How Much Horsepower Can We Make? Upgrading Our Chrysler 440 V-8 Engine With Bolt-on Parts

[@jonathangehman4005]

An otherwise stock 440 with a mild cam, headers and a good dual point ignition is a recipe that was murder on the streets 50 years ago and still checks all my boxes today

[@davidjenson8124]

The addition of the electronic ignition was not impressive

[@JeffKopis]

Yup, my 68 Fury had a 71 440 with steel crank, Speed Pro .030 over 9.5-1 slugs, Mopar 274/474 "purple" cam, Hooker Super Comps with 3" exhaust & Flowmasters, and a 750 Holley on a Weiand dual plane (hood clearance). It was a burner, for a big C body.

[@PaulSter]

​@@JeffKopisI'll bet!

[@Slamgod]

There is no mistaking the sound of a 440. Such a beautiful low end grunt! And that torque curve. Those motors were just power. Pure power!! What a great build. I never miss these. :0)

[@UberLummox]

For sure. 440s are incredible. Have mild-build one in my '68 Fury & stock in a '71 Imperial. Would love to try out that 440 dirt track car in the video!

[@spaceflight1019]

Whenever I need a fix, I get out The Blues Brothers.

[@Alex_Goode]

I think you mean: Mo power baby!!

[@lesteraddison352]

I love a good holley but a working thermoquad is a bad dude

[@gordocarbo]

First thing that went through my head too, ride in a friends 440 charger. That sound....motor blew so much smoke, was shot but still pulled a tall gear pretty hard. DIg the thermoquads, Q jets from the era what a sound

[@shaneconrad7816]

I had a 1968 Charger R/T with the 375 hp 440 and automatic transmission with posi-track rear end when I was in high school in the early 70’. All completely stock and was a very fast car to say the least. Picked up a set of Casler hedders along with Thrush mufflers from the local speed shop. Installation was a real pain, ended up picking the motor up about 10” to sneak the hedders in place. Cut the factory mufflers out and fit the Thrush mufflers in the factory pipes.Took me and my dad all day to do this, we were not the best wrenches around… Cranked it up and the mufflers were louder than expected, mom was not happy at all. After the smoke burned away from the hedder paint, dad and I took it for a spin. Wow what a difference! From a dead stop on the feeder to loop 610 with the transmission in 2nd floored it. Unbelievable, spun the tires from 1st to 2nd and didnt stop spinning until I let off and put it in drive. Speedo showed 65 mph. Looked in the mirror and nothing but tire smoke to be seen. Dad was freaking out saying something about a near death experience, he was tripping. I was sold on hedders from then on and put them on every car/truck I ever had but the Charger showed the biggest increase in performance of them all. Car was a beast. Sure wish I still had it…

[@wprobe]

I had a 68 charger 440 auto also so much fun miss that car

[@PaulSter]

Man, I remember that being the case with my buddy's Dart. Before he put a built 340 in it, we put headers on the 318 it had. Talk about a PIA! To get them around the steering shaft, they had to be installed in two pieces. Working on that car, and then mine and my other buddy's Chevys was night and day. I always loved that the BBC and SBCs shared the same engine mounts, had easy access to all spark plugs. His 396/402 (which ended up .030 over) was in a '71 Chevelle, and my 355 was in a' 68 Nova and they were equally easy to work on. Even little things like changing the oil - filter and drain plug were right next to each other on both engines, so you could drain and change filters w/o moving the drain pan. We always dreaded working on the Mopars. Actually that's not true, it was mostly just the Dart. No one in our immediate group of friends had Fords until after high school. It's a shame too, because THAT'S the way I would have gone. 302, 351 or better yet, a 460, but back then the BBFs were just known as stump pullers meant for trucks and RVs. No one we knew was familiar with porting them. That was high-dollar stuff beyond our reach.

[@NobilityandLoyalty]

@@PaulSter those 2800 pound 340 equipped Mopars and lightweight Camaros were a way to go fast 💨 on a tight budget. I witnessed many a big block fall victim to those cheap little Hi Po screamers . Low to mid 14 second 1/4 mile passes at sea level drag strips for less than $3k. I agree with you on the BBF's. I only witnessed a few 429-460's racing, most with Cobra Jet cylinder heads in heavy vehicles such as a Torinos. The 429-460's are bargains for anyone looking to build a cheap reliable stroker motor with a durable 3 inch main block and 557 inches with little or no machine work.

