72' imperial 440 to 71' HP spec

looks like enough of the right folks have weighed in :)

I (rather people who know what they are doing did it -- so my technical knowledge is only an inch deep :)) did my '71 440-HP Polara to 1969 specs. it was "tired" so we went in and bumped it up during the rebuild. I didnt use octane boosters afterward .. my local sunoco had 93 and it seems fine (E90 though). I don't drive it hard enough to know whether HIGHER octane would be a preferable alternative.

This winter we are doing my '72 NJ statie Fury III to 1969 specs (orignial 346 heads, original block, a Mopar Performance '69 cam grind, forged flat top pistons) as to compression/timing etc.

in both cases we used the factory Carter AVS carb (i think the '72 is a Holley tho) ... my understanding was a modern, 850 cfm carb would be "better" but i didn't do it since i had the original pieces and rebuilt them.

an aside: My '71 429PI Ford had 11.3:1 compression. I did use octane boosters to get the performance I wanted. it never pinged, but it "felt better" with the higher octane. my mechanic said if wouldn't hurt so i did it.

good luck with your project!
 
looks like enough of the right folks have weighed in :)

I (rather people who know what they are doing did it -- so my technical knowledge is only an inch deep :)) did my '71 440-HP Polara to 1969 specs. it was "tired" so we went in and bumped it up during the rebuild. I didnt use octane boosters afterward .. my local sunoco had 93 and it seems fine (E90 though). I don't drive it hard enough to know whether HIGHER octane would be a preferable alternative.

This winter we are doing my '72 NJ statie Fury III to 1969 specs (orignial 346 heads, original block, a Mopar Performance '69 cam grind, forged flat top pistons) as to compression/timing etc.

in both cases we used the factory Carter AVS carb (i think the '72 is a Holley tho) ... my understanding was a modern, 850 cfm carb would be "better" but i didn't do it since i had the original pieces and rebuilt them.

an aside: My '71 429PI Ford had 11.3:1 compression. I did use octane boosters to get the performance I wanted. it never pinged, but it "felt better" with the higher octane. my mechanic said if wouldn't hurt so i did it.

good luck with your project!


Cool! One other person i know of now with an NJSP Fury. Is yours the blue one I've seen pics of before? My dad ise to have a brown 72' fury III NJDMV scale car. It was "MV109" and it was brown.
 
I'm thinking the factory 346 heads reworked, mopar restoration cam, just have to figure out which pistons. I may reuse the stock rods, the motor doesn't have a terrible amount of miles on it. I have an edelbrock 750 on it currently, may reuse that too.
 
Cool! One other person i know of now with an NJSP Fury. Is yours the blue one I've seen pics of before? My dad ise to have a brown 72' fury III NJDMV scale car. It was "MV109" and it was brown.

actually mine is blue, black interior, hidden headlights, etc.. I havent posted pics anywhere tho. If you recall where you saw it, bounce me back :)
 
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I'm thinking the factory 346 heads reworked, mopar restoration cam, just have to figure out which pistons. I may reuse the stock rods, the motor doesn't have a terrible amount of miles on it. I have an edelbrock 750 on it currently, may reuse that too.

we did a regular old "three-angle" valve seat job on stock 346 heads (no porting, but I think a little smoothing on intake/exhaust ports), used MP resto cam, reconditioned the original steel crank, reconditioned original rods, used forged pistons (dunno brand, will get info if you need it but LOTS of good ones out there), went 20 over on block (i think), "stainless this"/"moly that", etc., and yes it has the Holley factory 750 cfm piece.

same guy that did two similar engine projects for me, so it should come out OK.
 
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actually mine is blue, black interior, hidden headlights, etc.. I havent posted pics anywhere tho. If you recall where you saw it, bounce me back :)
I found pics of this one on a google image search

Screenshot_20160728-225629.png
 
I found pics of this one on a google image search

that might be it .. that looks like a pic from before I owned it. it was low mileage car, rust free, clean as a whistle, with wrecked front end. i replaced stub frame/fenders, bumper, hood, etc, rebuilt original engine.

i searched Google .. but it didnt come up. if you don't mind, and IF you have it, so we don't chew up your thread on my personal crap, PM me a link to the pic? thanks!
 
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that might be it .. that looks like a pic from before I owned it. it was low mileage car, rust free, clean as a whistle, with wrecked front end. i replaced stub frame/fenders, bumper, hood, etc, rebuilt original engine.
If i can find it sure

i searched Google .. but it didnt come up. if you don't mind, and IF you have it, so we don't chew up your thread on my personal crap, PM me a link to the pic? thanks!
 
that might be it .. that looks like a pic from before I owned it. it was low mileage car, rust free, clean as a whistle, with wrecked front end. i replaced stub frame/fenders, bumper, hood, etc, rebuilt original engine.

i searched Google .. but it didnt come up. if you don't mind, and IF you have it, so we don't chew up your thread on my personal crap, PM me a link to the pic? thanks!

Sent pm
 
I have a few more pics, if you'd like them. Interior , fender tag....let me know. I save that stuff to use for reference for mine
 
Just about every single Mopar BB I see racing on the 1/4 mile (11 seconds or faster) has aluminum heads...
 
I was under the impression they were in rvs but not production cars
Learned sumtin new
Nope, 74+ were cast regardless of end application.
Cast has a bad rap, though. They can easily take 500 hp.
The main reason for the steel crank desirability is that they were drilled out for the manual transmission pilot bearing.
You can use a manual with a cast crank but it's a PITA.
 
Nope, 74+ were cast regardless of end application.
Cast has a bad rap, though. They can easily take 500 hp.
The main reason for the steel crank desirability is that they were drilled out for the manual transmission pilot bearing.
You can use a manual with a cast crank but it's a PITA.
Stan is correct, I have two 73 440's, one is steel crank the other is cast crank.

I'm following this closely as I'm getting ready to do the top end of my 440.
 
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