68 sport fury- leave stock or modify???

[fury fan]

Yeah, I wish I could find another set of those that weren't expensive.

Supply has dried up of the $80-100 sets and I'd dread spending 10-20 hours polishing them.
Nice sets seem to be $300+ when they appear, and that amount of money makes me think of other priorities.
So life moves on and I ride on steelies...

 

[budgetmoparman]

I like having both. I have the stock 383 Green 68 Sport Fury for cruising and the yellow 520" powered 68 Sport Fury for have some pure acceleration fun and then I have the Flyin' Whale that can do both and handle all at the same time.

Now you have me thinking stroker again. I don’t have a 440 laying around but I have a 400 that I was thinking of making into a 470 stroker.

 

[ImpJay]

It`s yours, so do what you like. I hope that you stay on 15`` wheels.

 

[ike61]

What I would do with it. Factory looking 2.5” dual exhaust, shift kit, disc brakes, stockish 4 barrel intake and carb, factory dual snorkel, 15” magnums or Steelies. Rebuild front end and drive, and enjoy it. Maybe straighten that pass side damage best you can and do little cosmetics as you go. Unless you can do it yourself, you will have more in paint and body than the car is worth.

 

[ike61]

Oh electronic ignition too. Getting the air working would be awesome too

 

[Turboomni]

So life moves on and I ride on steelies...

What is wrong with steelies? My 440 loves points too.

 

[LocuMob]

What is wrong with steelies? My 440 loves points.

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Nice to see the whole car in a picture.

 

[GJS]

What is wrong with steelies? My 440 loves points.

View attachment 228134

Love that look. I had black steelies on my 69 SF and M Body service rallies on my 68 Monaco with the dog dish caps. I think that combo works real good on your car.

 

[twostick]

Now you have me thinking stroker again. I don’t have a 440 laying around but I have a 400 that I was thinking of making into a 470 stroker.

For your application I wouldn't stop at 470. It doesn't cost any more to build a 496 or a 508 than a 470. Cubes make torque and torque is what it takes to get these old boats out of the water. That 508 with a reverse dome piston, mild can barely tell it from stock cam and a set of aluminum heads will make 600 ft/lbs by accident and depending on the combo, do it on 87 regular.

Hide it all under stock valve covers and a factory dual snorkel air cleaner and it will pass for the stone stock 383 that's in there now to just about any casual observer.

Kevin

 

[commando1]

For your application I wouldn't stop at 470. It doesn't cost any more to build a 496 or a 508

You can go 508 on a 400?
How much grinding down below do you have to do.

 

[LocuMob]

You can go 508 on a 400?
How much grinding down below do you have to do.

Probably just a couple small notches at the bottom of the cylinders and a .060 overbore will get you there for machining. I want a 400 just to build a stroker, have a stock looking engine ready to go in when @dagwoodspolara challenges me again.

But first I'm gonna smoke him with my 383.

 

[fury fan]

What is wrong with steelies?

Nothing wrong with steelies, I just meant that I'm using what I have.

 

[fury fan]

Perhaps it's just a theoretical position, but:
The longer the stroke, the shorter the piston gets, which makes for less stability.
Geometrically, the longer the stroke the more sidewall loading you get in your cylinders.
Pushing a sideload thru a short piston with a ringpack that likely has to straddle the piston pin.
And doing a .060 overbore makes that cylinder that much thinner, both as a heatsink and for holding shape/ringseal against that much more power.
Plus the trans needs to be that much stronger, too.

Every increase in stroker size puts you further and further away from being able to use any factory parts for anything.

 

[FURYGT]

Every increase in stroker size puts you further and further away from being able to use any factory parts for anything.

Obviously you have not read anything or looked at photos that I have posted of my 520" that looks like a stone stock 440 right down to a factory steel intake, HP exhaust manifolds, mechanical water pump, MP distributor with a hidden Rev-n-ator module etc... I race the car in a stock appearing drag racing class on G70/15 bias tires. The only obvious non-factory looking parts are the electric fuel pump hidden up by the stock fuel tank and the custom made driveshaft loop. All it takes is someone with the knowhow to correctly match parts, flow the heads and order a custom ground cam to make it all work.

See Turbomni's post on my engine build and the under hood photo he posted on page 2 of this thread.

 

[twostick]

You can go 508 on a 400?
How much grinding down below do you have to do.

You can go 508 on a 400?
How much grinding down below do you have to do.

Actually you can go 512. More if you go .060 over. 4.25 stroke with 2.2 rod journals is supposed to virtually drop into a 400 block. With a stock length 6.535 rod the compression height of the piston keeps the rings out of the wrist pin. To those fussing about rod ratio and side loading, this combo gives you a rod ratio of 1.53 which is the same as a big block Chev which don't seem to have any reliability issues.

Kevin

 

[commando1]

Well.... I wouldn't do it. Sounds like a grenade waiting to happen. Good luck with your engines, gentlemen.


60 thou???? WTF? That takes balls and a 4 leaf clover.

 

[Ripinator]

I like having both. I have the stock 383 Green 68 Sport Fury for cruising and the yellow 520" powered 68 Sport Fury for have some pure acceleration fun and then I have the Flyin' Whale that can do both and handle all at the same time.

You really do suck. . .

 

[LocuMob]

Well.... I wouldn't do it. Sounds like a grenade waiting to happen. Good luck with your engines, gentlemen.


60 thou???? WTF? That takes balls and a 4 leaf clover.

Not as bad as you think. I wouldn't go as far as 512" but a stroker isn't really that delicate.

 

[twostick]

The 400 based 512 is actually easier to do than the 400 based 496. The 4.25 crank uses 2.2" BBC journals where the 4.15 stroke crank is stock Mopar 2.375 journal. You actually have to do a lot of clearancing to fit the 4.15 crank whereas the 4.25 in most cases will drop in with no grinding because the big end of the 2.2 rod is smaller than the 2.375 rod. 16 more cubes with less work. Win win!!

The same holds true in a 440 based stroker. There weren't any 4.25 stroke kits when I did mine but it would have saved me a few hours of labor if there had been.

Kevin

 

[fury fan]

Obviously you have not read anything or looked at photos that I have posted of my 520" that looks like a stone stock 440 right down to a factory steel intake, HP exhaust manifolds, mechanical water pump, MP distributor with a hidden Rev-n-ator module etc... I race the car in a stock appearing drag racing class on G70/15 bias tires. The only obvious non-factory looking parts are the electric fuel pump hidden up by the stock fuel tank and the custom made driveshaft loop. All it takes is someone with the knowhow to correctly match parts, flow the heads and order a custom ground cam to make it all work.

See Turbomni's post on my engine build and the under hood photo he posted on page 2 of this thread.

To be more specific of my one sentence that you presumably disagreed with -
To fully utilize the potential of increasingly-larger stroker shortblocks, you have to get further away from factory parts.

In your case, are you still using factory stamped rocker arms/shafts in your engine?
What was the cost of porting your heads vs stock rebuild? (or what would be the cost if average Joe had to pay retail?)
Have you hogged out the intake or HP manifolds?
What would it cost to replicate your engine at retail prices, if a guy had a rebuildable 440 on his hands?