[@stratolestele7611]

Totally agree brother. Loved the way the small blocks screamed. It was just sad that he (friend w/340) had what was basically an 'exotic' built 340, rowdy cam, flowed heads,12-1 comp, w/ a custom torque flight (manual valve body, 3500 stall converter) + two 4bbl Holley, 650s (it felt quicker when we tried a different intake with a single 850) in a fairly light car vs my friend's '71 Chevelle w/ a mildy built 402 .030 over, intake, Holley, headers, 10-I comp, and a Muncie (stock) 4sp. I really loved both cars. The Dart definitely had more character, especially when it 'came on' at 4k+ rpms, but the BBC with its moderate cam, just pulled, on him from the dig, from 30,40,50. In the end, the Dart should have been faster than it was. As you might have gathered when I mentioned the carb swap, I'd say it needed to be dyno tuned to optimize everything it had. But hey, this was 40 years ago. Dyno tuning wasn't something done anywhere near us. 😂

[@NobilityandLoyalty]

@@stratolestele7611 Yep dyno tuning is still expensive but far more common these days. You can carry all your tuneups with ya! 😃

[@jradish]

So good, watched the entire thing without stopping. I love redline rebuilds.

[@scottallberry6713]

Only reason I subscribe to Hagerty is recline rebuilds

[@peep39]

We're big thermoquad people in my family (dad, me, and my sister) and it was fun to see it get the spotlight. Hardly anyone even gives it the time of day. Nothing else sounds like it, and if you grew up with it, you don't forget it

[@antilaw9911]

Love thermoquads!

[@timothywilliams2021]

Love Thermoquads. Not sure why they are not more popular. My dad jokes that I've cornered the market on them because I've got so many.

[@NobilityandLoyalty]

@@timothywilliams2021 the only critique I saw 👀 people had of the Thermoquad was its ability to warp when overheating and would cause warping of the mating surface between the intake manifold and carburetor. This was in SoCal, during the hot summers and trucks were hauling trailers under heavy loads. I never saw it occur in a passenger vehicle.

[@oldschool8432]

After warping backfiring up the carb. I don't understand the people loving on these disposable carbs

[@andrewnewman1510]

For that stock 440 to make 410 hp.and over 500lbs. torque with low performance exhaust manifolds and points tells me it was really built well ! Love those 440's !

[@NobilityandLoyalty]

@@andrewnewman1510 The California Highway Patrol kept those durable 440's and other Raised Block 413, 426 's in their arsenal for decades.

[@moparedtn]

*DAVIN!* First off, thank you Hagerty for putting out this sort of content, *especially* with *Davin* ! As an old geezer type with a lifetime love affair with Mopars (especially 440s), I could have probably saved Davin a little time with what to set things at, what carb/intake, etc. but it all worked out fine. Now... A couple nitpicks, of course - the TQ wasn't on any Mopars until 1971 (not the late 60's as you said) and probably a better carb to start out with for the stock "street" baseline would have been the Eddy AVS2 800cfm, which is fairly similar to the original AVS carbs 440s had in the late 60's. TQ's were emissions carbs, not the greatest for use here. Still, all said - I'm very pleased with the results and yes, 440's LOVE headers (and dual plane intakes). Distributor initial at about 10BTDC, all in at about 35-36BTDC and feed it decent gas and you're good to go, especially with a vintage Mopar electronic ignition conversion on it. Thanks guys! - Ed on the Ridge

[@joshuagibson2520]

Ed, do you watch Donnie Laws too? I believe I've seen you there, but also SRC and Steve Mags channel. I live over here on the Plateau in Morgan Co.

[@moparedtn]

@@joshuagibson2520 Isn't Donnie Laws that made up redneck dude on Bob & Tom? Not familiar with whatever "SRC" is either - and I have seen some of Magnante's stuff and he's right - sometimes. 🙂 Howdy over there in Morgan County! Been a while since I was over that was (I used to do inspections at Brushy Mountain and Morgan State Correctional). Spooky stuff when they were still in use... -Ed

[@ChristopherKnoll-w6p]

Mopar # 1

[@barath4545]

Great info Ed, especially for us learning about this, thanks man!

