Motor Home 440??

So I have a chance to pick up a 1976 Motor Home 440 motor for cheap. Worth the trouble? Had running on fuel prime. 70k on the clock. How do I tell if cast or steel crank?

You can be sure it is a cast crank by the size of the harmonic dampner...it will be huge. I bought a 1977 MH 440 for $100.00 last year and had to race 5 other guys to get it. It came with the 727, a Thermoquad and the stock (not cracked) exhaust manifolds. The OEM starter was dead, but we bolted on a mini-starter and ran a compression test after squirting ATF in all the cylinders. The test showed uneven results, so we will rebuild it sometime down the road. With everything we got, good standard block, all the electrics, 452 heads, 727 core trans....it was a steal!!!

I have raced a 440 with a cast crank and 400 to almost 500 HP they are fine.

if it is a 1974 or later, check the casting date on the block above the starter or on the passenger side rear block, it will be a cast steel crank. If it is a 1973 or maybe a real early 1974 it will have a forged steel crank
BTW, you don't want no stinking stock stroke crankshaft, do you

Thanks for the input.

Here's a link to a picture of a cast crank 440. The balancer is HUGE and sort of "rounded" at the snout.

http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab309...zpst70b2kmq.jpg

The forged crank will have a balancer about 1" thick & symmetrical (small rod) or have a horseshoe weight in front (big rod).

I had a '73 motor home 440 once and it had extra cooling passages. There were two 1/8" diameter holes on each cylinder deck, just below each cylinder on the deck surface itself. Those holes mate up with a cooling passage "spark plug loop" in a motor home head for extra cooling. You can find those head gaskets if you look hard enough, punch holes in standard ones, or just use regular gaskets & block them off (most motors don't have them) if you're not using motor home heads.

either way, it is 440. cast or forged crank.

I recommend the Hughes Whiplash cam for the low comp smog head MH engine to wake it right up with a stock TC/gears.

I used a 78 MH 440 in my 88 d150 with the whiplash cam. = awesome street engine for daily driving in traffic. scares everybody at the gas pumps at an idle.

large plug or peanut plug heads are fine. I have had both on mine.

mine had about 40,000 miles on the clock and now has about 84,000 with 10,000 on the whiplash cam.

wish I could run up on another one for a spare. grab it while you can IMHO.

Thanks for all the input. Now I just have to find something to put it in!!

Motorhome as in big full size coach or a vehicle built with a Dodge van front end on it?

The big coaches can have the industrial type engines instead of the engines used in passenger vehicles.

I got a 74 with a forged crank and 902 heads. Also had six pack type rods. I got it for $75. I was thrilled.

You may have gotten a better deal than my $100.00 special

Fun engines.

People think the cast crank is the weakness but it is really the big, heavy stock pistons that like to come apart!

Set a rev limiter to 6k after rings, bearings and a cam.

Have any of you guys with 440 mh blocks noticed a big chamfer on the cylinder bores? A buddy of mine has two that were low mileage that he was going to use for spares for his race car. Both had huge chamfers on the cylinders. I've never seen that on car blocks.

I'm rebuilding a '78 motor home 440 with the large chamfer on top of the cylinders. I had to use Edelbrock's head gaskets for a 4.505" bore to clear them. I got them from Summit. Here's the Edelbrock number for them- EDL-7325.

i think later blocks had chamfers on the bores .my half ton truck 77 block did .my 73 motorhome block didnt

The pre 1972 and earlier Class A motorhomes and HD trucks had the industrial 413 which had a bunch of special H.D. parts in them only found on them.
The 1973 and later 440 motor home motors, Class A.B and C had either the 440 low compression vans and pickups motors in them or the 440-3 with the extra exhaust valve cooling passages in the heads and blocks, no other special parts

I had a 1977 Dodge Explorer Class-A 31' With a 727 A.T. with a Thermoquad...
That bad azz boy would Run!!!! Pulled grades Awesome, Passing other rigs like they were standing still.. That bad boy would love to cruise at 70 MPH, the sweet spot.
Now the draw back to it all.... Was man it would not pass a gas station..
Always wanted to make a hard right turn????? One thirsty Unit for sure.

I bought it for $1.00 in a divorce settlement.. All I needed to do was put a roof on it. That was a fun deal. But used the hell out of that rig...

Good Engine for sure... Never let me down....

I was referring to the 440-3 with the large diameter high mounted water pump and those heads that won't flow.

I haven't heard of or seen a 440 motor with the earlier industrial type heads, intake and raised water pump along with the gear driven camshaft
There are a lot of things I haven't heard of or seen also so that doesn't mean they don't exist
I'm sure all of us have learned to never say never when it comes to cars and motors made in America, by union employees
Especially from a former IBEW union member and a former CWA union member, union stewart and E board member

Happy Easter to every one

Most likely a regular 440 found in light trucks and cars of the same vintage.

That said, I have seen winnebagos with steel crank 440's (yes I know the difference) as late as 1980 (yes I know the 440 stopped in passenger cars in 78) in a class A chassis.

Heads are taller than regular passenger heads, and use a smaller plug, due to the added cooling passages.

I am aware of the 413 industrial motors used in earlier winnebago's, and those were not the same at all.

The only notable visual difference with these, is that there is a large gap (about 1/2 inch) between the valve cover mounting surface, and the intake. On a regular passenger motor, the valve cover is nearly touching the intake. That said, the intakes do interchange. The plugs are still straigh, not like the 413 which had angled plugs like a small block

If you can see the Engine ID pad on the top front of the engine, you can tell cast crank quite easily. The stamping should be something like "6T440T"with a bunch of numbers following. If the engine has a cast crank there will be the letter "E" stamped on the pad, either in the number string or else I have seen them alone.

This is assuming the engine is original and hasn't been rebuilt.

R.