Your still going to need to upgrade your rods and pistons, boost is boost irregardless of the source. Your nuts if your going to try to run upwards of 650 hp on a 300,00 mile motor with new rings and gaskets without replacing the bearings and seals while you have it torn down.


A built up one could, I had a '69 charger rt with a 440 that went thru 3 stock 727's before I got rid of it, and the 440 was no 650 hp.

Depends on the year of your 440, some years put out less torque and horsepower than your present 318 does right now, the 318 is also known as a workhorse motor,why would you want to spend 7 to 10k on a motor and still have a 318? Ask any racer and the old adage still applies- cubes matter, especially with the weight of a full size truck, why do you think the full size Dodge performance trucks come with the v10?

I agree to a point, but a stock 318 or 360 block with a gasket and ring change will not hold up to the amount of boost you will need to achieve 650 hp.You better add a scatter shield over the top of it before you "get on it".

 

OK, for the last time hopefully - If I go with the 650hp Turbo setup, the entire engine will be rebulit: Pistons, rings, cam, valves, heads, gaskets, bearings, everything... The whole point of doing this is to rebulid the truck, not just upgrade it. And as far as going with any other crate engine, well, I really don't want to invest that much. I have a 318 in it that can be upgraded easily and for little investment compared to a purchasing a crate engine. Even a mild 360 Magnum is around $6,000! 488s are going to run around $8-9K, and if I didn't anything I like that I could just take one of my 440s to the shop and have it bored out to a 496 for a lot less than purchasing a new engine...

Oh, and the 440's vary in years. We have two 440s (one from a '76 New Yorker, which unfortunately has the smog heads at the moment, but we have connections with a dealer about an hour south of us who builds race engines and has litterally hundred of the high performance cast iron '60s heads that allow the engine to produce it's 375hp and 395ft/lbs of torque; one from a 7-something RV which doesn't have the smog system and is still rated at near peak performance numbers), three 383s (one of which is in my roadrunner, it is a '70 model engine though and is not original, a '68 model which we plan on buliding up as a perfromance motor, and one from a '69 Ram Pickup, it is the same as the hi-po (335hp) except for a downward facing oil filter), several 318s, (the oldest being in a '71 Coronet) two 3.9L V-6s, and two 3.5Ls...

As far as the V-10, yes I have considered that, but finding one lying around isn't too easy, and I think I would rather do that and rebulid it than just buy one new... Besides, it would be cheaper that way.

As far as tranny's, I would like to stay with an automatic. Some people say that manual is the way to go, but I would take an auto over a manual any day. If you service them like they are supposed to, they are much more efficient and effective than a manual, especially the modern ones they make now... So what is the best to go with? I don't plan on leaving a stock tranny behind an engine like that. I don't want a racing tranny either. This is going to be a high-horse driver, not a racer, so lets get that clear... Think Ram SRT-8, which will actually be a badge I put on the truck. But the "SRT" will be an accronym for something different than what Dodge uses it as (which I believe is "Street/Racing Technology"). Anyway, I really like the idea of a 6-spd with a granny gear (or atleast a lower gear than I curently have) and then with a higher over-drive gear than I have. Which company would be the best to go with. I would like to find one that uses a 727 as the base, that way I would be familiar with it's design and how to service it.

What I said last night about the supercharer has been on my mind a lot today. What do you think? Would an electronically powered Supercharger be a good alternative? If so, I might take that route. So long as I can tow with it. I think the reason they say not to tow with a supercharger is becuase, generally, you spend more time in your lower gears, and I know some of you never even let the truck shift into overdrive, and at higher rpms, you are producing more boost, and it is more stressful on the engine. But, if the supercharger is electronically controlled, it could also be "governed" by a switch or **** placed in the cab, or even complete shut off, since it would no longer be driven directly by the rotation of the engine. If this is possible, it would solve the towing problem, would it not? Also, after reading another post, how effective would it be to use two diesel turbos and make the turbo setup myself? Just an idea there, if I go with a system I have to fabricate, I will probably use the Garrett GT Sport turbo...

Oh, one more thing, not related to the powertrain this time. Will the disk brakes and rotors from a new Ram transfer to the older style, or were any of the 2nd gens available with 4 wheel disk brakes? I have disks up front, but drums in the back. And no ABS at the moment, although I have already looked into that, and it sounds like nothing more than a weekend project after you gather all the peices...