[@ironhead9507]

I still can't get over how much you picked up with just the headers and ignition, that's horsepower the average guy can afford

[@4speed3pedals]

Roller rockers are more accurate with the ratio and over stock rockers, the engine may have picked up valve lift. If so, that would also account for some of the horsspower increase with the roller rockers. This is one of the most thorough dyno testing noting the addition in horsepower with each addition. Thanks for spending the day doing this and the day editing and uploading. Great job.

[@jukeman57]

Most folks that build engines know that headers, special fuel manifolds, high capacity carburetors, ignition systems and other performance parts increase HP/torque. But seeing the actual data using the dynamiter removes the guesswork. Great video.

[@barath4545]

Yup, Greg Anderson said in a deeper interview in his workshop that the most important thing in the world when building engines, is a dyno that does not deviate more than 1-2% between pulls and engines, or some other low number. It is crucial and vital to get good and consistent data or you are working blindly when finding horsepower. And he knows his American engine architecture stuff! Pet Peave: I'd like to see Pro Stock step away from valve springs, rockers, pushrods and OHV and go to pneumatic valves for much higher RPM, but it likely won't happen.

[@donberry5677]

@@barath4545 Pro-Stock. ( Stock ) might as well be Pro Camaro

[@glengabruch4664]

Excellent video. You should have used the time honored Edelbrock Performer RPM intake. I guarantee it would have gave exceptional torque and horsepower, especially compared to that outdated unit.

[@mitchellferre1652]

🎯

[@DSRE535]

💯

[@novajtv]

Yeah what he said.. I was hoping they'd try the rpm intake and see some real gains..a true street strip intake

[@mickangio16]

Would have been a great engine and easy enough to try a bunch of different manifolds on😊

[@thedynamicsolo4232]

At 58, this takes me back to my dad and I messing with that fickle thermostat on my 1969 Roadunner. We found out later there was a pin hole in one of the floats. I totally enjoyed this video. Kudos on a great build. I'm j7st an hour from Apex, when I'm ready for a rebuild I know where I'm going to.

[@stevelacker358]

That Weiand intake is a bit of a relic. Both Holley and Edelbrock make (or made) ones that work better on a 440. A performer RPM is a known good one, gives more power without losing as much torque. The downside is that it’s taller and to fit it under a hood, you may give it up again with a low profile air cleaner. A Holley Street Dominator is a great single-plane option.

[@mitchellferre1652]

When the rpm intake is too tall the torker 2 and street dominator are a good choice

[@tomconner5067]

I had the best results with an Edelbrock Victor Jr. on builds below 400cid, with shift points at or about 7,100rpm, at or below 6,600 a Weiand Team G pulled well or single plane Edelbrock Torker with some epoxy and flow bench work, bigger engines at higher rpms, the Edelbrock Victor Ram, a Cross Ram, or full tunnel ram, and this was when a dyno was a rarity, and those who had them didn’t do outside or offer their services to the public. Fix that exhaust collector leak and you’ll get back the scavenging horse power (soak the gaskets in H2O overnight)

[@gordocarbo]

@@tomconner5067 Been running team Gs with port work for decades, love em Still make good torque and pull well from mid to high range....fit and look killer.

[@JeffKopis]

💯

[@rickharper1497]

I like the dual plane intakes for the bottom end. Headers over stock exhaust always. Good stuff Davin!!

[@seanjohnson6899]

Sean Murphy's tuning did my carb. Nice having him "down the street ' in Huntington Beach 👍🤘

[@darnoldie]

Wow!! The sound of a big block MOPAR hitting the big numbers is incredible. Can't wait to see what your next project is.

[@Jack-Surreal_Panes]

All I remember about my dad's New Yorker besides a land yacht, was it had a 440 4 barrel and it would spin tires all day. Loved the feeling when the other 2 barrels opened up.

[@kurtpoblenz2741]

I hope Ford & Chevy guys were paying attention to this “mild” 440. Now you know why mopar guys love 440s 👍🏻

[@Charlie_Prinz]

WOW, Rusty old headers for the win !!!! Awesome 440. Those secondaries on that thermoquad sound wicked! 👌👌👍👍😎😎

[@robertrohler3644]

Thank you for taking us through step by step with each engine change and showing us how this effected the performance. Very educational plus enjoyable to watch as well.

