alright guys let me start off by saying 1. i'm a chevy man never liked mopar, 2. i dont know crap about mopar lmao. ok that being said a buddy of mine had to move out of state and gave me an engine it's a 440-3 i think it came out of a travco motor home. my question is whats does the -3 mean? and how much is this motor worth?

 

Nice clean low mileage ready to install maybe $1000 an unknown needing a rebuild maybe $200

 

well this one has about 40k on it.

 

That motor is worth $200. MAYBE.


Ditch the chevys, buy a mopar to put that 440 in after its rebuilt.

 

The big difference in the -3 engines is very low compression, and the heads/ water pump. A dash3 engine should have a "high mount" water pump that is hooked to water outlets on the ends of the heads. It probably uses 18mm "Ford type" spark plugs. The pump and heads are junk for any hot rod work, the block and crank are OK. You MAY have a gear drive cam. I BELIEVE that some of those engines also ran WATER, not exhaust, through the heat crossover.

Frankly, I'd look elsewhere.


On the webpage below, the top cutaway is a truck engine, look how "high" the water pump appears compared to the monochrome photo down below it

http://www.allpar.com/mopar/383.html

"Heavy truck" water pump which hooks to front of heads:

http://440source.com/1001076.jpg

Some good photos of a "truck" or motorhome engine. These were made in 361, (low block, like a 383), and high or "raised block" RB 413, 440, and there's some confusion whether 426 wedge was made in this configuration

 

I would but id rather drive something that doesn't break down every other day. So ill stick with the chevy thanks

 

before this thread get out of hand..does the high water pump truck style cool better or something?? why did thay make 2 different systems?/

 

Just a guess, It may have been an attempt to keep the cyl heads cooler to avoid detonation

 

Typical brand loyalist.

 

I would rather drive something fast. Mopar or no car.

 

Funny, my sister had more problems with her IROC in the few years she had it than we ever had with the family New Yorker in the 12 years we had that one.

 

I currently have a 79 motorhome with a 440-3, I had to rreplace head gaskets recently and found out the true differences.

1. The heads have extra cooling passages in them near the spark plugs, so head gaskets need to have them as well, all the 440 blocks have them already, why only the motorhome heads have them, who knows. Heads also already have hardened valve seats and guides.

2. the water pump housing is made to flow more water through the thermostat, other than that it takes a normal high flow water pump, and mounts the same, to the block and not the heads, and is mounted normal height. Lower hose exits the housing on the passenger side.

3. the compression ration is 8.2 to 1

4. the cylinder heads do take different plugs, they are a taper seat plug instead of a crush washer seat. Plugs that came with it were autolite 24, I have since put the Champion rv12yc's that it came with it new back in it.... no noticable performance difference.

 

The above IS NOT TRUE in all cases. If you look at what I posted, that is CLEARLY one of the type engines with the "head mounted" water pump. I don't know whether you have a "lighter duty" engine, or whether the "tall" pump was abandoned in some later year.