440 Need help figuring out what cam is installed

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Mistabreeze

Mistabreeze

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Okay here we go, appreciate any help/guidance offered. I recently picked up my first Mopar, A body, 71 Duster project car. It’s setup for a BB engine, so I found a very reasonable, if there is such a thing, 440 on FB market. It is fresh rebuilt already, see info below. Car currently has a 4.56 SG in it, but I picked up a 3.55 SG to swap. The tires it is currently running are 28” tall, but I will likely change them in the future and sell the ones on it since they’re new and I’m not planning to run it on the track except maybe a couple times for fun: M/T ET Street SS racing tires 275/60R/15.

The issue is the owner and builder of the engine have both passed away and I don’t have any info I need to figure out what flywheel and torque converter I should buy for the 727. The widow said he built it for street use, not racing. It was built by Robert Smith’s machine shop in Easton, MD. Rotating assembly was balanced, block decked, heads surfaced, crank ground, KB237 pistons estimated 10:1 comp, 413 heads, new cam bearings, Cloyes HD timing set. The rest of the parts are all high quality, but the sheet that had the Cam/liter/valve info was missing. I do not have the tools or knowledge to figure out what the cam is, but when I pulled the rocker covers it has new Comp Cams rockers installed.

It has a single plane intake, Edelbrock Torker 440, and I'm not sure if I should switch to a dual plane or not?

Also, from my research it looks like a 750cfm carb would be right for the setup since estimated HP is around 425 +-.

Not sure what other info may be useful to try and figure this out, any thoughts or suggestions?

440-2.jpg


440-3.jpg
 
You want to know what cam is in it? There is no way of knowing without pulling the front end of the engine and hoping there is numbers on the front face of the cam. Short of all that you could measure the lift using a dial indicator but that still doesn't tell you anything other than what ballpark the cam is in. Of course you could always just run it assuming its built as a close to stock street engine. If it doesn't work you could then start changing things.
 
It will work with the Torker intake but it may have better street manners with a dual plane. I wouldn't change anything until I knew how much hood clearance You have or need.

Any quality 11" converter will likely fill the bill. It would be nicer to know what cam was in it before you pick a converter.

A 750 will be fine for a carb.

What casting number on the heads?

Be glad to take those rear tires off your hands when the time comes. I am close to you.
 
Now if you had an engine run stand, then your could fire it up and see how nice it runs with the existing components before putting it in a car.

20250111_165200.jpg


Should be able to see if it is going to be able to idle for your street driving manners, and have enough vacuum for your power brakes.


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496 polara said:
It will work with the Torker intake but it may have better street manners with a dual plane. I wouldn't change anything until I knew how much hood clearance You have or need.

Any quality 11" converter will likely fill the bill. It would be nicer to know what cam was in it before you pick a converter.

A 750 will be fine for a carb.

What casting number on the heads?

Be glad to take those rear tires off your hands when the time comes. I am close to you.
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I would love to know what the cam is. Un fortunately, without taking it apart seems like too much trouble. I'll be pulling off the tires in a few weeks, will let you know.
For the converter, 2500 stall is good?
 
496 polara said:
It will work with the Torker intake but it may have better street manners with a dual plane. I wouldn't change anything until I knew how much hood clearance You have or need.

Any quality 11" converter will likely fill the bill. It would be nicer to know what cam was in it before you pick a converter.

A 750 will be fine for a carb.

What casting number on the heads?

Be glad to take those rear tires off your hands when the time comes. I am close to you.
Click to expand...
I'll check the casting numbers tomorrow and let you know. Appreciate all the replies.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Just put the thing in and get it running.
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This is golden advice!
If it were mine, i wouldnt get any further than pulling a valve cover to see what lift you can figure with a cheapie dial indicator ( and to just peek at the workmanship ). Id use something like a Super StreetFighter converter and head out to the dragstrip before it bocomes a "project". Best of luck either way. :thumbsup:
 
Thank you for all the responses.

I pulled the right-side valve cover, and these are the numbers I could make out off the head.

2206824-A, hard to tell if it was an 8 or a 3 in the 5th position
AA00
10-9

These were all the numbers I could find on that right head. Sounds like I'm going to leave as is and get it running, get a 2500 stall converter, with a 750 cfm carb. Sounds about right?
 
I did a search and Comp Cams puts ID numbers on the end of the cam. I'm going to pull the front cover and see if that's accurate or not. From reading other posts it seems important to know this info, or am I over thinking it?
 
Not sure if it matters, but the car is setup with manual brakes and steering. Steve was setting it up for the track before he decided to sell it.
 
You’re overthinking it.

“Usually”, the numbers are on the back of the cam(on Comp stuff from the last 20 years or so).

Fwiw, I found the original Torker 440 to be a very good hot street intake.
Great throttle response and mid-range power.
 
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Unfortunately, that's the engineer side of me over thinking stuff.

That is good to know, thanks again PRH. You saved me a bunch of time and work.
 
Really appreciate all the input guys. I'm going with Rusty Rat Rod and others advice to get in and get it running. Will let you know how it shakes out in a couple months when I get the remaining parts and install it.

Cheers.
 
George Jets said:
Now if you had an engine run stand, then your could fire it up and see how nice it runs with the existing components before putting it in a car.

View attachment 1716351373

Should be able to see if it is going to be able to idle for your street driving manners, and have enough vacuum for your power brakes.


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Click to expand...
Great idea! Would be nice to have a run stand to do this, but I don't want to buy something and use it just one time and have it sit around unused for years. That's what my engine stand and hoist do most of the time already :)
 
If you’re interested in running the engine prior to the install, call around to some engine shops in your area.
Someone might have a run stand they’ll run your engine on.
 
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