[@daytona3927]

I had a 440 very similar to this, had it in my 68 Cuda, very light, 4/56 posi 4 speed was enough to get mid 11's, was fun street machine.

[@gordocarbo]

Love that yr Cuda bet that car hauled azz. 4.56 were common back then with 55mph speed limits...you may be in the slow lane but could take the fwy to work every day

[@mickangio16]

​@@gordocarbo I used to say, "can't go very far, but I can get there pretty fast"😊

[@francfurian8215]

Excellent content. Really enjoyed the whole build of this 440 Mopar. You guys did a great job with this episode, showing the difference how much each change made a to the previous with real data. The stock numbers were quite impressive as well. Hats off to the machinist & mechanic! Well done & keep up the good work. Cheers🙂

[@skylinegtr-gd2lg]

All terrific stuff overall! Davin....i was most impressed with what you & your staff were able to achieve given the "stock" engine results - - over 400hp on old/rebuilt plain-jane big block with stock pieces. Awesome!

[@barath4545]

Yeah was also mostly surprised with how good the stock result was!

[@alanmeyers3957]

It also has an aftermarket cam, evident by the idle

[@dphitch]

You guys do a great job, very professional on both the content and the video quality. Its amazing what these engines can do. You didn't even do a cam or head upgrades and its killing it already.

[@kyleforeman4543]

Wow,horse power,what a Thorough explanation on. Horsepower, Ignition , wires,carb,what a great video,an ut was a Mopor..sweet Thanks Haggerty and the crew,

[@JeffKopis]

BB Mopars, my favorite motors by far! Ive had about ten of em.

[@andyd9900]

I have a 68 GTX 440 I watched this with the vision of what my 440 puts out. I run a holly street demon with headers, cast iron heads and an Edelbrock performer intake. Also updated ignition to pertronix. I always thought it would be about 450hp. Great video you had my attention all the way.

[@bigolow641]

I have a '71 GTX. Loving my 440😊

[@erikrunas226]

I'm a huge fan of dyno days. Thanks for taking us along.

[@jwszewczyk]

Sweet! The 383 in a truck we played with made the most torque with about 4 deg initial timing. That was the "seat of the pants" dyno with an edelbroken carb and an "RV" cam grind. Made for a fun rig.

[@kostiantynua]

Enjoyed watching and understanding how flexible this engine is. Great job 👏

[@andremauboussin2705]

Nice build! The 440 is a beast and was the king of torque on the street. With basic bowl porting and a performer rpm, you might hit 550+ 😁

[@gordocarbo]

100-150more hp wont happen with those two things but it will pick things up

[@bhumiriady]

I have to admit, I really enjoyed seeing Davin try to wring out more power on the Chrysler 440 engine that was rebuilt in the timelapse video.^^ It shows how different parts and ignition tuning can affect the engine's output.

[@eloymarquez4783]

Thank you for sharing all this knowledge!

[@larrydenko3896]

Where can I watch read about the car , big respect to Davin, just amazing how simple you guys lay down all the aspects of engine building, watched all your engine builds

[@davidwearmouth851]

NIce to watch a couple of professionals at work, and having fun !!! Good work guys. !! Thanks, both of you.

[@kreparAZ]

this was very cool! love to see the back to back comparisons and data analysis. interesting tests for sure. great video keep up the hard work!

[@larryhutchens7593]

Finished watching the tear down & assembly videos. Strange combination of parts. Square bore intake that has been modified to accept a spread bore Thermoquad, different heads, Truck /RV style exhaust manifolds, after market rods (if they came with the engine), forged steel crank in a block that probably came with a cast unit. Vary good performance considering. By the way, those Chrysler style rockers are very, very reliable. Vehicle engine combo neat. Enjoyed the videos, thanks.

[@daveshepherd8460]

I've built a few 440s and 426 Max Wedges, this engine does not sound like a stock 375, particularly at idle. Maybe a better cam and some port matching here? Also no mention of fuel grade. I found these engines were happy around 38 degrees total at 3k.

[@antp9838]

Just picked up my 440 this weekend, out of 66 Imperial. It's all original, zero mods. I got quad IDF webers and intake for it. Can't wait to get it done and see the Dyno results...

