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The rust on the 2 plugs in the foreground on the right is telling.

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You did great for 380 dollars for everything. Now you just have to understand that you bought basicly a junk motor that has good parts and a trany that is a good core. Why in the world would you think that a motor that has any rust on the inside will start up and run ?

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Because I am an optimist... The motor was said to be a running unit. It had the trans bolted to it and more than one guy here suggested that there was a converter bolt backed out and hitting. A little moisture from sitting a year around here, especially with the carb and exhaust manifolds off wouldn't be unusual. I just was excited at how fresh the thing looks but confused at why it didn't turn because the bottom end is completely clean with no sign of a running failure. I've disassembled motors before but this is my first possible rebuild, so go easy there, big guy...

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I'm betting on rust in the cylinders first and then a stuck valve in a guide Please let us know what you find

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Ding! Ding! Ding! Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!!

Well, here's what I found.

7 of the bores look like this.


Give or take carbon, but they all look nice. That is except for #8 which looks like this.

#6 is okay but you can see where some moisture was in the head affecting that plug, and #8's valves were rusted up nicely...


All the lifters looked pretty with the exception of a couple that looked like they may not be rotating in the bore real good. smooth but black stains. the two on the back end were gummy as you can see and the cam looked gummy too. The lifters came out with a little coaxing gooey orange in the top from rust but still functioned. The cam looked pretty except for the back end which looked like this.


Sad that that bore got wet. It's nasty. Feels like 40 grit. So what's worth keeping, what do I throw out and can the block be cleaned up and honed or does that rust mean it's going to need a larger bore? is the cam dead or can the lobes be cleaned up? I haven't got to the front of the block yet so I don't know what grind it is. Too bad. Then engine looks like it had very few hours on it.

Sorry for my naivete. Just trying to learn. And also trying to get an engine in the car on a low budget. with plans for a 451 in the works.

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I haven't tried it since pulling the heads, but the engine does rotate a third turn. It's not rusted past the rings. Stupid question. If I drop the crank can I take the piston out the bottom end of the bore?

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No

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I haven't tried it since pulling the heads, but the engine does rotate a third turn. It's not rusted past the rings. Stupid question. If I drop the crank can I take the piston out the bottom end of the bore?

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Only if you break it into small pieces, I have seen cast pistons destroyed that way in the oil pan after a valve broke Get to scrubbing that rust away, it ain't hard

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Find out how bad the rust is in that cylinder, you also need to know what existing the bore size is so you know if you can clean it up by boring or if it will need a sleeve Try sqirting some liquid wrench(not WD40 ) in that cylinder several times, take a wire brush or wire wheel on a drill motor and knock the heavy rust out of and then see if you can beg,borrow or buy one of the glaze breaker cylinder hones to smooth that bore up so the piston will come out Go from there. Do you have access to a competent crankshaft grinder? If so you may want to have the crankshaft offset ground to BB Chevy rod journal size and stroke the stock crankshaft to 3.91 stroke KB makes several really good sets of forged shelf pistons in different compression ratio for that combination using a 7.100 long H beam BB Chevy rod for the 440 blocks That combination ended up being quite a bit cheaper than using the stock Mopar size forged steel H beam rods and stroke on the last bracket motor I built for a customer Check it out before deciding, you may save some money and make more power Sorry for the rusted cylinder, been there done that

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I DO have a competent crankshaft grinder. An old friend who specializes in crank grinding for big diesels. He does hotrods too. You've got me thinking... Maybe I sell my 400 stroker crank and have him turn my forged 440 crank and buy a set of rods and pistons... Hmmmmm.

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I'm betting on rust in the cylinders first and then a stuck valve in a guide Please let us know what you find

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Ding! Ding! Ding! Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!!

Well, here's what I found.

7 of the bores look like this.


Give or take carbon, but they all look nice. That is except for #8 which looks like this.

#6 is okay but you can see where some moisture was in the head affecting that plug, and #8's valves were rusted up nicely...


All the lifters looked pretty with the exception of a couple that looked like they may not be rotating in the bore real good. smooth but black stains. the two on the back end were gummy as you can see and the cam looked gummy too. The lifters came out with a little coaxing gooey orange in the top from rust but still functioned. The cam looked pretty except for the back end which looked like this.


You think thats why it didn't turn over? Mabe you should of figured that out before you ask people for oppinions on why it won't turn over. Looks like a junk scrap yard motor to me. THE BIG GUY