Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

Note for the OP, 390 holleys are on all the 413 dodge motorhome engines from the 70's and can be found for free.

If you want torque... I just happen to have, (2) new 4.5" cranks. One is Molnar, 8 bolt and one is 440 Source?/ 6 bolt. I will never need them. Art. Sent you a PM about the cranks. Thanks, Eric

They may be cheaper but still asking prices from what I have seen are about $1500. Lots of money for an intake.

Lets rough out some numbers for that gearing ... The truck plus the trailer probably weigh 20,000 lbs together. If you want to get that up a 5% grade at 60 mph (88 ft/s) that's 20,000 x 88 x 0.05 / 550 = 160 horsepower JUST to lift the weight up at that speed. Aero drag for something with as much f...

You didn't ask this, but I would steer your buddy away from an NOS block. I'd much rather have a seasoned machined block that has already been through the heat cycles.

If they weren't so expensive I'd love to get a set of the long rams to play with on a truck motor I am building.

Whatever the outcome please let us know how it performs . I plan on building up the 440 in my 78 Fireball C-Class and am trying to learn how to accomplish optimal torque / rpms / heat dissapation / mpg etc . ( without going deisel)... Should I stroke it ? What cam ? Alloy Heads ? Compression ratio ...

mgoblue9798: Living in Georgia with what happened to Michigan in the college playoffs......that's rough. I'll root for Georgia just because if they trounce Bama, the Michigan loss won't look so bad..... Cris, UM grad, '78,'80 EE I bleed Maize and Blue, but hold a BBA from UGA. GA is my second favor...

Do a compression check first. At a minimum I always pull the pan, heads, rod and main bearing caps to see what I have got. New gaskets throughout. I would plan on putting in a new timing chain. Maybe a newer modern profile cam if so inclined. This is one of those slippery slope how far do you go typ...

Durability: Three possible items, Water vapor injection at critical peak pressure/temps. Oil cooler ? Use a forged crank ! Many motorhome engines were not. Good Luck, Art. Thank you sir. All those pieces and a good heavy duty trans cooler will be installed.

Thank you for chiming in Mike. Have you had customers run your RV cam with a 413 or 413 heads? About what rpm would max torque be with your cam? I'm not sure about those heads, I would have to check with my customers. From memory, I think peak torque is right above 3,000 rpm. One more question- wit...

Using Mike Jones's RV cam made for the 440 202 @50 and 450 lift. Would this combo benefit from a 30 degree intake seat and slightly larger intake valve? With that cam, and your application, stick with 45 degree seats Thank you for chiming in Mike. Have you had customers run your RV cam with a 413 o...

If memory serves me, the 1.88" int valve was used on the early 1958-on Chrysler 350/361 BB engines. The early 60s saw the size increased to 2.08" in 413 engines. This engine is bigger, so a bigger valve should help power everywhere, even though it is a low rpm engine. The 30* seat is a go...

Second goal is budget They also have sodium filled exhaust valves and hardened seat inserts from the factory. Exh valves, seats and guides are in excellent shape and will be reused. I am open to changing the intake and will have to do so if I use a 30 degree seat on the intake If you're determined,...

Adding low lift flow to a head will act very much like adding low lift duration to the cam. If you think the seat duration on the camshaft is too small flatten the seat angle. If you think the cam has to much duration at the seat steepen the valve angle up. In my experience with tow and motorhome e...