[@44hawk28]

I think that your distributor and the cap are slightly out of phase, if you don't know how to fix that, I suggest you find an old school Mopar head to fix that for you. I when I was much younger adjusted the phasing on probably three or four of those. It does require sacrificing at least one distributor cap, so if you do that keep that distributor cap for all of your Chrysler's that take the same distributor cap

[@ronnieboucherthecrystalcraftsm]

we always did a distributor recurve when we did engine mod`s = on our MGB`s with old lucas distributors = 30%improvement .

[@SolamenteVees]

That made impressive numbers with the cast iron intake and the ThermoQuad. Well-done, guys.

[@JoDoDesigns2011]

Bro you have really come a long way since I first found your channel, congratulations on your business growing 😁

[@giancarlopbranco]

Man it's incredible what this channel teach and pleasure people that love V8's like us! Thank you Davin for share it whith us!

[@C.Padilla84]

Awesome Dyno session great add on to the Hagerty engine rebuilds.

[@garryhatchett775]

It would be interesting to see if a performer rpm manifold would improve both torque and hp. Nice build.

[@mitchellferre1652]

It would for sure

[@Torquemonster440]

It definitely would. No Doubt.

[@GIGABACHI]

Nicely explained and shown for those not very mechanically inclined. Excellent job. 👌🙂👍

[@jacquescrusan9500]

great case study not only on how different changes make incremental gains, but also how those changes compound on one another and become greater than the sum of their parts.

[@mattgraham1983]

Motortrend do this on the show engine masters

[@rcadd1ct]

Watching other shows adding 18” of collector length on the dyno headers might have helped. It was fun watching the parts add to the air pump’s efficiency. :)

[@ralphvalkenhoff2887]

I thought what you did on the cam bearings was phenomenal. Never seen that trick b4. Great video! Thanks for sharing.

[@CJ5EVOLUTION]

Great video, nice step by step testing, would have loved to see some aftermarket cylinder heads.

[@secondsun7727]

You would be surprised how many arguments I've had about getting rid of those (pos) stock exhaust manifolds . Amazing 50 hp with one set of "bolt on " headers - seems like a no brainer. Thanks for the video, great job😊

[@whitegp73]

I loved this video, I have a bone stock 1970 440 that's in serious need of a rebuild, She's old and tired. This video will help me make some decisions such as headers and roller rockers, My electronic ignition is in tomorrow, A+++ Thanks Guys

[@RealWunderBanana]

Absolutely love Hagerty's channel. I've always been a car guy and my girlfriend has always been interested but these videos spark something in her that makes her wanna go out and just buy an engine just to build it hahaha.

[@americanrambler4972]

I was really pleased at just how good the stock intake manifold was. The headers and electronic ignition were the really big bang for buck improvements. My opinion is the aluminum Weiand manifold was not worth the effort. If it was me, I would probably go back to the stock manifold and use the custom headers. I suspect the peak hp would have been about the same, but you would have had a fatter torque curve across the board which would help the dig getting out of the corners and you probably could have continued to use the thermoquad carburetor and saved a bunch of money there too. It looked to me like the thermoquad was providing a better fuel spread pattern than the new carb.

[@gordocarbo]

Agree..intakes dont make as much difference as people would hope for unless its highly modded, high rpm larger crank etc

[@elebeu]

That shows just how good the factory manifold and Thermoquad are.

[@grecoconduris6716]

man I want one of these Chrysler Big Blocks for my A body, but I am in Australia and we didn't get them here.

[@antilaw9911]

They for sale all over here!

[@grecoconduris6716]

@@antilaw9911 If I send you some cash can you send me one? haha

[@JeffKopis]

The stock stamped shaft rockers are bulletproof, they never fail. Theyre not adjustable, but you can put shims on the stands under the shafts. The thing with roller rockers is the option of a 1.6 ratio.

[@jeffjankiewicz5100]

Ahhh, thermoquad. The only carb that punishes you at WOT. David Frieberger. Cool build Davin, love the redlline rebuild series.

[@shaneconrad7816]

If you were looking for the secondary Kick, the T quad was the king. These things were around 900 cfm?

[@Gen3HemiBuilder1964]

Standard output like that engine was 350 hp@4600 And 480 to @2800 So the fact that it did 417 is very impressive

[@zundappz4]

Awesome video Davin!! Bring more like these!! Lots of information cool stuff, and a real nice esplanation of every step on the job!! Thank you!!

