Anybody have any thoughts for pulling a late 70s RV 440 out of long term storage, reviving it and squeezing a bit more power out of it? Possibly for challenge money?
Anybody have any thoughts for pulling a late 70s RV 440 out of long term storage, reviving it and squeezing a bit more power out of it? Possibly for challenge money?
i like how you ask if its a good idea, like anyone here will say no 
having said that of course im all for it. Im not sure your plan of how to make more power out of it but usually mopar perfromance stuff can be a little more pricey then the chevy/ford mill
If it's good enough for the General Meyhem, it's good enough for you.
What are you going to do with the rest of the motorhome. I have had to work on a few where a plasma torch and a sawsall are the only way you are getting it out.
wearymicrobe wrote: What are you going to do with the rest of the motorhome. I have had to work on a few where a plasma torch and a sawsall are the only way you are getting it out.
Not to mention, a lot of scrapyards will not accept motorhomes unless you strip the body off and send it to the landfill yourself. Ask Freiburger and Finnegan, they found out the hard way.
The RV left long ago. The body did have to be stripped before the frame was scrapped. I wasn't there for it I was told they flat towed it away with a guy steering the bare frame sitting on bucket.
EDIT: also, this is possibly going to find itself in that white Dodge I bought and promptly did nothing with other than decide I liked the idea of turning it into a XXL Ghettocet if I could come up with a drivetrain.
Slightly less glamorous than a '68 Charger I'll admit.
Other thoughts were to look for a TBI 454, but the 440 is already here. There's also an Olds 350 if that seems more reasonable.
A 440 from a motorhome is going to be anything but a power monster. It may make good low end torque, because that's they way it was intended, but to really get something out of it is going to take some moolah.
I seem to recall this particular example being rated at like 200hp when new. And I've heard the heads are no where near enough flow for this many cubes in stock form.
It mostly needs a cam and some compression to wake it up, assuming it already has a four barrel carb setup. The only difference between these heads and ones from the muscle car era are the hardened valve seats.
My brother owned a smog era new Yorker with about the last 440 that Chrysler ever put into a sedan.
Dog slow, but its a good foundation to put the right heads and camshaft onto.
Doesn't a 440 crank in a 400 block make some big thing? I'm really out of date of B/RB Chrysler engines.
As stated the compression will be low but usable. Think unnaturally aspirated. If it has the RV/industrial heads on it swapping to other smog era heads will be fine and allow the use of used passenger car intakes and exhaust. If it already has the passenger car heads just run them.
Cam wise I'd stick with something in the 268-270 degree advertised duration at most. Try to get something in the upper .470 or so range. Again plenty of used stuff out there. The old standby 292/.509" would be a dog with the low compression so don't do it unless you plan to bring the compression way up. Then it's a blast.
Streetwiseguy wrote: My brother owned a smog era new Yorker with about the last 440 that Chrysler ever put into a sedan. Dog slow, but its a good foundation to put the right heads and camshaft onto. Doesn't a 440 crank in a 400 block make some big thing? I'm really out of date of B/RB Chrysler engines.
a 440 crank in a stock bore 400 gives a 444 inch motor that looks like a 383. At .030" over, I think that gets you to the 451" torque monster that looks like a 383. But you need to line bore the 400 block to the 440 crank mains or cut the crank down. Aftermarket cranks have moved away from 451's to 472/496/505/512 combos.
I did some google try to figure out what indicates an "RV/Industrial" head. and it looks like I don't have any such weirdness on this engine other than the big water pump. Emissions label on the right valve cover seems to indicate this being a 1978 engine.
Some good BB Mopar info here.
OK, I hadn't realized there were industrial heads - it seems they were mostly a 413 thing.
Regular heads are easy to spot, all 6 exhaust manifold bolts are all in a straight line and the water pump housing doesn't connect to them.
Industrial heads have 7 exhaust bolts in a staggered pattern and hook up to the water pump housing.
All the intakes are the same based on block, and car vs truck has lower rad hose on opposite sides.
Yep, definitely car heads. Haven't looked for casting numbers on anything yet.
Don't the last years of the 440 have cast instead of forged cranks? That always seemed to be a reason people turned their noses up at later 440s, back when they were plentiful.
That's something I remember reading in an HRM article. That same article claimed the cast crank was still ok for a mild build, and this is definitely going to be a very mild build.
Don't worry about Mopar cast cranks, they're just as tough as their forged equivalents. The whole cast vs forged thing is born from urban legends about Chevrolet cranks.
I have two words for you and your low compression 440
Forced Induction
mtownneon wrote: Don't worry about Mopar cast cranks, they're just as tough as their forged equivalents. The whole cast vs forged thing is born from urban legends about Chevrolet cranks.
Yeah, Car Craft once made 660+hp on a 440 with an offset ground stock crank, which in theory makes the crankshaft weaker. Mopar bottom ends are pretty stout.
The issue with the block had to do with the amount of overbore it could take. The earlier blocks could accept a rather large overbore while on the later ones it was suggested you don't go much over .030
Also make sure it is actually a 440 and not a 413. It should be though if it has regular heads.
Intersting thread here. I saw 2 like that for sale llocally for 1000$ and 1500$ I thought of using its equipment in a custom camper to park in the wood and using the drivetrain in something interesting with turbos and head if they can be found cheap..
Low compression always means turbos to me...
All for challenge money
Trying to decide what I'd put this in, since the white truck definitely isn't cool enough unless I cut most of it off.
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