I'm going to look at purchasing a 1967 440 engine assembly to rebuild (first timer). I'm told the engine is an original bore and that it turns over. The engine currently has 452 heads installed (instead of 915). I have been reading up on some novice books (How to rebuild small/big block), so looking for some input. The plan is to tear the engine down and completely rebuild. The rebuild will also include magnaflux, hot tank cleaning and any necessary machining. Any Mopar engine advice to look out for when purchasing an engine assembly?
Since the heads have been replaced, is there anything that I should look out for on engine block deck surface. The current owner purchased the engine with the 452 heads from someone else, so I'm assuming the original heads may have been sold for more money and the 452 heads were installed to sell engine complete. Or someone serviced/replaced the 915 with 452 heads for harden valve seats.

Thank you in advance for your feedback! The website/forum is great!

As always, read the attached........

http://www.440source.com/blockinfo.htm

As for the replacement of the 915's to 452's......who knows what was going through the previous owners head when that happened. Not worth wasting your time, they're gone.

Now you have the best of two open chamber heads. Most here will tell you to upgrade to aftermarket aluminum (Stealth's or Edelbrocks) but that's your call. It's still several hundred cheaper to do the 452's.

As for block inspection.......I'd look for cracks in the intake valley from water/coolant freezing and on the outside at the coreplugs. Very common.

If you can pull the heads, look for a clean deck surface, no burnthru cyl.-to-cyl. from a blown headgasket. Obvious cracks in the bores or main saddles. After that it's a gamble until the sonic test. If the bearings all still hold themselves in and don't fall out when you pull the caps it's a good sign that it wasn't detonated and spark knocked to death. This breaks ringlands and beats the rods out-of round at the big end. If the bearings look clean and no gouges/grooves from grit and dirt it's another good sign.
The bearing usually have a date on their backside too. This will clue you in on if it's original or it's last refresh/rebuild.

Good luck.

Unless the 67 engine is a HP it would not of had 915s so the 452s would be an improvement over the originals. . The 67 440 blocks dont have the strength webs like the 68 and newer blocks have.

Thank you for the information. I'm told the engine is 440 HP.

make sure the bellhousing is not broken where the starter goes. I hope it has the front end pulleys and brackets, and motor mounts too. Reproductions are avaliable, but not cheap.

I suggest you pull the pan and pull a couple of caps to get a look at the bearings, if it is not already apart. My first two "ran when I parked it" motor purchases turned out to have spun mains and cracked main saddles. They did turn over too. One was a 74 cast crank 440 and the other a 318 Magnum. Both useless.

The rule is to not pay too much for an engine like that. I used to buy a lot of big block engines and about 50% of the blocks end up being useless. There are a lot of things that can be wrong with a 40 year old engine.

Look at the engine ID pad for factory stamps indicating potential issues you'll have to deal with including undersize journals, OS lifter bores, even oversize piston bores which could limit the machine work.

Engine ID pad markings