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440 from motor home

Orange71SE

Orange71SE

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Hi guys, i had a quick question. I have a guy who is selling his 79 motorhome and hes asking $200. Is it worth the trouble for the 440 thats in it? I know that its a smog era 440 and i would have to change some stuff out to make it work in a passenger car. It also doesn't run.
 
Depends on the class of the truck. I usually avoid the big ones only because it will cost you to get rid of the motorhome carcass, and the transmission isn't really good except for parts because of the parking brake. If it's already out and you only get the engine and trans, good deal IMO.
 
I work with a guy who wants to give me a 78 dodge motor home for free. 440 runs good, I could drive it home. But what to do with the carcass. I'm still thinking about it.
 
I would contact a scrap yard they will usually take it but won't give you much for it due to the labor to pull it apart.
 
What is on these for smog equipment? And what would be needed to install one in my 67 charger?
I am faced with the same situation. There are two available low mileage (under 50k) running 440's for 700.00 & 800.00.
Could you simply swap to a stock intake & carb with hp manifolds and run it as is?
I'm not trying to set any speed records, just want a running 440
 
Last edited:
Mike in Boston said:
What is on these for smog equipment? And what would be needed to install one in my 67 charger?
I am faced with the same situation. There are two available low mileage (under 50k) running 440's for 700.00 & 800.00.
Could you simply swap to a stock intake & carb with hp manifolds and run it as is?
I'm not trying to set any speed records, just want a running 440
Click to expand...
From the little that i know you would need to swap out the oil pan and pick up tube to one from a passenger car. Also the water pump housing is different on motorhomes. The motor mounts as well are different. But besides that you should be able to slap on any aftermarket intake and some headers to wake it up a bit. But to really put some power down you need to swap out pistons and heads because these have a really low compression. I think its something like 7.5:1 or 8.5:1.
 
First thing I would do is find out how much it will cost for me to get rid of the motorhome with no engine. $200 engine in a motorhome that doesn't run doesn't sound like a good deal.
 
Find out why it's not running. May be something unrelated to the engine like electrical or carb. Try to get it to run before buying, and only take the 440. I would pay more for an engine that wasn't in a pile of scrap that I may have to spend money on to dispose of. Then again the motorhomes usually have very low miles.
 
I have pulled alot of these engines out of motor homes. I pulled a 73 and put it in my Ramcharger without changing any major components. Somewhere around 75-76 they started changing the cooling systems on these. A 79 just about has to have the updated cooling system which the heads are changed as well. They have a 5/8" spark plug. If you find that plug you'll need to change the whole top end.

Hope this helps.
 
SCPerf said:
I have pulled alot of these engines out of motor homes. I pulled a 73 and put it in my Ramcharger without changing any major components. Somewhere around 75-76 they started changing the cooling systems on these. A 79 just about has to have the updated cooling system which the heads are changed as well. They have a 5/8" spark plug. If you find that plug you'll need to change the whole top end.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Nonsense, the heads with the tapered plugs work just fine and need not be changed. The cooling system change consists of holes in the block and heads along side the spark plug holes. The FelPro 8519PT1 head gaskets have those cooling holes and you can swap heads at will without using the cooling holes if you want to. You may have to change the water pump to get the outlet on the side that you want, but any passenger car water pump will bolt up.

A problem arises if you try to use a industrial 413 motorhome engine from around 1971 (maybe 1972) and earlier because they do have different heads, water pumps that bolt to the heads and different exhaust manifolds for the industrial heads..
 
Mike in Boston said:
What is on these for smog equipment? And what would be needed to install one in my 67 charger?
I am faced with the same situation. There are two available low mileage (under 50k) running 440's for 700.00 & 800.00.
Could you simply swap to a stock intake & carb with hp manifolds and run it as is?
I'm not trying to set any speed records, just want a running 440
Click to expand...

If you're in the northeast there are plenty of 440s from passenger cars that are around. There's a running 440 C body in my local CL for $2K. So you get every nut and bolt and component you need to bolt it in. It's a lot of work to pull a MH engine if you don't have to. If it's the only option that's one thing. If there are others try them first...
 
Some of the older (if not all of the older MH's) used the industrial high mount water pump housings that also bolted to the heads and same goes for the parking brake. Don't know what year they quit using the parking brake drum on them but I never saw a newer MH with one. The trans usually always had the short truck tail shaft with a bolt on u-joint flange but they usually had the 4 planetary gear sets instead of the 3. You can swap out the tail shaft and housing. Most of these things are low mileage as very few people drove them more than 1000 miles and then parked for a week then drove home and didn't use them again until the following summer....
 
From what I have experienced the state of equipment would depend upon what the motor home manufacturer ordered and installed. It could be a 79 motorhome. The driveline could be anything before that met smog requirements.
My 77 class C Dodge Camper Special is built on a 76 W30 chassis. If the exhaust manifolds where changed would look no different than anyother erra 440.
The only emissions is a pvc valve.
 
Just buy a 383. You can get one running for 500 bucks and don't have to worry about ripping a motor home apart like freiburger and Finnegan. It looks like a lot less work watching it on YouTube. Run it then make it a stroker when its rebuild time.
 
What's aluminum scrap going for right now? There's a lot of it on and in that motor home if you're wanting to do some work plus the steel that's in it. Does it have a roof top AC unit? Those ain't cheap especially if it's runs. Refer? Those are really expensive....but.....everything is pretty old by now.
 
SlinktRR said:
Just buy a 383. You can get one running for 500 bucks and don't have to worry about ripping a motor home apart like freiburger and Finnegan. It looks like a lot less work watching it on YouTube. Run it then make it a stroker when its rebuild time.
Click to expand...
Last 383 rebuild was 2 grand and that was 17 years ago. So 500 dollars right!
 
I bought a 69hp 383 for 500 bucks this year carb to oil pan, runs. The 71 hp 383 in my roadrunner now I bought for 700 dollars freshly rebuilt, guy had rebuilt it for a cuda then opted for a crate engine and could not sell it for a year. Actually I sold the 68-69 manifolds and alum intake off the 69 for near 500 dollars total on ebay so it was basically free. I see 383s on craigslist all the time for no money. No one wants them but they will push a b body around just fine.
 
My road runner is running a 77 motorhome 440 in it. Although I didn't do the swap, the p.o. did, the main things I had to do were to replace the valve covers with car style ones. The motor home engines usually have the van style valve covers which don't have an oil fill cap but rather used the long tube which ran to the front of the engine compartment. Also, mine had a long metal tube which wrapped around the carb for the power brake booster. I just cut it off and pointed it at the brake booster and resolved that problem. Mine does have the different style water pump, but it works well with my radiator.
$(KGrHqRHJBYE9BSM9N,GBPQ)Ud5uEw~~60_3.jpg


This is the result although I have cleaned up a few things since.
 
jimt1971rr said:
My road runner is running a 77 motorhome 440 in it. Although I didn't do the swap, the p.o. did, the main things I had to do were to replace the valve covers with car style ones. The motor home engines usually have the van style valve covers which don't have an oil fill cap but rather used the long tube which ran to the front of the engine compartment. Also, mine had a long metal tube which wrapped around the carb for the power brake booster. I just cut it off and pointed it at the brake booster and resolved that problem. Mine does have the different style water pump, but it works well with my radiator.View attachment 381919

This is the result although I have cleaned up a few things since.
Click to expand...
Is it internally stock motorhome pistons and heads or has it had work done to it? I was just wondering how it felt on power thats all.
 
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