850hp with 6# on premium pump swill.

http://508charger.yolasite.com/


440 - 508 cuin
MP/Eddy aluminum heads CNC ported std port window
10.8:1 CR
<250° @ 0.050” w/ 0.600” ish lift – solid roller
200#/500# ish Isky springs
Pro Magnum rockers (1.5)
440-2D intake
Small venture (1.375”) “950” hp style carb
Factory exhaust manifolds. Window opened.
2 ½” exhaust system with tailpipes
Ultra Flow mufflers


4150# race weight
P255 MT ET street radial
3.23
727 w/ TG2 auto shift
Stock converter – 1900 stall
Race it in “D”
1.90 ish 60 ft times
Good Air – DA 2000 ish - 11.70 @ 119 ish
Best – 11.68 @ 120.2
Corrected std. 11.45 @ 122.8

Why race it in D?

'70 road runner, 528 Hemi, 727 with a tight motorhome converter, 3.23 suregrip. Stock intake, stock carbs, TTI headers.

10:1 compression with stock iron heads & an itty-bitty solid flat tappet cam.

Its tame & I wouldn't change a thing.

12's in the quarter on the reproduction F60-15's and 13 mpg no problem.

I'm really glad I made the effort to fire it up back in April just to hear it run, because now I'm working on some long overdue changes
to the rest of the car (metal work),and it will be awhile before I can get the 572 (aka Project Big Dumb Hemi) between the rails and make everything fit/work.

The car no longer looks like this. Been at it for awhile, have lots of pictures and stuff

Anyway judging from idle quality and throttle response, it seems it should be a fairly tame street engine.
Cam and compression are both less than the existing 451 low deck, because I am getting old, same as everyone here, and I was never a super serious racer anyway.



I am also in the planning stages of an equally, if not more stupid large cubic inch wedge, and some other stuff.

Boy does that look sweet !! Ron

And Feets, my cam's 0.050" durations numbers are very close to yours, when you look at it at the valve (i.e. adjusting for lash).

If you're comitted to the hydraulic roller, and what you are looking for in that car, I think your plan is pretty solid. You can split hairs with a few degrees duration, and the LSA, but until you try a couple of different cams, you'll never know for sure, IMO.

Man I love that Charger. Sweet!

You guys running the big Wedges (not the Hemis), are you using OE blocks? Are you using Chevy rods?

Yes, 7.1" long with the 2.20 rod journal.

Thank you sir, trying to step up my game a little.

I'm going to take a guess:
More than likely the upshift governor is set up exactly where he wants it, and no manual shifting is required(?)

(Could be wrong...that's based on how beautiful and dialed in the whole rest of the rig is).

Thanks. And yes. And I think it shifts better than manually shifting a full auto valvebody. Although it seems like the shift rpm creeps up a little when the fluid gets hotter.

Thanks!

I have a 512 in my Duster. It is a fairly mild 600/600 type of build with a hyd roller cam and pump gas compression. I'm not sure on the mileage. It calculates out to about 12 mpg on the freeway but I rarely drive it far enough on the freeway to notice the mileage. I might drive it 10 miles to the track and then destroy the mileage by racing it then drive a few miles home. The car isn't quite comfortable enough to cruise cross country. Street manners are pretty good. The trick is to keep the cam small and to use a good converter. A little bit of gear out back helps if the cam gets too big but then you're starting to lose the whole streetable battle. If you aim to drive it on the street then keep the compression down around 10:1 or less and the cam on the small side. No reason to get greedy when you have 500 cubes.

That is a sweet looking ride!

This has over 7,000 miles on it and hundreds of dragstrip passes following the formula Andy listed above.

I'd say it has been trouble free but it has managed to break every driveline component in it! It is basically the driveline out of a 1 ton Dodge now save for the full floating rear axles. People often build big strokers and neglect the rest of the driveline. The stock stuff will not survive!

Stroked 440 in an A12
Passon 5 speed
650+ hp on dyno
Trik flow 240 , will run on 87 10:1 but i use 90 non eth
with a touch of race fuel , just because I can . And it smells right .
Drove about 800 miles this year ,
Would have been more if I didnt trade my
rarely driven hemi for a Hellcat .

And ol lady getting older cant deal with
the occasional stink from the 50 yo car, lol.

Bee kills vettes and sometimes Hellcats
depends who can hook , lol .
No traction control on Bee ..

GY3 that car is impressive. I read most of your posts. I have a 511 sb built going into an A body basically the same build as you. 10.3/1, Indy EZ heads. 3 choices of intakes. 8 in ATI convertor. 3.91 in an 8-3/4 which have to replaced. You and Andy F may have sold me on a hydraulic roller.

Thanks!

Gonna try and squeeze it into the 9's this Spring.