I built a 400 (non-stroker, not even bored oversize) kind of out of being a tightwad and also a stop-gap temporary engine for a '70 Challenger R/T I bought. I had a '77 Newport that I needed out of the way, so I pulled the whole front subframe/eng/trans and scrapped the rest. The engine was well maintained, with very little ridge in the bores, so I decided to reuse the pistons and not bore. I used some 906 heads I had used on a truck that I retired, and they were done-up with stainless standard sized valves and hardened seats, Crane single springs and a little bowl machining. I had them milled .060" and the intake side cut .072" so the intake would line up. I used a Comp Cams "Dual Energy" cam (DE275), which was supposed to be the hot ticket back then with iron HP exhaust manifolds. The tired 383 in the Chally had a DP4B intake, so I used it with a 750 Edelbrock that I had laying around. With just these mods and a 2500 stall 11" converter and 3.23 gears, it was a screamer. I loved it, it felt like a 440 or better, and it sounded really wicked with Hooker Competition Turbo mufflers and 2.5" pipes through stainless/aftermarket 2.5" dual outlet R/T tips. I wanted to do a Vanishing Point tribute car one day, with a 440, but alas, life happened and I never had time to really do that. A nice fellow saw the car and wanted to buy it, never having driven it or hearing it run, but his price was right and I let it go. He has many MoPars (some big block strokers, too) and after he drove it home, he was very impressed and wanted details on the "smogger 400" build. They are unappreciated for sure, with lots of potential if you give them what engines want!!
