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Another RV 440 question

Grabbergreendream

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Here goes...
A friends neighbor was cleaning up some property he inherited from his recently deceased parents and over the coarse of gathering up large items to scrap he cut up 3 motorhomes that were used for storage.
One had dodge running gear, and they were able to fire it up and drive it up behind a building to start demo'ing it. I stopped by they had the entire frame with drivetrain torched off from trans tail forward and body removed. I offered to buy the engine if I could hear it run. They fiddled around with some wires and grabbed a battery, some water, a jug of gas & fired it up for me. Only ran anout 40 seconds or so & it did actaully idle with a slight stumble on throttle but ran better than I expected. Fairly clean oil, no leaks or heavy smoke. Couldnt check oil pressure but no knocking or clicking noises. I was actually impressed. I got the engine & trans for $300, they cut it out & loaded it in my truck.
I have another 440 at an engine shop in the process of being built that I will have a lota $ invested in. That motor will be the one going in my 71.
I'm curious to see how this RV engine would perform in a project I have without sinking a buncha high dollar stuff in. I have an intake, carb, headers & mounts. I know I gota change pan/pickup and re-gasket it, but should I bother with a cam? Headwork? I dont want to tear it all down simply because its a running engine. I know its a lo-comp smog motor, just wana have some fun with it. I am willing to start out relatively stock & pull & mod deeper at a later point, but again I want to keep this as affordable as possible just to experiment around some. This would be dropped in a 72 B body with auto & 3:55 gears.
Thaughts?
PS, I know I'm beating a dead horse with this post...
 
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You can pretty much look up the performance in an old Chilton's manual lol. Seriously, just Google the year and model for the performance..... I gotta guess it's under 225 horse the day it was built, and you arent gonna do any better without a bigger camshaft. Don't get me wrong tho, for $300.00, they'd be home in my barn too lol.
 
Compression test it, then throw some bolts-on's and have some fun. :thumbsup:

I have a stock bore/piston 78 motor home engine in one of my rides with a mild cam, pocket-ported motorhome heads, Eddy RPM, 750 vac Holley, and Hooker comp headers. It runs great on cheap gas and it never gets over 180 degrees. It's not a drag racer but plenty of fun for about $1G total investment.
 
The block alone is worth $300 whether you use it as planned or not
I would have bought the block just to build a stroker engine later
 
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