I'm lacking in "In Progress" pictures. I think I have a roll of film some where showing the chassie work (May be for a later update).
The car orgionally came with a 383. Soon after my 16th birthday I attempted to build my first 440, and this is the result.
It's a bone stock 1973 440 bottom end with .030 flat tops and a cast crank. After reading the cam descriptions at the
local "Super Shops" I selected an Erson High Flow III (.474 @306 advertised). The only real internal performace
advangtage that I added was '67 915 heads. This combination with a Torque Flite automatic and a 2.73 rearend
was good for high 14's in the quarter.
My next engine was slightly more radical. I stuffed another 440 with a steel crank and 13.5:1 chunks of Al. I had a set
of closed chambered HP heads reworked by a local Guru, Wane Woody of W2 Racing Heads. Above is the cam that I selected.
I'm not sure if it was a bad choice or other mismatches in my set up, but it never ran as well as I would have expected. In fact
I towed the car home many times with broken valve springs. What a head ache with 200 lbs of seat pressure per spring!!!
Anyway, by this time the car was equiped with 3.91:1 gears, 10in Torque Converter, and a manual valve body in the automatic.
This is me putting the finishing touches on one of many valve spring swaps.
This is the most current picture. Notice the 29x15.5 Mickey Thompsons in the rear. Competition Engineering offers a
nice set of weld in fram connectors that have spring perches built into them. You have to cut your floor board and
perform some other chassie mods, but you can sure fit a nice size tire on a stock axle.
Other Chassie Upgrades:
4.86:1 Richmond Gears
8 point Comp. Engineering Cage
4K converter
Trans Co. -3 shift kit
The engine was fitted with a Purple Shaft .590 flat tappet cam, and a NOS cheater system. In Albuquerque the car felt
real strong on only a 125hp blast from the NOS. Recently, I've moved to Chandler AZ. With the added Oxygen in this
low altitude air I've been rather "Chicken" to lay into the Nitrous. Mopar doesn't recommend it on a stock set of rods.
I plan to freshen up the engine with a stronger rod, and I'm thinking of ditching the automatic for a Richmond 4+1.
Updates coming soon.
