Hey guys i just had a few basic questions about a 440 and 727 from the mid/ late 70s that is out of a motor home. I know the motor will be a dog as is but a friend of mine just purchased a 68 coronet and found a great deal on said motor/trans combo. He wants a 440 that can run as fast as mine (68 Magnum- basic bolt ons.) I know the crank is cast, not forged, and that the heads are different (smaller valves?). I also assume the pistons are different because the lower comp ratio. The motors are also externally balanced if i remember correctly. So my question is this... Would you be able to get the motor rebuilt with just new pistons to up the compression ratio or should he get larger valves/ porting (or 440source heads.), a different cam (not sure what early/late 440 cam specs differ.), or a forged crank? also are the motors really easy to get balanced? The name of the game here is cost effectiveness of course... we want to be able to reuse as much as we can get away with. Any help would be great guys.

-Tony

 

Well I guess its safe to say that a 440 is a 440. The valves will probably be the 2.08/1.74 combo if nothings changed. If its never been touched you will probably want to do a rebuild anyway ie: perhaps a hone etc. Once you have it apart you can check everything and go from there.

 

you can build the motor however you want to
all the 440 blocks are basically the same, with an exception to some extra webbing

 

differnt heads will raise you compression ratio, (or pistions) cast cranks are externally ballanced, it will be fine to run up to around 500 hp, is it easy to balance? balancing costs around 300-400 depending on shop, i recomend balancing,

 

Cool thanks guys i was just making sure he was not getting in over his head