Picked up a low mile 440 today.

[BeepBeepRR]

Found a set of 516's for 399 plus 150 shipping.. I was looking at the E-street heads for 1089 for the pair. Which may just be better than trying to get a needle in a haystack. I do need to call the guy we got the Roadrunner from as he has a ton of mopar parts. He may have a set of either just laying in one of his sheds.

 

[727]

Don't think you can use a head shim head gasket with aluminum heads. So you give up1/2 point of compression going that route vs iron heads.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Ahh ok.. You are great help. Also I found a kit on summit which includes pistons, rings and everything else pretty much for a stock rebuild.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/fem-csmhp815-300 I'm not too concerned about this thing being a drag racing engine just something making decent power for a street engine. The cast crank is ok by me. I'm quite frankly new to the engine building aspect of it. So all of the information I can get is super helpful and appreciated.

 

[biomedtechguy]

Intake, cam and springs, raise the CR however you can.

 

[SimDog]

Ok thanks.. sounds cool. Have a good night and a happy new year..

Ok, so far I've got about $2,000 invested in parts. I know I will spend more for parts going the way I chose but will save quite a bit in machining costs. It's basically a toss up, I looked at it like paying taxes. If you own your own business you have the choice of buying better equipment or giving the Govt the money . Either way it's money going out, might as well have better stuff!

 

[SimDog]

Ahh ok.. You are great help. Also I found a kit on summit which includes pistons, rings and everything else pretty much for a stock rebuild.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/fem-csmhp815-300 I'm not too concerned about this thing being a drag racing engine just something making decent power for a street engine. The cast crank is ok by me. I'm quite frankly new to the engine building aspect of it. So all of the information I can get is super helpful and appreciated.

If you take that kit and combine it with this http://www.jegs.com/i/Edelbrock/350...MI0Knkxby62AIVlrXACh1SfQQREAAYAiAAEgJWPfD_BwE

You are in for $3,000 and have pretty much all the parts you need. You can get the same kit from Summit.

Also, if this engine has under 50k mi on it I bet you won't need to go 30 over. Have the cylinders checked before you buy parts. If you can get away with a hone you are money ahead.

 

[727]

I hear the Edelbrock cams aren't very good performers. Everything else in that kit seem like good parts

 

[PurpleBeeper]

I would probably just buy a whole setup lifters,cam, etc etc I will look into it more soon. I did see they sell a whole top end kit for 2200 bucks which includes pistons. But I really need to open the thing up before I start spending money.

Honestly, the stock rocker arms & pushrods are fine for 90% of the street cams out there. Probably just cam/lifters/springs and you'd be fine. There are a few guys on here that are real cam experts.

The only things I know is that bigger is usually not better on street motors and I "think" you need a cam that doesn't have much "overlap" or your lower compression engine won't like it. Oh yeah, and I if you do go with a cam with over .500" lift it is a VERY good idea to put some clay on your pistons and turn the motor over on the engine stand to make sure you have plenty of piston/valve clearance. Milling blocks & milling heads makes this clearance less and less and so does rocker arms with "trick" ratios....so CHECK before you start the motor or stay under about .510 lift or so (ballpark lift where you need to check for sure)

 

[SimDog]

Honestly, the stock rocker arms & pushrods are fine for 90% of the street cams out there. Probably just cam/lifters/springs and you'd be fine. There are a few guys on here that are real cam experts.

The only things I know is that bigger is usually not better on street motors and I "think" you need a cam that doesn't have much "overlap" or your lower compression engine won't like it. Oh yeah, and I if you do go with a cam with over .500" lift it is a VERY good idea to put some clay on your pistons and turn the motor over on the engine stand to make sure you have plenty of piston/valve clearance. Milling blocks & milling heads makes this clearance less and less and so does rocker arms with "trick" ratios....so CHECK before you start the motor or stay under about .510 lift or so (ballpark lift where you need to check for sure)

I did a lot of research on this and also called Comp Cams. This is the cam they recommended "Comp cams SK21-227-4"

I went with this cam because I am going to run 3.23 rear gears.

The other option was "SK21-228-4" if I had been running a lower gear set like 3.73.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Thanks for the information. I have been putting all this information to a check list. I probably have enough cash to pick up the full comp cams kit with valve springs and timing set.. Its like 450 dollars at summit. Then work on the other parts I have in the list. On the cam none of the kits I saw came with new cam bearings. I assume I need those as well. Since the engine has been sitting around for 40 plus years. The Federal Mogel engine kit HERE comes with cam bearings as well as Pistons. It says the Pistons are .30 over. If this is a standard bore block I would assume those would have to be changed in the kit to well, a standard bore piston.

