383 or 440?
 

Just getting into my first Mopar build👍 unfortunately I cannot pour all the money I want into my car, but I have a few things to start with. I have a 1977 440 and a 1970 383. Both the bottom ends in the motors are great so I can stick with stock Pistons and whatnot.
My question is what's going to be the better build for a consistent strip car? I'm putting my setup in a 1973 Plymouth scamp with 4:30 gears
Parts I have:
509 lift 289 duration cam w/lifters and matching springs
Factory 906 heads w/ 1.5 ratio roller rockers
Edelbrock street master intake w/ Holley 750 double pumper
And an msd digital 6 ignition... The rest of the Money I have will be spent on a starter battery...etc so what motor should I put together with that setup? I know the 440 had horrible compression but will it still perform better than the 383?

No substitute for cubic inches !!! Yes the 383 would have more compression . The 509 cam would be a bad choice for either engine... You need 10 1/2 to one compression or more & a 3K stall converter if it is an automatic

Yea like I said right now I'm just trying to build something with what I have so I can go have some fun at the track... I have a duster that I'll spend a lot more time and money on but the scamp is ready to go and I have enough parts to put one big block together... And yea I have a 3000 stall and it's an automatic

My thought... Put the 383 together and run that for now... Then build the car around you knowing your going to upgrade to a stroker 440 for the future.... Then Build the 440 to your liking...

I'm with Lynn on the cam selection, I think I would use a VooDoo cam for the 383 myself...

Just My 2 cents

lets see you talk about drag racing. but gave no target E.T. generally if you target was a 14. sec car all stock chrysler parts would be easy. if i was building a drag car i would shoot for a 14. sec car. to keep cost down. and be easy to meet track safety regs. and keep cost down. and easy drive it to and from the track. IMHO.

I have a book on road tests of old "Jensen Interceptors", which were British Grand-Touring cars with Chrysler big blocks.


From 67 to 71 they had 383's. Then, they shifted to the low compression 440's. The 383's were considerably faster. Even in the European market that did not suffer from lean settings of the carbs, the 383 with 10:1 compression ratio and 330 hp SAE gross (net unknown) did better than the 8.2:1 compression ratio 440 with 280 hp net.


Of course, they had a version of this car with the 440 six pack high compression (390 hp gross, ~350-360 hp net), and this was considerably faster than the 383's.


I am not particularly into drag racing, but with a 4.3:1 rear end, it looks like traction will always be a challenge, so a well built 383 may be better long term than a well built 440.

I think the cam, heads, carb, converter and gear with the 383 is a decent combination. The one thing holding it back is the manifold, but easy to change if a bigger one comes along cheap. Does it fit the B (383) or RB (440)?

Make sure you have proper valve springs and clearance for that cam. I would like to see a little bigger cam and carb for the 440, if that manifold does fit the RB it will choke it.

I have put together some less than optimal combinations with stuff I had hanging around because dollars often make the decision for you. Waiting to save money is time not having fun.

I VOTE 383! Doing what Bob says is not a bad idea too, future 440.

Dan.

Thanks everyone for the feedback 👍 seems to me like the 383 is the way to go... I'll save the 440 throw a lot of money at it and put it in my duster... Haha