My Father and I are restoring our 1968 Dodge Coronet 440. Currently has a stroked 383 to 408 cubic inches. We will be putting a stroked 440 (505 cu) in the next year or so. We are going for pro street performance and look. The car will not be a drag racer. I have a 1968 Dodge Dart for that. (next project)

My question is what is the best stroker kit that you can by on a budget. I have read that 440 source kits are mediocre. It appears that you have to get some machine work done when you receive the kit. I know SCAT and Eagle make kits to. I am just not familar with this area. Has anyone had any experience with this?

Please list the do's and don'ts when assembly time comes. Or any other pointers related to restoration of my Coronet. Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

The 383 block is stronger and leaves a little room to work on it and there are striker kits for them that will make 500" 440 blocks get weak if you raise the power mid 700 hp to in the 800's.Best advice is to call Hughes engines.com Get their phone number from their web site.
They have everything you will need including machining and assemble,dyno , parts , nolage,
, whatever it may be. Best place to deal with and as noligable as any. Whether you buy from them or just get free advice you will find them very pleasant and will have all the answers you are looking for !

 

Used 440 source 512 stroker kit and am quite satisfied with the results, yes a small amount of block clearance work was needed however it is really minimal, my machine shop did it at no charge but we had a lot of block work done, bored, decked, align bore etc. Also used 440 source stealth heads these required a lot of stock removal for pushrod clearance but otherwise have performed quite well. Have not had it on a dyno yet but the horsepower increase is pretty dramatic over the stock 440.

 

Any stroker kit will need some block massaging

 

I used the 440source 512 kit on a 400 block. Hardly any extra block work. Very mnmal and could be done right there on the stand. The guy that built it with me (the guy who really knows what the heck he's doing) was very pleased with the build. He was happy using new parts throughout rather than trying to make old parts work as we usually do. We were very pleased with all the parts I received from 440source, and I got a lot of them. The kit was great! No issues. I will say the only issue I had with a part from 440 was the billet dipstick I bought, the tube itself was too short! I had to clean and use the old one. But came out great.

I wouldn't hesitate to use 440 again and will be when I rebuild the old 383 that I took out.

Good luck!

 

I suppose kits are easy but I would want light weight pistols in the 600 gram range, good rings and bearings. You usely don't get this from the one price dealers.

 

Keep us posted on how it runs....

 

Hey Bob , 52 degrees on the 6th of March yahoo! in Iowa.

 

I used a 440 Source 541 kit easy install. I had to grind a little off of the oil pump pickup boss on the block that's all. Been racing it Two years. No problems. Easy to deal with good price