440 motor

[cudas rule]

Getting ready to put together a 440 for my 70 cuda, the motor is a 1977 440 out of a motor home. Just want a good strong street motor, not a race motor, type of pistons and cam. It will have the stock 452 cast iron heads on it, intake valves 2.062 and exhaust 1.75 with a set of cast iorn hp manifolds and a 69 6 pack setup, automatic trans. Any advise will help. Also what is the differance between open and closed chamber cylinder heads and how do you tell them apart?

 

[Chryco Psycho]

I would use a forged flat top 6 pack piston with the deck milled to bring the piston flush with the deck .
Open Chamber heads are 916 or 516 casting & are preferable for detonation suppression , the portion of the chamber across from the valves that is raised approx .080, is flush with the deck of the head on closed chamber heads . If you use closed chamber heads the piston can be controlled to come as close as .060 to the head creating quench which creates a lot of velocity in the chamber as the air trys to escape between the piston & head & tends to prevent detonation .
Cam choice involves a ton of factors , , converter stall , gear ratio , you do not want the converter locked befor e the cam males power , & you do not want the cam to be below the powerband @ typical cruising speeds . There are a few cam like the Lunati 60303 or 60302 which work well in stock applications .

 

[cudas rule]

So it sounds like a closed chamber head is the way to go.

 

[Adrian Worman]

Yes, and if you have the block decked to zero, 10.700", then you can use a 0.040" as fitted gasket, Cometic, and end up with perfect squish band.