[@chash7335]

Great show! I gotta think the engine will be run with an air filter, so I 'm surprised that wasn't part of the dyno program.

[@howardwayas8000]

Working on a 1974 mopar 440 rn. I'm going to keep it on the road.

[@jmyd83]

greta's sad now 😂

[@124marsh]

@@jmyd83🤣👍

[@timbradberry73]

Thanks again Davin!! Ready to watch this thing race for real!! Post some videos!

[@Axr24have]

This was a fun one to watch Davin. 👍

[@rjdgreek]

I always used Blue Streak ignition parts when I could. They were the best!

[@erichildreth7562]

Watched the whole video all the way though and it is really cool to see the power gains with the different bolt on modifications! Great video and can't wait to see some more!!

[@georgewetzel4380]

Two notes: First, the rated HP for the high performance 440 4bbl prior to 71 was 375. Second, the Thermoquad wasn't used on 440s until after 71.

[@wulfschlueter2112]

The exhaust manifolds are not the high flow more like off a late model smog 400/440

[@DSRE535]

@@wulfschlueter2112yep 💯 those are not the high flow passenger car manifolds

[@HighlanderNorth1]

Yeah, and I'd always assumed that Carter carbs were primarily a Mopar thing, and that Ford only used Autolite and Holley carbs back then. But recently I learned that there was at least 1 or more Ford production V8's that came with Carter carbs. Whether they were thermoquads, I don't know, as the article I read didn't go into that detail.

[@olderthanyoucali8512]

At 7:28 he asked if the dyno operator thought the high horsepower numbers were from the cam. Does the camshaft have stock specs? He also mentioned head porting at 12:06? So is it stock or not?

[@spaceflight1019]

Don't forget that in that era the 440 was used in everything from B and C bodies to trucks. Within this bandwidth are engines set up for ordinary passenger service (350), hi-po B and C bodies (375), police service (375 but cammed for top end), and the 440-6 (390). The cam is everything.

[@garthrogers2176]

Very interesting video, lots of good data. Those headers look like Hellen Keller fabricated them.

[@darylhudson777]

I wanted to see the car on the rollers to see the specs at the rear tires. Anyway in 1968 my brother bought a brand new Plymouth GTX off the showroom floor with a 440 + 727 torqueflite. One of his friends older brother was Kenny Duttweiler who my brother had billed his car for quarter-mile drags at Lions drag strip. I don't have the specs but I know it ran a 14-second 1/4 mile stock and 11.9 after Kenny did his thing. I don't remember if Kenny remembers the car and I have lost the film of it that I took when I was 7 years old. I just remember it had an Edelbrock intake, Iskenderian cam, Hooker Headers, 4.56 rear gears, 10" slicks. I will presume a Holley carb. It was that beautiful blue color because I remember my brother, who was 14 years older than me, got cancer. I still remember he took me for a drive in a Red 68 Camaro and he asked me what my favorite color was. I told him I like the red car but my favorite color was blue. So when he bought this 1968 Plymouth GTX it was I believe it's called bright blue metalic. My WWII US Army Dad race did it Lions drag strip as my brother was in the Veterans Hospital in Los Angeles. My brother passed on in 1969. My dad been traded the car off for a 1969 Cadillac Coupe DeVille. I wish you would have kept it because I think my brother chose that color because he loved and felt he wouldn't be around long. I would have loved to have it now. I love you, my brother, who I called Bubby, but his real name is Danny and someday I will see you in Heaven.

[@blownaway4371]

Interesting!! I think it would be a good 'service' to offer distributor recurving also.

[@corporalclegg914]

this was a cool upload. seeing power adders’ performance results real time is actually priceless. I’d love to see Davin’s Red Chevelle come back around for something. the ‘66 & ‘67 Chevelle in Malibu trim is my all-time favorite…and this coming from the son of a Pontiac Man with 3 ‘64 GTOs

[@marioncobaretti2280]

Amazing results with each change. Love mopars

[@RK48frazergasser]

Hey David could you talk about the use of glyptal on the inside of the block and the right way to use it thank you

[@reckowracing3342]

I like to "seal up" the lifter valley and the timing change area when applicable. Helps oil return and I like the look (to be honest). Prep clean clean clean, any oil and it won't stick, no different than the exterior paint. Which is why I paint the block before any assembly.

