I am a rookie Mopar Guy. Bought a 72 Satellite soon to be Roadrunner clone. A friend has a 440 RV motor. Currently has 318. What is the difference between 440 Car motor vs. 440 RV motor. Thanks!!

RV motors often used a different set of cylinder heads. They had extra cooling passages around the spark plugs, my guess is to help keep detonation down during the heavy towing that 440's doing in there. I think they also used their own unique water pump housing as well to work with the rv heads. But once you strip it down to the basic short block, it's just a passenger car engine with the RV spec stuff bolted on. Depedning on the year, don't be surprised if it has a forged crank, or a cast crank with the heavy 6-pack style rods.

I've pulled many a 440 out of motorhomes. The general rule of thumb is from '72 thru '75 they used forged cranks & six-pack rods, & lots of 'em came with a windage tray. Starting in '76 they switched to cast cranks. There will probably be some that say they've seen steel cranks in the later motors; I have no reason to doubt that. My own '76 Jamboree has a cast crank 440.

One thing I like about the MH engines is they rarely have a lot of miles racked up on 'em; most of the ones I pull out of the locals yards have less than 60k. Usually the bodies give out long before the drivetrain. The result is a nice block with minimal ring ridge. I have 3 spare bare blocks with less than 60k on them with hardly any ridge at all.

Up til '72 most big block Mopar motorhomes came with 413s.

Hey Lou, will you get the tranny with the engine? I was wondering if the 727s out of the motor homes are special in any way, i.e. heavier duty???. Has anyone else had any experience with this?

Russ:)

The trans that was attached to my motor when I yanked it from an RV was a short tail with a drum on it. Not sure if the internals were any better or not. I never opened it up.

He did say the tranny is a short tail.

You have to see the engine to know what it is. It could be a 413 or a 440, it could have the weird heads or heads that look like passenger car heads. It could be a drop-in after you switch oil pans and pickups.
Blocks and cranks will be the same, you may have to swap on the passenger car heads, manifolds and water pump stuff if it has the weird heads.

Do not believe those who would have you worrying about cooling, the basic cooling system is the same for all. Some may have extra holes here or there but, if you use a passenger car head gasket and head it will cool just like it would have in a passenger car or pickup.

The 727 that is behind a big block in a big motorhome will have heavier-duty internals and would be well worth swapping the correct tailshaft and housing.

These engines seem to be available in quantity with relatively low miles and make excellent starting points for high performance buildups. Low compression will be a problem but frankly it was a problem on all big blocks built from about 1973 on, and even earlier if we limit to 4-barrel engines. If you want to use the stock pistons and run regular gas you're fine. If you need a lot more power then you will be replacing pistons anyway so what is stock doesn't matter.

R.

I have a '73 440 and it has a cast crank and came with 213 heads. It does have the different water pump housing with the outlet on the passenger side. Pic showing pump housing.

That's one that looks like a passenger car engine. The water pump housing I was talking about goes with the wierd heads and the water pump is in a completely different location.
The 213 heads sometimes known as "motorhome heads" were also found in Chrysler passenger cars like my 1973 400 2-barrel and are NOT the weird heads.

R.

I think the bottom line is, that it all depends on the rv.

I've seen 440's in mh's that were forged cranks, up into 79(winni class a chassis)
Class C chassis(van front), most got cast crank passenger motors with the only real difference being in ex manifolds, and oil pan.

The water pump side to side difference was also seen on the cars in the later years of production.

Quote:

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The 213 heads sometimes known as "motorhome heads" were also found in Chrysler passenger cars like my 1973 400 2-barrel and are NOT the weird heads.

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What are we calling the "weird" head? 213's had the cooling passages around the plugs.

The "weird" heads are the ones that the exhaust manifold bolts are not in a straight line. They do not look anything like a passenger car or pickup truck head. A 213 head is a passenger car style head.

I have a pair of 213 heads that do NOT have the extra spark plug cooling holes and use the 3/8" reach gasketed plugs.

It is my contention that any passengercar type head with a matching passengercar type gasket will work and cool properly on any B/RB block. I do not believe any scare stories about the presence/absence of spark plug cooling holes making cooling problems.

R.

I have a 73 block in My 67 GTX and it is bored/stroked to 493 cubes. I have read in a few magazine articles,the mid 70's blocks are stronger than the 60's blocks. The blocks are basicly the same...like the HP blocks and non HP blocks,they are the same,the extra Horse power came from the cam and heads.