440 build advice

wazoo64 said
I've got a 440 that I picked up with fresh build but want to get more out of it with upgrading to aluminum heads, intake, cam and carb upgrade. Biggest question is heads and which intake to go with. I would prefer to get heads ready to go so who ports the best? This is a street car and I want to light em up and will get what ever convertor specs needed to handle the best cam. Here is what I've got in it.

10:5 to 1 compression
Purple shaft Hemi street cam
Mild port 906 heads
M1 intake

A lot of people do some pretty good porting. For a street 440 the dual plane intake you have is pretty good. If it is already at 10.5:1 with 906 heads, the next head choice must be made very carefully unless you intend to run a very large cam.

wazoo64 said
Engine: 1964 440 cu.in (.30 over)

*balanced and blueprinted

*906 heads w/stainless valves, double springs and new guides/seals

*double roller timing chain

*10.9-1 KB pistons

*steel crankshaft

*HP windage tray and HP hi-performance oil pump

*street hemi (purple shaft) cam (284 degree duration)

*mopar high performance medium rise, dual plane intake manifold (M-1)

*edelbrock 750 CFM carburetor (Carter AFB)

1969 727 (recently built) with 2200 rpm Stall Torque Converter

8 ¾ 3:55

Decent basics. The piston design and deck height (potential compression ratio) and fuel type must be determined before the head and cam choice. Caution here, there were no 440's built in 1964. Is this a 413/426? Have you checked the casting date on the side of the block? Are there any numbers stamped on the flat pad next to the distributor?

wazoo64 said
My 64 valiant with 408 has a 580 HP so I'm spoiled. Just put the alterkation and street Linx on this coronet and it needs 600HP. What a great suspension upgrade.

600 HP from a 440 is a serious effort. Pop told me before he died the three secrets to making horsepower. I say this all the time. The first two are cylinder heads and third and most important is cylinder heads. We are about ready to dyno test Pop's 440 with our ported EZ heads and a XE285HL flat tappet camshaft as soon as we can find the time to get the 440 back on the dyno. Pop's 440 was making 540 HP with ported factory iron heads, the flat tappet cam and less than 9:1 compression.

wazoo64 said
Are the Indy heads ready to go out of the box?

No, I find I must do the valve seats and check/hone the guides at the very minimum. The Edelbrock RPM cylinder heads will out perform the Indy EZ heads out of the box to right at .500" lift. Ported, the EZ's would be the clear winner. I would not use the EZ heads without taking them out to Max Wedge size and that would then require using a different intake other than the one you already have. You can keep the port openings smaller than Max Wedge and run a smaller manifold but why do that with the EZ head that's designed to go Max Wedge? If you already own RPM heads or any other aluminum head they can be made capable of as much as 750 HP without the expense of buying new heads and having them ported.