More 408 questions

[darren509]

There seems to be alot of controversy about building a 408. I have read threads where guys in this chat are running 10 to 11 sec 1/4's . What parts are you guys using ? I dont want honda cranks and rods either but I have almost enough $ for the kit and I cant seem to find any other deals as good. Fess up fellas what cha running ??

[LA360Dart]

lets get real most of them are lying I work for a top ten mopar performance dealer in california for the last 12 years and I have to say since mopar introduced 4inch cranks I've sold 3. chrysler has an average weekly demand of 3.69 pieces a week. take that times 52 equals about a 156 cranks a year. there must be 5000 people on this site that have stoker motors. your quess is as good as mine. maybe they should get of deskto p dyno and buy some parts and get to wrenching instead of bench racing. oh by the way there are
4012 dealers nationwide. no ones buying. that demand also includes the summitt, jegs, paw, and and everyones favorite hughes.

[darren509]

Thanks Dart. Do you have any idea why they are not selling ? My guess is that were affraid to buy a crank thats made by Scat or Eagle due to the China syndrome. I spoke to my local builder and he said hes been putting them in the dirt track cars and theyre holding up to more power than Ill be running. I think Im going to test the waters and put one in. That torque is just too convincing and Ive seen the ricers put more RPM on theyre rides. Whats your take on it all ; durability price etc. ?

[brian phillips]

I definetly ain't no liar, just call Hensley performance. My real 408 with my cast crank, studded mains 360 block, edelbrock headed, 525 lift hydraulic cammed motor ran 11.80's On drag radials and 3.91 gears weighing in about 3250 w/o me. 11.70's would have been no problem, but I wanted it street legal.

But now I have done some major changes. Still same block but I added o-rings and .072 copper head gaskets and opened up the chambers about 5cc. Left the bottom end alone but did put in puny less than .500 lift hughes hydraulic cam and also a pair of turbonetics t-4 h-trim turbos. Now running 130mph trap speeds with 10.90 et's on American Racer DOT 285/60-15 tires. 3.23 gears to boot and now weighing over 3400lbs.

Been on the road and running about 3-4 months with atleast 30 1/4 mile blasts, with countless street blasts....

Now let's talk reliability and just call up Hensley performance for a quote on you a "real" smallblock.

[darren509]

Hey Brian can you bive me more specs on your motor; bore , what rods and carb size etc. and what car. Oh yes before the turbos please ! Great run by the way. . . . .

[brian phillips]

I didn't even know they ran Mopars in Cali....

Most folks on here don't seem to have a reason to lie and you come out and make some insane jesture about the validity of peoples claims....

Come to the East coast ( real mopar country ) and get waxed by some 408's.

[brian phillips]

Darren, my last post was slated for the "judge" who just chimed in.

For you who honestly wants to go fast and save a little loot also...

73 model 360 block 4.030 bore
...clearanced for rods
...arp main studs, no windage
...factory caps

mopar 4" cast crank
...out the box

Eagle- h beam rods

Ross standard stroker pistons ( dished )

comp cams 305 duration...525 lift with 1.5 crane aluminum roller rockers

Edelbrock heads...2.02 intake 1.60 exhaust ported by Indy ( bowl area opened up pretty good but ports still not hogged out. Matched to fel-pros)

RPM intake port matched

850 mighty demon

mopar race distributor with 34 deg timing

tti headders

full 3" duals with Dynomax ultrflows

3000 stall pcw converter

727 with turboaction shift kit (not manual valvebody)

3.91 gears, posi, 275/50-15 nittos, or bfg's drag radials...steel cragars...3250 lbs full street trim...

msd 6 al

best et of 11.84 at 115 mph at Fayettevile nc in about 70 deg. weather with 1.74 60 ft. Easing out of hole to keep traction... no 90/10 shocks, ss springs, snubber or any kind of traction helpers.
7.50's in the 1/8th at 92 mph.

If you have any specific questions just ask.

[brian phillips]

oh yea, my car is a 72 cuda.

I feel the most economic thing to do is buy a balanced assembly ( crank, rods and pistons, then make sure you have a machine shop with a lot of experience with mopars ( seen some mutilated shortblocks done by good machinists but just was not experienced on mopars). have the block fully prepped and get good bearings...need to be chamfered due to the crank.

happy power building.

[brian phillips]

one more thing, I just noticed you run a 318 with the eddy heads, hell you are half way there. You will be amazed by the torque of the 408, especially in your large car.. keep us posted..

[darren509]

Thanks for the info, I have some of the same parts as you and hope to go just as fast. Do you have any pictures of the champhering you did or did the shop do it. I want to save the $ and do it meself...

[brian phillips]

The clevite race bearings come chamfered on the edges to work with radiused cranks ( the mopar comes with). good luck

[darren509]

What about the bottom of the block ? The rods hit the bottom of the bores.

[brian phillips]

Yes, I stated in my specs that you have to clearance the block. The rod bolts would hit the block. A diegrinder can take care of this problem pretty quick. You also need a different oil pan with the 360. You could try to find a 340 block and use the same pan you have now and have a 4.060 bore and I believe 416ci... The main bearing journals are smaller on the 340 crank and block though. Requires the small journal crank. Block though is harder to find and more expensive.

[darren509]

Why do you need a diffrent oil pan, do the rod bolts also hit the pan ? What pan did you run ? What about the Milodon 7 QT 9" deep pan ?

[brian phillips]

the 360 uses a different sized main bearing cap and seal so the 360 oil pans are a one off. The milidon, which I run but in the 360 style, would work fine. What bore is the 318 and I believe can also be used with the 340 stroker crank but would check to make sure.

[darren509]

Well the bore on the 318 is .030" over stock, (forgot the stock bore), but I allready have a 74 360 complete block that is going to be the 408. Can I use the stock 360 pan ?

[brian phillips]

no reason not to.

[one bad dakota]

Well I just got done with my 408. I'm putting it in on Tuesday. I'm running heavily ported magnum heads,10.5 to 1 comp,Ross pistons ,Eagle rods,224/234@50,533 lift on a 110. I'm using the stock EFI on my dakota.
My old 360 ran 12.40s @108 in good air. I'm hoping to dip into the 11s with more cubes and cam. I should be close. I'll let you know how it turns out
Tom.