[@RK48frazergasser]

@@reckowracing3342 I thank you very much I'm building a 1948 frazer gasser with a chevy 454 supercharger so the fun begins cleaning cleaning cleaning and painting. Again thank you

[@wtdonovan]

this format was greatly entertaining! What a beauty of a powerplant.

[@scotthultin7769]

Did you change the springs on the advanced rate

[@elebeu]

I know, they were talking about point instability at 3000 rpm when the points were still working to 5000 rpm. They didn't address the advance curve or check for advance weights sticking or spring issues.

[@SteveP-vm1uc]

I'd like to have seen the AFR changes and what the max rise in TQ and HP via timing... Also, were the roller rockers also 1.5 ratio?? AND ,,, showing what the compression is would help others, BIG TIME...

[@dougharlow6037]

Fun video. Just imagine what this engine would do with a higher lift roller cam and Edelbrock RPM heads? Thanks

[@davebarron5939]

Very enjoyable, looking forward to doing this on my hot rod someday. Thanks.

[@Campbase1]

Really good information. Wishing you could also do heads, electric water pump, and roller cam.

[@Chryco_5126]

I would use the Holley Street Dom intake ported I bet there is some power there from my experience . I prefer the Bushed rockers over needle brg , far more surface area for the load .

[@MrPedix2c]

Davin, What size carb. , what were the cam specs., what amount of porting was done? Great work by the way.

[@reckowracing3342]

thank you. Cam specs Duration @ .050 230/236, lift 488/491 with 1.5 ratio rockers. Carb is a SMI 750 DP, Porting basic back side clean up blending sharp edges. also touched up the first edge from the stem of the valves. This improves the low lift flow.

[@ThePaulv12]

It's nice to see a Thermoquad on a Mopar big block. I do know Thermoquads and I do know big block Mopars, re headers I got closer than you guys - I did; I said to myself not less than 40hp. What surprised me though is this, how much it made with those stock pass car exhaust manifolds. On that basis I made my guess LOL. Probably a bit late, but here is basic Thermoquad concepts and base adjustments. The accelerator pump is designed to squirt twice BTW - on the primaries and as the secondaries open also. It needs the correct length pump plunger to enable this. Often the replacement pumps are too short. If you need me to give you the specific adjustments to get it to work as it was supposed to it is quite lengthy. You can ask me here and I'll post a sequential adjustment procedure since you can't just get it to work until all the preliminary adjustments are correct. Some important adjustments: *The primary metering rods base adjustment - unscrew the T bar screw until the T-bar/piston assembly bottoms out, then screw 1.5 turns in to lift the rods. *Secondary air valve adjustment - hold the air valve wide open and bend that tab (I just told you about) so there is 12mm (use a drill bit) between the top edge of the air door and the airhorn. *the secondary air valve dashpot (the small vac cannister behind the choke), apply vacuum so it is fully retracted. The secondary air valve should be able to move 1mm. If it doesn't, bend the dashpot link rod, if it has more than 1mm bend the rod link so it has 1mm. This is an important adjustment as it starts the air moving past it. *Secondary air door tension, undo the lock ring, unscrew the door tension so it hangs, then slowly tighten until it just closes, THEN screw in 1.25 turns, hold it there and use another screwdriver to nip up the lock ring then a bigger one to properly tighten it. These are just base adjustments *Also the accelerator pump is designed by Carter to squirt twice, once on the primaries and again when the secondary throttle valves (not air valve) open. To get it to do this requires a sequential adjustment procedure and this post would get even longer. Note, if the secondary air door opens fully it is often too lean possibly even on a stock 440. They're actually not supposed to be wide opened for correct operation (though they certainly can be when modded for max performance). Strip kits for these have been unavailable for many years. There are just so very many good things you can do to these to get them to perform. What I used to do was buy them whenever I saw them cheap and after awhile I had so many parts that I could make my own strip kit by sorting all the primary jets, rods, piston lift springs and secondary jets. A final word, the performance primary metering rods were tapered. The less performance ones are stepped. This is good to know since the jets at the bottom of the well where the stepped rods go in are possibly calibrated for ELB. This might not always be the case on just ELB either.

[@dougharlow6037]

First, GREAT, high quality video. I would love to see a dual plane intake with a hotter roller camshaft kit with springs with and lighter ported and polished aluminum high flow heads.