 

Electronicly powered superchargers.........worlds worst idea. You seem to know a lot but im not sure how pratical some of your ideas are....your points on towing with superchargers are valid but they dont "that i am aware of" make a electronic supercharger that could put out any where near the boost levels you would need to run. Second if it did....holy **** of an electric motor to turn the sucker. You seem like you are willing to pour money into a truck that isnt worth anything......sentimental reasons? yes it may be cheaper then to buy a new hemi or used cummins but why are you gonna spend the money on a truck worth about half what your gonna invest?.......if that. Any how, ur money do with it as you will and enjoy ever minute of it!

P.S. IF you know as much as you say why are you asking around here? 999/1000 of us havnt even considered stuff like that....to expensive and impractical.

 

There's usually one or two V10s on ebay The last few sold for less than $800 complete. There's also usually a brand new short-block on there for $1,200ish. I know, because I look at it everytime I browse the V10 listings. [8D] The shortblock would be the best if you were going to build up a motor. Then you could get a set of new heads for it that don't have casting flaws, and you could have a decent intake custom built, or get the one from KRC performance that's already set up for the blower. BTW, the tranny I mentioned in my first post from DTT IS an automatic transmission. And it would be the only one based on the 727. The transmission from the 1/2 ton Rams is based on the 904 if I'm not mistaken.

And personally, I think the 383s would make better boat anchors than motors [8D] My dad was a chrysler mechanic for nearly 20 years, and he always told me that was one of the worst motors they put in cars & trucks back in the day. The worst was the 400ci motor...which is just a 383 with more bore. He told me all this when I was looking at buying a 70s Ramcharger to restore. Maybe they're decent if they're built up, but from what he's told me they weren't much good in stock form. After that, I decided to look for a 2wd Ramcharger to put a 340 in...and a 4wd to put a 440 in, since I couldn't decide between the 2 motors [8D]

As far as the supercharger, I don't know of any company that makes a useful electronic supercharger. Definitely not one that would give you the gains you want to see. Heck, I know a lot of roots-type blowers that wouldn't give you the gains you're looking for. Belt driven is the only way to go in my opinion if you want to make power. Even if you go with turbos, you will still run into the towing issue. It's just too stressful on the engine. You spend too much time under load in the lower gears/higher RPMs when you're towing. Both methods just produce way too much heat in those areas. On the issue of twin turbos, you COULD build a setup (don't use CTD turbos). However, you would have to do a lot of custom fabrication. And the biggest issue would be an extremely custom computer (with fuel tables for the turbo setup), and a TON of time spent tuning it.

Last issue...brakes. Switch to the Dana 60 axle. That's the only way to get stock disc brakes, AFAIK. It would probably be a good idea to switch to DANA 60s (front & rear) if you're going to put that much power through this thing anyway. You'd be able to run a meatier axle shaft with a lot more splines than what the Dana44/9.25 can handle.

 

dude..flat out... get yourself a General Electric F-404 Jet Engine with Afterburner. thatll get you where you wanna be. same engine they use in the F-18's consumes some 52lbs of JP-8 jetfuel a minuit (glorified cleaner desiel fuel in reality.. the government just payes alot more b/c its named JP-8.) and if someone wants to bitch about emisions with that engine. you can just burn them to death when you light the cans...

the reason why you see them little turbo cars sit there for a second when they punch the pedal is b/c turbo is notrious for lag... think about it... if your boots is running of the flow of your exhaust in perfect ratio... till take a few seconds for the pistons to go faster inturn producing more exhaust at a higher flow rate to spin the screw in the turbo to suck/cool/ and stuff your cylinders with more air... called tubro lag.. theres a few things you can do to help with it.. but its a pain... get yourseld a Weind blower and your in business.. or the 404... it would be cool.. jet powerd ram.. with 4X4 and no worries about the tranny not holding up...b.c you wouldnt have one!

 

Yes, I know why turbos lag: lack of air flow. With a fan forcing air through though, a turbo would act more like a supercharger and provide atleast limited amounts of boost all the time.

