Mopar 440: The Making of a Mean Big Block Mopar

Call it a weakness, an obsession—whatever. But there’s something about the smell of assembly lube that makes us come a runnin’. For example, when our buddy Don Lower decided to build a 440 to swap into his old Barracuda project, he just couldn’t keep us (or our cameras) away.

The goal for the 440 was twofold: 1) Build an engine capable of taking Don into the 10.5-second quarter mile range at the track. 2) Use as many pieces from Mopar Performance as possible.

While browsing the Mopar Performance catalog, we found a cross-bolted, siamesed bore engine block, a 4.15-inch stroke race crankshaft, forged connecting rods, a .557-inch lift mechanical cam, and Stage VI cylinder heads. We followed the recommendations in the catalog’s High Performance Tips section and went with an M1 aluminum intake manifold and a 830 cfm Holley double pumper carburetor. Ignition is MP’s excellent electronic setup.

About the only things that weren’t acquired from Mopar Performance were the Crane roller rockers, ARP fasteners, Fluidampr harmonic damper, and the CSR electric water pump.The 440 will be backed by a 727 Torqueflite with an MP manual valve body and a Dana 60 rear axle with 4.56 gears.

We showed you how Trick Flow Specialties built a GM 440 LSX in an earlier post—now check out the slide show gallery to see how the Mopar guys assemble 440 cubic inches!

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