First, to clarify as I did to a member who contacted me off list, what I'm
saying is that a 440 is a better project for a novice restorer on a budget
than a 413, especially if it's a performance upgrade.
There is no doubt that the cross ram 413 was the hottest CC offering of its
day. Stock intake manifolds for the 413 long ram in the twin 4BBL setup
are like the holy grail #2 of swap meet shoppers and junk yard prowlers (#1
being stock hemi exhaust manifolds).
No 440 rivaled that performance until the TNT/Magnum engine was introduced,
and even those parts are scarce. As-new TNT engine heads with a '915
casting cost an obscene amount of money at retail when you can find them,
with machining and porting being extra. As Paul accurately pointed out,
the biggest factor is cash. The next biggest is availability of what you
can afford, and the 440 really stands out in that respect.
While it is true that a large percentage of parts interchange among
Chrysler big blocks, comprehensive information is not always easy to come
by. You have to know more about your 413 engine than the guy/girl at the
parts counter so you can approve ordering a part that their book says goes
to a 440. But then how "correct" is your 413 if it has 440 parts on it?
They are "like" but not necessarily correct for any year before 1966.
Shall we say the engine in a '63 is correct if the block has a 1962 or 1963
date stamp and leave all the rest to interchangeability?
God bless our A, B and E-body Mopar loving extended family for creating a
market for 440 parts. With our limited production numbers, we need their
continued enthusiasm. And if you have a TNT engine with '915 heads sitting
around gathering dust that you want to sell to help put the kids or
grandkids through college, please let me know how much you want for it. I
promise I won't put it in a Barracuda.
Thanks,
David
'91 K-Imperial driver
'66 Crown Coupe project
>Based on road tests of comparable cars and some old Chrysler dyno data I
had
>seen, the ram induction 413 as installed in the 300F and G, which
represents
>the "hottest" stock hot 413 offering by Chrysler had about the same power
as an
>HP 440 from 68-70.
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