[@flexjay87]

The graphs at the end of the video were quite interesting !

[@claysmell]

having had a 71 340 Challenger, the best bang for the buck on the dodge/plymouth/chrysler engines were: holley double-pumper (600cfm), 3 angle valve job, dual point distributer and crane fireball cam. modern day I would swap for a holley sniper and electronic distributor. headers help, but they didn't do as much as I thought at the time (seat of the pants dyno). what surprised me was the dual point versus stock single point - that was very noticeable driven back to back. anyway, those few changes made the 340 a beast, and suspect the same for the 318, 360, 383, 426 (wedge) and 440. not sure about the hemi as it's a little different and came with some go fast crap stock. update: I see the 440 responded real well to headers, so the big blocks are breathing way heavier than the small blocks maybe :)

[@danielroberts698]

I built a small block Mopar back in the late 70’s. The biggest gain for me was headers. It was almost unbelievable how much power I gained. I tried sticking to the stock duel exhaust because of money. I did a purple shaft cam Edelbrock single plane and 650 Holley double pumper electronic distributor roller timing chain. Was so fun to drive.

[@edsmachine93]

Nice build. Thanks for sharing. 👍

[@44hawk28]

Thermoquad was not put on Chrysler's until 1972, there may have been a couple of 1971 that had them. When I bought my 1974 police interceptor with a 400, the first thing I did was to replace the lifters with anti pump versions. There was an issue with them, and I put a Holley mechanical secondary spread more on it I believe it was a 4150 and it was about 1100 CFM I don't know how fast it could go, but the fastest I Ever Had It clocked out was 187. I can easily travel across to 10 Mile Stretch at 166 Plus and do it regularly.

[@davidmarshall8628]

Was the vintage Weiand single plane used for nostalgia reasons? Given the indicated rpm range for this engine I'm inclined to believe an Edelbrock Performer RPM would beat it everywhere in the range.

[@reckowracing3342]

yes you are correct on the Nostalgia reasons for the Weiand.

[@markthegunplumber8376]

Need to respring the Distributor? Inst. a distributor advance kit? or lock it out and set the timing where you want it permently.

[@gordocarbo]

Headers, a performance curve and good carb tune is all it takes to make any brand BB wake up.

[@supercuda1950]

Thank you for the step by step dyno workout!

[@-joe-davidson]

6:50 He mentions "Blue Streak"... Standard Ignition Blue Streak was my go-to ignition parts choice back in the day. Standard still sells Blue Streak components, but they don't really seem to be made as much for performance now as they once were and they are no longer blue in color.

[@larryhutchens7593]

Not bad for what appears to be a truck/ RV or large car (land barge) engine. Exhaust manifolds are not the magnum units, intake manifold is fairly flat & the Thermoquad indicates an early to mid 70s engine. If the heads are a 352 casting then it is a mid 70s. Good HP.

[@geebopbaluba1591]

I have a 66 383 standard or what Chrysler called a regular 2 barrel and I would like to see this same type video with that motor and adding HP parts to see what it can make. I do love the 440 though.

[@isalmankhan1]

Really enjoyed, Thanks Davin😍 Great work👍🏻

[@erikwilson9498]

I must be weird but this was very entertaining. Would love to see a 351 Clev vs a windsor

[@chargerfryar]

I think you should have stuck with the Thermoquad. Thermoquads get such a bad rap because of the late 70's smog applications but think about it for a sec. The big-block/competition versions can flow as much as 1000cfm. Not far off from a stock Six-Pack setup. You have small primaries that control low end airspeed through your intake manifold. The Secondaries can be tuned to come in when you want and will dump a TON of air into the manifold. Think about which kind of manifold will be good for that. I suspect something like a Mopar M-1 with a plenum separator (and the separated-from-the-oil-valley design for help with cooling) will give you the torque and a BIG gulp of air for horsepower.

[@carlosmarciales6418]

I think that they should put a direct exhaust system from the manifold, that the exhaust does not have so many high curves, for greater air outlet flow and engine relief

[@tonymanns8249]

Great video! It would be nice to know what cam and what heads were used. (Perhaps I missed those descriptions in the video). From dyno tests I've noticed that when the torque is much higher than the HP that often indicates a smallish cam and or restrictive head air flow.....I'm guessing this engine had a smallish cam and heads that didn't flow as well as they could.