My first post here. I had an engine builder put a 440 together for me. His only question at the start of the build was what the engines' main use was. I told him it was to be run on the street with a very occasional trip to the track. Two weeks later I got a call from his grandson, stating that his grandad had succumbed to a heart attack, but my engine was ready to pick up. The only paperwork that the grandson could tie to my engine was the cam. all other paperwork was lost in the pile of unfinished paperwork on his desk. It's been pure guesswork on my part to appy the correct exterior parts such as headers, carb, torque converter. I don't know what the compression ratio is, how much it's been bored, or what kind of pistons are in it. The cam is an old Trw-TP238. 300/300adv 230/230@.050 109lsa.
Pull a head off and measure the bore. See what pistons are in it. Go from there on the rest of the parts.
Engine is already installed. Long story, but this build has been 26 years in the making, with the vehicle living in three different states. More or less had to assemble everything to simplify transport. The guy's grandson did remember a conversation with his granddad about what cam to spec out to allow the engine to run on pump gas. Which kinda tells me it's somewhere in the 9:1+ range. Purely a guess. Forgot to mention the cam has 480/480 lift.
The engine hasn't hasn't been run yet, and don't want to risk wiping the cam out on a compression test.
So what kind of help are you looking for ??? Nobody has ESP to tell you. Pretend that you just got the car as a gift. What would you do now ? Listen to some ideas. Better yet, spend some money before you spend a lot more and take it to someone qualified to do at least a partial teardown and inspection. Or sell it and start over. Lots of people buy "rebuilt" engines with no clue what is inside.
Engines gonna be what it's gonna be... Get it running & see if it makes ya happy... Pretty wild looking chassis... Looks like a 46-47 Truck? More pictures & tell us about it...
Wasn't looking for ESP solutions. I'm looking for what the title of this post questions. A 'pure guess' as to the engines' internals that would justify the engine builders decision on a cam. Since he"s probably built hundreds of 440's after being in business for almost 50 years. You know as well as I, the pinging issues when compression ratios go up. Thanks for any insights you may have to offer.
The chassis was designed on CAD by me and a fellow engineer I worked with. It's designed to accept the sheet metal from a 1940 PT-105 Plymouth pickup. The wheelbase was shortened to 108" from 116". The chassis has a 4-link rear, and custom A-arm front. The rear axle is a shortened (6" per side) 8-1/4 sure grip with a girdle. (3.55 ratio). The headers are our design and built by a local manufacturer. The steering is via a 90 deg miter box from a bus to get the steering linkage past the headers. The rear fenders and running boards were shortened by 3", and my son and I also pieced together a 6' bed. The wiring is near completion, and it won't be long before it can be started. I'm getting anxious to hear this thing run.
Nobody on Gods' green earth is going to be able to tell what all is in an engine just based on a cam profile. Pulling a head isn't a big deal and would reveal a LOT. You don't want to even go that far? Ok... Fire the thing up, perform the break-in on it, then at least do a simple compression test to get a ballpark idea of what's going on. There's no shortcuts to this stuff.
Either run it and decide if you like it, or, pull a head and investigate. IMHO, I wouldn't even hesitate to yank the engine out and get it on a stand and pull the pan and one head and the timing chain cover. I'm wondering why you installed a mystery engine in such a fine chassis and then decided you needed to know more...just saying.
What are the block casting numbers and date and some of the numbers on the pad? Same with the heads. Pull a rocker cover and see what the casting numbers and dates are. If you can provide details about what you see on the outside of the engine you can at least see what it was when it was new.
As far as pistons go rent a bore scope, pull a plug and see what you have. Could be flat tops, step, might even be able to guess @ compression height, zeroed, 10 down ect. Otherwise do like others said, break it in and see what you have love it or list it. You can look up that profile for the cam, it will tell you the stall range, gears ect.Throw a 750 on it and whatever headers will fit and go from there.
And, I know I am going out on a limb, but I will bet there are: rods, pistons, crank, rings, etc.. The bore scope was a great idea to see the piston top. As far as compression ratio, it is more involved than just the pistons, but they will give you an idea. The best test will be a compression test to know how much pressure is developed by the cylinder. Oh, and the pressure will increase while the cylinders & rings seat. Break in the cam and just finish the project and drive it.
Proper way is to build the engine for intended use, then cam it properly. Going at it from just the cam only is completely backwards, and, like you said a complete guess, but.... Id put .030 9-1 hypers in it with (im guessing) iron open chamber heads. (Pull a valve cover, give us the casting number). Intake looks to be a two plane, so id use a 750 vacuum secondary of whatever persuasion you like, whatever headers fit the chassis, 1 3/4, or 1 7/8, and assuming street gears and a 727, a converter around 3000 stall. A simple warm street build, and nothing more than a wild-ass guess As others have said, fire it, break in the cam, run a compression test.
