440 crank&rods in a 426 block ?

[hemitom]

Has anybody had any success with this mod. What are the pros & cons of doing this mod. for street & drag use? I built one of these engines last year, and it runs real good, no problems. (slight jetting problem). Any comments?

[Steve1118]

We put together this combo for a street rod a couple of years back, and the owner has put over 30K miles with no trouble. It runs as smooth as a New Yorker.

We used a 440 block, the Stage IV Hemi heads made to bolt on that block, 440 rods and crank, and +60 TRW Hemi pistons. The 440 rod is .10 shorter, and with the TRW 12.5 pistons we wound up with about 10.2 to one or so compression.

I don't know that I would use this setup in a race motor, as the 440 rods are a bit light and it would scare me to use them at a motor that sees a lot of 6000+ engine speed.

However, for the street, I think it would be a very good combo.

[hemitom]

Hi Steve:
This engine is a 69 426 block, with a 440 crank, rods and pistions made to accomadte the difference in stroke. The piston and rings with pins match the weight of the 440 assembly. The whole unit was then balanced {spun balanced}. The rest of the motor is all Hemi. Do you think this set-up can be ran hard and live?.

[big daddy don]

i got ahold of stage five engineering an joann there sent me a article from mopar action mag. from october 1997. it goes into length about how they used a 440 block with hemi pistons and made it streetable and that it was virtually bullet proof. it gives part numbers on what they use in the build up and is pretty facinating. they talk about how a 440 is capable of living up to 900 horsepower and that with the engine they built they said it would be able to handle the load. they came up with 520 cubic inches and 650 hp with 600 ft/lbs of torque. they were running this on pump gas too. i would e-mail this article in but it is 12 pages and takes forever to load. contact stage v and i'm sure joann will send it to you.
big daddy don

[Hemidenny]

Hello, I am new to the site, but reading posts on using 440 bottom end in
Hemi block, I would use hemi rods with sps or high strength rod bolts or custom H-beam rods, and have the crank balanced for the heavier recip weight. Way to easy to rev hemi past the limit of wedge rods. Way too much investment in engine to trust weak rods and little 3/8 rod bolts in an engine that likes 7000 rpm.
Denny