What engine is in that motorhome???

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knote72

knote72

Stupidity is not unilateral, we all pay the price
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Marcola, Oregon
So while recouping funds after buying my Demon, I'll have to wait a while before I can really get started on restoring it, so in the meantime I've been working on To-Do-List projects around home. Gramps has this old motorhome goin to seed, and since it's a Dodge motorhome and big block scavenging from motorhomes is a thing, I was curious about what engine it has.

Me and my brother have a not-so-distant future project, and for it we decided it'd have either a Hemi or 440. Looking up about the 70s dodge motorhomes, they usually had the 413 or 440. If we can get a decent 440 block to build off of dirt cheap then that'd be a good start for the future (read that things like crank and heads would need to be scrapped, but we're already prepared to do that if we can get a good block for cheap). Gramps has no plans for it, it's just growing moss and mold, he just doesn't wanna pay to have it hauled away.

This one is a 79 Apollo 2600 26'
20171014_194519.jpg

As you can see, it's been sitting a while (rodent nest by the carb). Noticed a "383" stamped rear/left of the carb, but I hadn't seen any instances of these motorhomes having the 383 so I'm not sure if this is correct.

Can anybody who knows about these motorhomes or has scavenged from one of these, tell me how to make sure which engine this is?
 
It does not appear to have the bastard high mount water pump and associated coolant pipes to the heads that an industrial motorhome engine does. If it's not a 413, It may be worth messin with.
 
First thing I do is look for the ID pad which denotes a high deck block. This is parallel to the ground, up near the distributor, and usually has the CID or last two of the CID stamped on there

440id.jpg
 
The low deck is over on the other side, "slanted" near the water pump

2010-08-30_040215_Mopar_block_ID.jpg


58c89892c70ea_MoParengineblock.jpg.4942d6d0057079a13935cb07a6b1750b.jpg
 
The numbers and ID pad previously mentioned are easier to see in a car, a truck or if the engine doesn't have a bunch of stuff still bolted to it. An easier way.....
Climb under it and look along the block between the oil pan and cylinder head. The passenger side would have a casting date, the drivers side should show the engine size among other numbers.
 
I found the pad spot 67Dart's pic shows, I just gotta clean it off real quick
 
chryslerfat said:
413 was not used that late in motor homes.
Click to expand...

But the 400 was. That intake could well have "383" cast on it if it's a holdover. The raised pad on the front driver's side is not visible, so it could be a 400.
 
okay so I couldn't get a good pic, but here's the numbers I saw:

_________________
| 9 T 440 T E |
| 8 23 |
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EDIT: my "outline" didnt format right, basically I saw "9 T 440 T E" then "8 23"

There may have been more numbers, but those are the only ones I could find. They don't stamp those very deep.

Safe to assume by now it's a 440?
 
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Yup, it's a faw fawty alright. Good score!
 
Yay, that's something I could work with. If I could take the whole thing off his hands in the ballpark of $500, that'd be a major score. The condition that the rest of it is in, what with the mold n mildew n rodent nests that should've killed me by now, I can justify cutting it up and sending it to the dump. Other than functional bit that could probably be salvaged like the generator, how much scrap metal do you think I could cut outta that? Might offset the dump costs.
 
knote72 said:
Yay, that's something I could work with. If I could take the whole thing off his hands in the ballpark of $500, that'd be a major score. The condition that the rest of it is in, what with the mold n mildew n rodent nests that should've killed me by now, I can justify cutting it up and sending it to the dump. Other than functional bit that could probably be salvaged like the generator, how much scrap metal do you think I could cut outta that? Might offset the dump costs.
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I dont know. Scrap is way down now so I wouldn't hold my breath.
 
Scrap metal values are in the toilet here in CA now.
If you are looking for a 440, you can get cores cheaper than $500. A guy that posts here as "Andy F" is in Oregon and posted about 3 440s he just bought from a craigslist ad for $200. He is here and at Moparts under the same screen name. The guy is a great Mopar fountain of knowledge too. He has written books, had articles published in Mopar Muscle and other magazines. He makes parts sold by Mancini racing ....
 
Andy F? LOL my uncle's name is Andrew Franklin, it'd be funny if that was secretly him :eek: sucks he's not a serious muscle guy, that I know of

Too bad the forum doesn't seem to have a decent quick search feature, so I don't have to sift through 2000 pages worth of registered members. At the very least it'd be good to have a resource in my neck of the woods I can consult. As for the price, while I found a few cheap ones, most are $1000+
 
If you don't get a title with that thing you might have fun unloading it....even at a scrap yard. For me, the fact that "the rig" is with the engine/trans LESSENS the value LOL
 
67Dart273 said:
If you don't get a title with that thing you might have fun unloading it....even at a scrap yard. For me, the fact that "the rig" is with the engine/trans LESSENS the value LOL
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Does it matter if it's all in one piece when it goes there?
 
knote72 said:
Does it matter if it's all in one piece when it goes there?
Click to expand...
Yup, most scrap yards don't accept rv's The only real metal is the frame , drivetrain and tin. Upper structure is wood so there's not much metal value there. Last time I was at the yard here clean steel/tin was $3 per 100. #1 steel was not much more. Autos were $2 something.
 
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In these parts most wrecking and scrap yards will not accept motorhomes. There is way to much combined materials, steel, wood, aluminum, plastic, appliances, glass etc that need to be seperated before salvaging.

I would look around first to make sure you have a place to dump the carcass. If it has a long tailshaft slip yoke 727 that too will be a great score..... but may be the less sought after lockup version in a 79. It will also most likely be a cast crank 440..... but there is nothing wrong with the cast crank for most builds.
 
The transmission will have all the heavy duty stuff in it. The output shaft and extention housing are easy to change.
 
From what I have found, ALL Motorhome 727 transmissions have a short shaft and a bolt on yoke. Complete trans disassembly is required to convert it to a traditional car and pickup truck slip yoke design.
Andy Finkbeiner is the man. Google "AR Engineering".
 
Yeah no I was thinkin dump as in just trash. They take waste from home improvement, auto scrap, construction, etc (wood paneling can just go on the burn pile, metal bits go for scrap return, the rest goes to the dump). I knew junkyards wouldn't take one, at least not without asking a hefty fee. I figured if there was enough scrap metal in it, that'd help offset the dump cost (my friend's parents took their old caravan for $100 scrap return, I'd imagine even more so from an rv). Gee, now I wonder why Gramps just has it sitting there, although that just means that now it's a mold pit no one would dare buy let alone live in.........the problem of letting junk sit in our climate, it'll either mold over, grow fungus, corrode or rust.
 
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