The rebuild has begun

No AC, no power brakes, you choice is set. It would not cost anymore to build the 440 vs any other engine. 440 is the best choice, if you figure a mild street motor will make 1hp/ci, you can do a [email protected] cam in it and get around 450hp, easy. A built to the hilt 318 might get you 350 hp, and a race only 340 will get you about 450 in max output, where a 440 built the same way would probably give you 550hp. By the way, that 383 will also make some serious hp too, just at a higher rpm. If you use the same head on a 383 vs a 440, you still have the same port flow, so theoretically it will make the same peak hp, just at a higher engine speed, plus the 383 will wind out like a 340 since they have a similar stroke, but the big block heads just flow better than a small block, about as good as a set of small block R/T heads.