i bought this 440 from a guy and wonder if anyone can help with some specs. beleive its a 77 or 78 model. do you think it has a steel crank. also i need to buy some pistons and i want to get in the 12.5 up range. they need to be forged but i want the best bang for the buck.

77(or 8) would be cast but eyeball the dampener(tapered is cast) & check the flat ID pad by the dist(note the letter) & the casting #'s on the side of the block(I forget which side). Cant help on the best piston source. I would suggest sonic checking to start off w a good foundation, nothing can be taken for granted

Should be a cast crank engine, the balancer on the front of the engine should say '440 cast crank only' on it.

For pistons, be sure to choose your cylinder head type first. You don't want to buy domed pistons and decide later you want some aftermarket aluminum closed chambered heads. On the flip side if you want 12.5:1 you don't want to buy flat-top pistons then decide you want to run open chamber heads. If you check out the summit online catalog, there's tonnes of 440 piston choices on there from most of the big manufacturers.

ill check out summit i usually use jegs for parts. i never really checked out summit. i didnt think about it. jegs doesnt have to many choices for mopar. not in the catalog anyway. i was just wondering if there was a piston most people prefered that was good all around and easy to work with. i dont really have a plan i just want to put something together for race gas. it will probably be getting changed around alot.

I run Ross forged in my 440.The 12.5 domes had 516s now Stealths.Its run on the street.Diamond also has good pistons.Those twu are probally the lightest made.Mine have been in for 10 years with no problems.Rocky

Check out 440source.com; I've been happy with my dealings there, and the website's full of info as far as pistons & heads & CR.
You might find that your block has huge tapers at the tops of the bores; much of that will go away when your machine shop cuts the decks to get the pistons near the deck.
I'd recommend sonic-checking the block; the later 440s that I've bought have had all kinds of core shift. I don't like anything less than .200 finished wall thickness.
Buy the pistons and mic them before boring the block. The smaller combustion chambers (84cc or less) will help with the 440's inherent detonation problem.
Unless you're bleeding off a lot of cylinder pressure with big camshaft overlap, 9.0:1 is about the limit for an iron-head 440 on 91-92 octane, unless you pull the advance curve back a bunch.

You most likely have a cast crank. I would consider upgrading to a forged stroker crank and Ross or Diamond pistons.

Sheldon

I would say Ross, I hope you plan on makeing this a track "only" build, because in no time you'll hate haveing to run race fuel in it all the time, you really should have a "plan" of what you want, with compression like that, a big cam is the way to go, otherwize you'll regret it, if you have the funds, i'd go with a flat top & closed chambered aluminum heads, then go for a good quench, this way you can run on pump gas with 10.5-11.1 compression, just pick a cam that will get the cranking pressure where it needs to be for the octane & overall best power, so plan it out, just don't start throwing parts at it.

If you are running nitrous you might not want to buy Ross , I know there were issues with them and nitrous because of how much they lighten the skirts .

track only. the deal is i have this 440 in my shop and just want to mess with it. id rather build a motor and just crank it on a stand, than let it sit and lock up. i will most likely put a 200 or 250 shot one day. im not really worried about spending alot of money on it. but you know how that usually goes. i gonna have the blocked checked before i do anything. ive never built a BBM before and im lookin foward to it. i plan on putting it in a 67 coronet for a bracket car. i believe it has 452 heads but not real sure. ill probably go to 440 source. im actually tryin to put together a plan. i do have a steel crank for a 440 but was savin it for a 451 build. the the 500 seems to be they way to go. so my steel crank might get used for the 440 build. i do appreciate all the info and help from yall.