BB newb questions

[64drtGt]

Not A body related but I wanted to come and ask here because I have always had good info from yall. Starting a new phase of my project truck got tired of the magnum 318 with a few mods and talked my dad out of his 440. I know the engine came out of a 1973 Winnebago. I will include a couple pictures of the casting numbers I have found. Looking up the rv/industrial 440's I have found so much different information as to steel crank vs cast crank, standard rods, or the same rods as the 440-6paks, the ones with the extra cooling passages vs normal and if normal heads will work on the extra passages engines. I was hoping that one of yall had some actual experience as to what i may be starting with. Most of what i have read says the 1973's across the board were 8.2:1 c/r so I know that is something I will have to work on if I want to make it into a decent running engine.

 

[Dubob]

The engine I used for my Demon came from an RV, it has the extra cooling passages and was a 73. It had a forged crank with 6 pack rods. However I went with eagle rods and a NOS forged crank with edelbrock heads. The extra cooling holes in the block to head deck are closed off by the head gasket and cylinder head. Unless your engine had the funky setup with the water pump housing that tied into the cylinder heads pretty much everything will work if you want. I went with aluminum water pump housing and intake to cut weight. There aren't any hard set rules as far as internals go and you won't really know on crank and rods til you get it apart. Mine did not have a six pack damper but was the thin forged crank set up. The one thing on some RV engines is they use a 5/8 tapered seat spark plug. Just about all 440's from that time frame were lower compression and can actually drop into the upper 7's once the deck height, head volume etc are actually figured. Don't know if I've answered some of your questions but one thing is those engines did t usually rack up a lot of miles. Mine was bored .030. Any other production type head will bolt on, if you go with the RV heads make sure the gaskets have the holes for the extra cooling around the spark plugs. If your building it for a truck and are after grunt, you may not have to do a whole bunch as far as compression. Put a low end cam in it and run that dude on regular unleaded and enjoy. You didn't state what your goals are.

 

[64drtGt]

The engine I used for my Demon came from an RV, it has the extra cooling passages and was a 73. It had a forged crank with 6 pack rods. However I went with eagle rods and a NOS forged crank with edelbrock heads. The extra cooling holes in the block to head deck are closed off by the head gasket and cylinder head. Unless your engine had the funky setup with the water pump housing that tied into the cylinder heads pretty much everything will work if you want. I went with aluminum water pump housing and intake to cut weight. There aren't any hard set rules as far as internals go and you won't really know on crank and rods til you get it apart. Mine did not have a six pack damper but was the thin forged crank set up. The one thing on some RV engines is they use a 5/8 tapered seat spark plug. Just about all 440's from that time frame were lower compression and can actually drop into the upper 7's once the deck height, head volume etc are actually figured. Don't know if I've answered some of your questions but one thing is those engines did t usually rack up a lot of miles. Mine was bored .030. Any other production type head will bolt on, if you go with the RV heads make sure the gaskets have the holes for the extra cooling around the spark plugs. If your building it for a truck and are after grunt, you may not have to do a whole bunch as far as compression. Put a low end cam in it and run that dude on regular unleaded and enjoy. You didn't state what your goals are.

Truck is my toy, just trying to make more power than my Magnum 318 that has a cam, headers, and carb. I have a set of shaved ( I have to check them so I know the cc) 440 heads off a guy I knows 440 he used to drag race. I can use on this engine. It only has 28k on it so if possible for this time around I would prefer to use the short block as is but I might change that plan.

 

[IQ52]

You have just about the most pure truck engine you can get with the stock motorhome engine. Just bolting it in will give you a fantastic increase in power and torque. Most motorhome engines through 1973 were forged cranks with heavy rods. The J440 does mean it is a 1973 model year engine and because there is no "E" (meaning it has a cast crank) after the 440, I believe you will find it has a forged crankshaft. All the regular FelPro Blue 8519PT1 head gaskets come with the holes for the motorhome heads and blocks. But even if you block the holes off, in your application, there will be no harmful effects. Here is what we did with a low compression 440 engine and the power we managed to get from it. However I do not recommend using the 509 camshaft we used for these dyno tests.

Dyno testing a stock(?) 1972 440

 

[64drtGt]

You have just about the most pure truck engine you can get with the stock motorhome engine. Just bolting it in will give you a fantastic increase in power and torque. Most motorhome engines through 1973 were forged cranks with heavy rods. The J440 does mean it is a 1973 model year engine and because there is no "E" (meaning it has a cast crank) after the 440, I believe you will find it has a forged crankshaft. All the regular FelPro Blue 8519PT1 head gaskets come with the holes for the motorhome heads and blocks. But even if you block the holes off, in your application, there will be no harmful effects. Here is what we did with a low compression 440 engine and the power we managed to get from it. However I do not recommend using the 509 camshaft we used for these dyno tests.

Dyno testing a stock(?) 1972 440

I dont use the truck for truck purposes anymore I have other vehicles for that the truck is my go out and play vehicle lol. Those numbers for what id like to spend this go around on it is still way better than what the stock magnum with my bolt ons is making so it should be a fun upgrade. I want to keep my budget low and play around with it and in a year or two Ill pull it back out and actually build it for some big #'s or I could turbo it lol.