cam for my 440 rebuild

[70RTSE383]

I am building a 71' 440 with stock rods, 906 heads (because they are rebuilt and came with the car),KB pistons for about 9.5-9.8:1. Eddy RPM intake Headers, Edy 750 carb. I run power brakes 3:23 gears and will change converter to the 727 if necessary.
What cam will work while giving me good vacuum for brakes, not to rough an idle but wake this engine/car up. I want it to set me back in the seat when I step on it.

Thanks,
John

[Chryco Psycho]

Probably the Lunati VooDoo 702 cam will work well for you , you do not want to lower the duration too mach as it may build too much cylinder pressure & detonate usingthe open chamber 906 heads ,

[1 Wild R/T]

Like Neal mentioned you need to keep a little duration if your running those 906 heads.... You have virtually zero chance of quench do I'd plan to run the composite head gasket & don't deck the block more than clean up pass...  If your 906's are 90cc's (typical) & you run a .041 composition head gasket & your pistons are .020 in the hole you'll have 9.3ish C/R...  Iron heads & no quench hurt you.. What elevation & how's your fuel?   Higher helps...

[70RTSE383]

Thanks again guys. It seems to be the 906 heads are problematic with respect with being open chambered. Even though I have been resisting it I may go with aftermarket heads, probably from 440 Source. Those are advertised as 80cc. If I do that then I can run a little higher compression. Now I am back to pistons. I've heard several times that with stock rods with arp bolts cast or hyper Ute tic are best as they weigh less therefore stressing the rods less. The shop doing my machine work and short block Assy. likes to use a certain brand of forged pistons that he orders according to head vol and deck height in order to get correct cr and quench. Does this sound like a good arrangement?

[Chryco Psycho]

IF it was my build I would use Forged only for the few extra $$
you need to make all of the decisions before you order parts , if you are going closed chambr that changes everything , pistons cam etc , , 440 Source heads are good for the $$

[RUNCHARGER]

In the really old days they manufactured both the cast and forged pistons to be the same as stock weight. These days you can get lightweight forged pistons and that is the only way to fly IMO.

[70Barracuda]

Sidewinder heads at Marsh performance.  Get a stroker kit from 440source

[1 Wild R/T]

Budget builds are for pussies....   It's a snowball, Ya gotta decide where to say enough....  906's definitely limit you... I agree with Sheldon lighter pistons are better, & I agree with Neil, get forged... Strokers are nice but with 440+ CI you can make plenty of power... Small Blocks I always point to a stroker, Big Blocks I can justify either direction...

If your serious about power yeah stroke it, but if you just want to cruise & smoke a few tires a stout 440 is more than capable..

[Chryco Psycho]

Generally the cost or reconditioning all of the old parts is very similar to the cost of the stroker kit with all new parts so why not stroke it & take 7 lbs out of the rotating mass 

[RUNCHARGER]

Ha, ha yes we are all aware of the snowball effect. A stock stroke 440 can kick a lot of butt. If you have to grind the stock crank, resize the stock rods, buy new pistons then a stroker kit makes sense though. It depends on what you start with.
For my son's 440 I found an original 1968 440, we re-rung and bearinged it, stuck in a cam, I ported some heads and it kicked alot of butt. For my Road Runner 440 I used stock stroke, put in lightweight Ross pistons , ported some 915 heads and it was really strong as well.
Honestly on the street I prefer a stock stroke 440 just because it will do everything you need (and easily run in the 11's) and get better gas mileage than a stroker. A lot of guys build strokers for the bragging rights and rarely use the performance.

[Chryco Psycho]

with a carefully tailored pkg I have made 17.8 MPG from a 512ci at 75 mph on the highway