As far as the electronic supercharger, that would be a scratch-built contraption... I would probably buy a kit, so that way if it didn't work, atleast I would be able to run it normally, but before I did that I would make a custom mount equipped with a high-torque electric motor. (Say a washing machine/dryer motor, or hell, anything really... Using the correct gear or pulley ratio, just about any motor could be made to spin a supercharger. All a supercharger is is a glorified vacuum cleaner or A/C/heater fan. [two more good possibilities for motors there]) Reversing the flow through and alternator would give you the same effect, and may be a good solution, since it is already used to spinning at high rpms with a 10-14v current. Wow, the more I think about this, the more I want to try it... Haha...

As far as axles; yes, Dana 60 is what I was looking at. I was thinking 3.96:1 sure-grips? Sound like a good deal? I think that will work great, especially if I am able to get a 6-spd. I can still cruise easily, and with the lower gear, take-off will be alot quicker, not to mention easier on the tranny... However, I would only need one, I have a 4x2. And as far as brakes. What year models came with 4-wheel discs?

As far as the 383 goes - It is a great engine, I love mine. I agree, it's not the best they made, but it is a monster if you know how to build it. Stock, it is alright, rated 330 or 335hp depending on the application, (which, when you compare it to Chevy's 327 with the double-hump heads (325hp), is really pretty poor) but a few tweaks will get you much, much more in it's stock form. First, tune it to run a little lean and with advanced timing. 383s hate high rpms, so retarding the timing gets you know where. Advance it just slightly, and you will be amazed at the performance increase. Add 440 heads, and there is another 35-40 horses. A 440 cam helps too... Now, when you really want a hot engine, take the route that Mopar Muscle Magazine did in one of their build-ups... Stroke it.

Where most people mess up with the 383 is in the way they build it. It is considered a big-block, and it and even the big 440 are very, very similar, but do not treat it as such. If you build it like a big block, you will be disappointed with it. BUT, if you build it up like a small block, well, you all know what you can do to 360s. Chrylser turns out 500hp 360 crate motors... Okay, that is a 1.38:1 horse:cube ratio. Alright, and another 23 cubic inches. You are looking at atleast another 32 horses, and a lot more torque due to the length of the stroke. Also, don't even think about building a 383 up to be a high-end performer. The 383 is going to get all of it's "oomph" in the lower rpms. They are notorious for throwing rods and pistons though hoods at over 5400rpm...

Now, there is a solution to that too, in fact, this would help ANY motor, and I hate to say it, but we have to look at something the blue oval boys attempted back in 1970. It was called "The Cammer," and had it been released, even the HEMI Superbirds and Daytonas would have eaten dust. Based on the 429, "The Cammer" featured a then revolutionary idea. We now call it DOHC. That's right, two cams, hydraulically powered lifters, and over-sized valves in Ford's "Semi-Hemi" head. This thing was a beast. It was easily capable of sustaining over 10,000 rpm! (Imagine a HEMI capable of attaining almost twice the rpms! We're talking almost (if not over) 1,000 hp from it - STOCK!) It is a wonder they don't use that technology now on the V-8s. V-6s and -4s have used it for sometime now. How do you think it is possible for a 3.5L to make 214hp and a 5.2L to make only 220hp? The redline for the 5.2L is at 5,000 rpm... the 3.5L goes to almost 7,000... The shear amount of power available in V-8s is incredible, but no one utilizes it. Try finding a set of DOHC heads for anything with eight cylinders. If you want a set, you are better off to try machining them yourself. (something I may try with "junk" heads and cams in the future). Now, if you build an engine right, you can sustain those rpms with a single cam set-up; but if you build an engine capable of sustaining 10,000 rpms with a single cam, switching to a DOHC set-up will allow that engine to sustain around 15- if not 20,000rpm! Think about that. With this much power, you could run the engine extremely lean and still have more than enough to "kick the tires and light the fires," and at this point in time, who doesn't want better economy?

As far as mentioning things that no one has even thought of - well, that's just what I do. I am studying engineering and hopefully one day will be getting payed to do this, but for now, it is just a hobby. By the way, if anyone has connections to the Brass at Daimler-Chrysler, send 'em my name will ya? I hope to work for them one day.


Oh, one more thing: Jet engines are very, very inefficient when it comes to stop-and-go driving. Which is why we don't have jet-cars yet. However, I am working on a turbo inspired "jet" engine of sorts that adds to cruising efficiency. I'm already working on the prototype, and hope have it done soon. If I do, well... You guys will be sure to find out about it and whether or not it is successful. In theory, everything works. But we'll see how the feild tests go as soon as the prototype is done...