I thought I might have had a hookup on some heads but that fell through. I will keep on looking for some of the above mentioned heads.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

How much would it run to get the block cleaned and honed? I'm a noob at doing this sort of thing. Just trying to sort out how much cash I have and where it needs to go first. Which I believe will be cleaning up the block and checking it for issues should be priority. Then go to parts.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

Thanks for the information. I have been putting all this information to a check list. I probably have enough cash to pick up the full comp cams kit with valve springs and timing set.. Its like 450 dollars at summit. Then work on the other parts I have in the list. On the cam none of the kits I saw came with new cam bearings. I assume I need those as well. Since the engine has been sitting around for 40 plus years. The Federal Mogel engine kit HERE comes with cam bearings as well as Pistons. It says the Pistons are .30 over. If this is a standard bore block I would assume those would have to be changed in the kit to well, a standard bore piston.

I thought I might have had a hookup on some heads but that fell through. I will keep on looking for some of the above mentioned heads.

I "suggest" you pick out your engine kit BUT don't buy it until the machine work is done on the block/crankshaft. Most pistons come std, .030" over, .040" over and .060" over. Most rod & main crankshaft bearings come std, .010", .020" and .030". I've seen a BUNCH of guys selling pistons because they bought a kit before the machinist finished his work.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

I "suggest" you pick out your engine kit BUT don't buy it until the machine work is done on the block/crankshaft. Most pistons come std, .030" over, .040" over and .060" over. Most rod & main crankshaft bearings come std, .010", .020" and .030". I've seen a BUNCH of guys selling pistons because they bought a kit before the machinist finished his work.

Very good info. Thanks I cant wait to get it in the garage so I can get it down to the block so I can have it checked out. Just found a guy about 3 miles from my house that machines blocks. bjrracing.com he has links to FBBO and FABO so I can assume he visits the sites from time to time..

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Ok I have an update. Just tore the trans loose and just need to get the exhaust off the engine so I can put it on the stand. But did take time to pull the valve covers off to see what heads were on the engine. They are 452's and seem to be in good shape. The rocker arms and shafts look to be good too. They will get checked out soon. The intake is a severly rusted pile of junk. I tried to spin it over but had no luck. I really didn't expect it to spin anyhow. Tomorrow I will put it on the stand and start pulling the top end off. So I can inspect as I go. There was a large mud dobber nest on the passenger side rocker arms. Thats the dirt you see. They came in through the hole in the valve cover.

 

[Zeppelin264]

I built a 446 from a 78 block and am still using the cast crank/stock rods. I just upgraded the pistons, zero decked the block, running 440 stealth heads and a decent cam. Not sure on the Hp rating but it's gone 7.90 in the 1/8th mile and the car weighs 4,000 lbs.

Engine building is alot of fun! I want to build a 512 next time around!

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Thanks for the input. Im not wanting to build a drag car.. So yes this is the perfect way to do this on my own time and on my own dime. Just wanting to learn this aspect of working on cars. Hell I have done everything else. Head Gaskets, cams, lifters but never to this extent. Mostly just do see if I can make this old turd run. I want to get around 400 hp but that depends on the money situation.. I took 2 rotary engines that neither ran. Both had blown apex seals. I've never done it but took it all apart and bought parts to put it back together and it ran on the first try..

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Well I was able to tear down the top end today.. Took forever to get the exhaust bolts out.. Broke one but drilled it out and it is ok. Took the heads off the 1,3,5,7 side both 3 and 5 had standing water in the cylinders looked like clean clear rain water. 2,4,6,8 side looked fair but will probably need some sort of work either bored out or honed. Probably both. Not sure how clean just a honing would get the cylinders. The pistons all looked fair as well. No ridge on the top of the cylinders. More than likely standard bore and never rebuilt. Tomorrow I will roll it over and drop the pan and start taking the bottom end apart. But first I have a ton of crap to clean up.

The pad says 5T 440 E which is 1975 Trenton 440 Cast Crank. I think that is correct.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Here is the inside of the engine.. No ridge at the top of the cylinders but will have to pull the crank tomorrow to see why it wont spin. Im sure number 3 and 5 cylinders are stuck. Will update that tomorrow.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Update. Was bored and couldn't sleep. So I took that time to remove the motor mounts and pull the drain plug on the pan. This poor engine dumped about a gallon of clear water then about a half gallon of slightly greyish oil. I would have to assume the engine sat outside for a long time un covered. Well, this is why I bought it so I can learn about building these engines. No better test than a stuck piston or two.. Hopefully there was enough water in there to raise the oil up to the rotating assembly and kept it nice and oiled. Will see tomorrow.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

There is rumor that some of these RV 440 block contained bigger rods. As I found out today this particular one does not. I have to yank the crank out tomorrow and love tap the pistons to figure out which one or ones are stuck. The bores from the last place of rest down look really good. But from time and being out in the weather I think that has taken a toll on some of the valves and a couple cylinder walls. Will update progress not that it hasn't been done a million times.. But this is my first.