I know a lot is known and discussed on here so I am hoping someone has enough history to answer the question. I have seen a number of 440s in 72 cars that have the thin steel crank balancers so I assume steel cranks, figuring them to be left over engines from 71. I starting thinking today for some reason about what piston would be in them. Has anyone ever tore down enough of these to draw any conclusion, is there a date break to look for? The reason I ask is there is still a few in old boneyards in my area and I wonder if I should pick them up just because.

Thanks in advance, Kevin

seems 440 builders are getting expensive around here, grab them if the price is right.
My notes from the old Silv-o-lite catalog show the 72 and up 8:1 pistons have a compression height of 1.912"
The 66-71, 9:1 pistons have a compression height of 1.970"
The 66-71 HP, CH = 1.990"? (this still seems fairly low compression?)
The TRW six-pack piston, CH = 2.061"

Agreed, true compression rarely meets advertised compression. 10:1 motors from back in the day landed in the low 9 range more often than not and the 8:1 smoggers go low 7s from what I here. My thinking it that if they did have a flat tops they might make good piston donors for some of the low mileage smogger engines I have. I bored at work so I am thinking too much.

Nah we cant relate to that at all!

67 hp = 2.00"
68-70 hp = 2.03"

Buy them, how many flat head Fords are still in the junk yards? 440s are getting scarce

I haven't found 440 to be scarce yet just some think they are made of gold even smoggers.

I just disassembled an H code 1972 440 today, it was cast in Sept 1971. It still has the standard pistons and stock bore.
I know that since I have been running the engine in my 1971 Challenger since I rebuilt it in 1989. Back then I could not afford new pistons so I honed the block and used the old pistons and new rings. To bring up the compression I used 516 heads with bigger valves and some porting. This was before all the repo' parts came out, like aluminum heads.
Anyway the pistons have a very slight dish to them, not that it really matters as I will finally replace them.
According to the 440 Source website the latter blocks are the best blocks made, contrary to everything we used to think we knew...

Could be that they have 500 late blocks to sell and no early ones. I know what they say goes against the mopar engine books.

Guess it depends on where you live and how often the crusher comes around

Trust me I'm not necessarily giving any away either but I have let a number pass for $2-300, I do buy them at $100 though, just cant pass.

My all original 72 440 has cast flat tops that are way down in the hole. Somewhere around 1/8" below the deck. It's really sad.

7.5:1 is far more likely than the advertised 8.2:1.

440Source has exactly zero blocks to sell. Making a "sorta" accusation without checking the facts is just ignorant.

If you want to see what the differences are between older and later blocks this will help:
http://www.440source.com/blockinfo.htm

It has pictures, so everyone should be able to understand.

Of all the things in the world to save, original 440 pistons would be close to the last, and I've been called a hoarder by my wife. If you were selling the aluminum it'd be a different story because they are just flat heavy. Like two pounds per piston heavy.

There were millions of B engines produced. There were about 750,000 440s produced. There isn't a big pipeline with new 440 blocks tumbling out of the end. So if you are in a location in which you can pick and choose blocks in the $100 - $200 range, consider yourself lucky. What I am seeing is 413 MH engines for $750. 440 blocks if they are in good shape are advertised for $500.

Anyway, Bah! Humbug!

Scrooge

68-69 440 350HP, 375Hp and the 69 390hp 6pk engines used the same piston.

I imagine that 66-67 is the same because they both have the same advertised compression ratio like 68-69 .



This is more accurate of FACTORY pistons , the numbers at the top are not factory numbers ... not including 70-71 6 pack engines

My questions was more about if anyone had seen left over steel crack short blocks used in 72 cars or just steel cranks with the smogger pistons.

The answer to both questions would be YES , the cast crank was a midyear 73 thing in the 440.

I have two left with steel cranks, the third I used the crank, pistons and rods in a 76 hp block that had no ring grove, raced for years now going in a street car. I've seen more steel ones than cast.

Around here any carbureted engines are scarce.

I didn't realize the change over was that late, might be more available now that I know that.

Every '72 440 I've had, had a steel crank and flat top pistons, no dish.
All of em came out of c-bodies.