Houston, we have a problem......

Houston, we have a problem...... (crackle) the warp drive in the 440 has failed.........

Why did you go and do that?

Over rev it a bit?
Low oil pressure?
Collapsed lifters?
Damaged rockers?
Broken camshaft?
Time to pull the intake and see if the lifters are still in place. If you got y with just a couple bent push rods, your pretty lucky. Gene

1968 engine, parked in 1981 with less than 9K miles on it.

2 stuck valves.

I'll get it running yet. :-)

Look at how clean it is inside, just amazing.

Stop picking at that or it will never heal.

Did the stuck valves meet the pistons?

Stuck closed, so I do not see how.

That's good... last time I saw two pushrods like that (on a core 383 I bought cheap), a rod had broken at high rpm and the piston came up and CLOSED the valves. It wasn't pretty inside.

What car is that?

My wagon's original 400 had a pushrod like that. The engine had a spun rod bearing and the extra play in the rod allowed it to smack the head a time or two.

Strangely enough though, the valve wasn't damaged. You could see on the piston where contact was made but it wasn't 'hammered'. After checking that the valve stems were straight, I lapped the valves in place and put the heads on the 440 block currently in the wagon. Never had an issue.

When I bought my 78 LRT in 1994 it was going cheap. I was the 5th person to look and test drive it. It ran like crap.
I paid the $1200 cash and drove it the 12 miles home and it was way down on power. Doing 45 MPH, I lost speed climbing a long hill going home. I parked it for a week. This is when I found out the engine was a 1978 Warranty replacement E58.

I pulled a compression test and all were at about 145 PSI but #3 was way down, like 80 PSI WET.
Took the valve cover off and found the #3 intake rocker's push rod cup was broken out, windowed but still attached. Push rod was OK but the lifter was almost popped out of its bore. Using my 2.2 coil spring compressor I could push the valve down with no binding. Took a spare rocker and put it back together. Ran excellent. Never another issue in the 200,000 miles I drove it

I know people are looking for things to keep busy during quarantine, but you didn't have to go that far...

A couple of new dilithium crystals and you'll be back in business chop-chop.

Had exact same issue with a 75 dart 4door 318 . . ran like crap . . .pulled left hand valve cover - yup, one rocker arm had pushrod through it . . . took old rocker from another head, pushrod was still ok, buttoned up and ran like champ !! Gotta love those cheap fixes ! Think I paid $350 for the car, and put another $350 into it (tires, brakes) and drove it for a few years, and sold for $1k ! . .

Those manifolds????

C body specific

Would it not be smart to pull the heads, at least clean the stems and guides, maybe touch the seats and valves, and change those likely rusted thru at the water jacket steel head gaskets before you destroy a low mile motor? I also see guys run old gas from a poorly cleaned tank thru a motor and stick the valves.

I have been here before.

Once the valves move freely again it should be fine.

I hooked new non-ethanol gas to the fuel pump & flushed it and the fuel line to the carb out with a priming / pump hose from an old outboard motor.

New filter & hoses installed after that.

The squeeze bulb is also great for priming the carb at that point.

The car is rusted bad, so I want to hear the engine run once to see if the transmission shifts OK before I pull it inside to strip.

The valve on #1 has already moved some.

Penetrating oil, time & patience.....

Barry, What are you going to do with the rest of the car once the engine is pulled?

I know somebody looking for one...

I have a very good friend with one, so several parts will be set aside.

After that I have another pal with the exact same model too.

So some 'dibs' have already been claimed.

When they are done, I'll have to asses what is left.