If you will forgive a trip down memory lane, for what its worth, I believe your 544 will be fine on the interstates. I did a lot of cross country driving with a 1958 444 (B16 - 4.56 rear end) in the early to mid 1960's. Had it for five years, moving back and forth across the U.S. while in the USAF. Not a lot of interstates then, but I spent a lot of time at 70mph and it did fine. The B20 with a lower rear end should do much better.

Our next car was a 1961 Alfa Spider Veloce. It had a 1300 cc twin cam engine and I seem to remember it turned about 4,000 rpm at 60mph in top (4th) gear. That one seemed to thrive on revs - great feeling as it "came onto" the cam at about 3800 rpm. (Of course, today's minivans could out run it, but at the time it was a lot of fun.)

I have a B20 in the 444 I just got running. Just breaking it in, but my thinking is that if I can stand the noise the B20 will be OK at 70 for a long time.

Keith W.
444, Milan, IL