hello . I have a unique project I am working on and I am going to install a mopar 440 /727 in it. I have always been a mopar fan and have had many over the years. what I have now is my first attempt to build a big block . previously I have had several small blocks.so I would like to achieve a little horse power say around 500 to 550 h.p. and increase my torque as much as I can. I have a 77 440 out of a new Yorker with a thermoquad on top. it was a running car with 64k mi.. so I hope to be able to do the rebuild as affordable as possible but no short cuts . any ideas / tech would be greatly appreciated ...

I have a 060 over 440 that is 9.5 cr with 452 heads 2.14/1.81 valves and the mopar 557 mec. cam that makes 520 hp/445tq. The heads have been worked under the valves and port matched nothing fancy at all.
The most important thing to do with your smog motor is get some compression, I would start with a good set of pistons.