O.K. I have a 440 short block. I want to do a budget build on this motor. I have not taken any measurements on the motor. Took it down to the short block though and it was super clean inside no gunk at all. It must have always had the oil changed by previous owners. On the pad it has a "Maltese cross" and an "X" which means an 0.010 undersized crank. If I were to drop in new crank and rod bearings in the motor which size would I have to order? I plan on a rebuilt set of iron heads and use factory exhaust manifolds. Change out piston rings possibly? Just plan on using it on the street not looking for any certain 1/4 mile times. Just want to have a motor that can offer up some weekend fun. I'm new to this stuff so just bear with me and some of my questions. Now on some of your budget builds what has worked out for you? Can you give some ideas on what and what not to do. Thanks Jay

A budget build would be a new set of moly rings & whatever undersize main/rod bearings the malteze cross & the X denote that you have in there now & no need for a new crank. This plan works good in an "over the fender" overhaul with the eng left in the car & is dependant on the bearing clearances & the surface condition of the journals being acceptable & the amt of out of round/taper in the cyls & amt of wear on the piston skirts being acceptable but with the eng out that totally changes the picture & unless the above checked out primo it'd be an excellent plan to rebore with the corrrect pistons to get quench & correct CR with some good plasma moly rings & regrind your old crank if needed. that way you have a solid foundation to work off of & can add on speed equipment later as your budget allows.

Well maybe I should just dig deeper into my pockets and spend the extra coin and get this thing machined and save some money in the long run. I'll have to get some quotes as to what it would cost to get my short block torn down machined and bolted back together? As the engine is already pulled and on a stand. Does anybody have info on what it cost them to have there short block machined/rebuilt. Thanks for the response RapidRobert. Jay

What year of a 440 is it? I assume it's a 70's smogger engine? In any event, if you want to do a budget build you can pull the pistons the hone the bores with either a 3-stone hone or a ball hone, the kind you stick into your hand drill. Technically that's not honing the cylinder, that's deglazing it, but good enough to slap in a new set of cast sealed power piston rings. Then if you want to, you can slap some new standard sized bearings in there. If you decide to do a backyard "rebuild" like this, be sure to install a high-volume oil pump and hardened oil pump drive shaft. You want the HV oil pump because the extra oil flow will take up the slack in your worn bearings / crank journals. A higher capacity oil pan may be a good idea if you're doing this. Then while you're in there you should also regasket the entire motor, install new freeze plugs and a new timing chain/gear set. If you want to do a small cam at that time as well you always could.

If the budget's tight there's nothing wrong with doing a "build" like this. You waste a little money but you can always rebuild it proper later on when the time is right. You can still have a good driving car and some fun on the street with something like this.

O.K. Thanks for your input guys its really appreciated. Jay

get a summit t-chain set, bearings, their 488 cam, used dual plane intake holley 750Dp and go have fun. some 3.55's or better out back would be nice

I just took a complete 78 smogger and:
New SP Rings,main,cam,androd bearings.
freeze plugs,all gaskets,seals.
New High volume oil pump.
440 source alum water pump housing and pump.
motor mounts,edelbrock rpm intake,
summit 488 cam, summit timing chain
rebuilt 516 heads,etc.

im into it for about 1k now with por15 engine paint,and maybe a few other little things i missed. It should run good,wont know until the summer though!!