440 Info Needed

[Jerry Hall]

I ran across a 440 today. On the pad is:
9 T 440 E. It appears to be a cast crank engine, thick balancer. I wasn't able to get the block cast date or number due to how it was stored. Can someone tell me more about this either truck or motorhome engine? It also has a thermoquad on it. I can probably get it reasonably, any ideas on a value? I don't usually have interest in cast crank engines, but I want to bundle it with some more desirable parts that I do want.

 

[WP29440SE]

79 440 built at the Trenton plant. most were cast crank truck engines by then. if no other markings , it would be standard journals , low compression flat tops . there's a chart on the 440 source website. I recently picked one up , same designations as yours only it was a 78. it was out of a truck. it had a drilled crank, a double roller chain with a pentastar on the gears and a baffle that appeared to be factory. 452 heads. I paid 150 for mine complete minus carb .

 

[BeepBeepRR]

The 440 I had was a 1975. I built and had to sell was also a RV engine. They are low compression engines due to the 70's restrictions. Like WP says you get the luck of the draw some had cast and some had steel Some even had HD rods aka 6 pack style rods. 452 heads have hardened seats and work well with unleaded gas.. Mine was sitting on a trailer in a field for years and required a rebuild. Well it ended up 30 over and head porting and new valve springs.

 

[Jerry Hall]

The 440 I had was a 1975. I built and had to sell was also a RV engine. They are low compression engines due to the 70's restrictions. Like WP says you get the luck of the draw some had cast and some had steel Some even had HD rods aka 6 pack style rods. 452 heads have hardened seats and work well with unleaded gas.. Mine was sitting on a trailer in a field for years and required a rebuild. Well it ended up 30 over and head porting and new valve springs.

I'm sure this is a cast crank engine due to the balancer. I don't want to be to interested until I can make a deal.

 

[beanhead]

Yep '79 block. The 'E' designated a cast crank and I'm not 100% sure but I believe they were no longer using the 6-pack rods by then. The '78 I recently pulled from an RV had LYs in it, my '73 block had 6-packers... They're good builder cores if it's not damaged in some way, $300-$500 seems to be common nowadays.

 

[Ginja]

Thread revival... I have acquired a 440, on the pad is 6T 440 E HP, its a 1976 engine taken from a Jensen Interceptor (I'm in the UK). I don't think or expect the HP to mean anything but cannot find any information to identify what I have. I believe it to have 98k miles on it and it seems all standard. Does anyone know anything about these? HP, compression etc?

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Copied this from another post on another site.
6T = 1976
440 = CID
E = Cast Crank
HP = High Performance (never heard of 1976 HP block with cast crank - so maybe cop car?)

 

[Ginja]

Thanks. I have a 383 in the car (Coronet) already which has a cam and some funky rocker arms but which I know very little else about other than its loud and smelly and doesn't burn the tyres 'at will'. I had planned to stroke the 440 but with Covid I'm wondering about just dropping it in the car to see what it does. The car was prepped for drag racing so has previously had nitrous on it and has reinforcement bars on the frame etc and I think a 3.55 rear end. I'd like to civilise it a little with more torque, a calmer cam and a taller rear end so it will cruise better. Just wondering what I might need to do to my 440 to achieve that. I figure it will be low compression (but don't know) and so perhaps new heads (I saw Dulcich do this on Motortrend), I already have an RPM intake for it and hooker headers on the car with the 383. Wondering if anyone had any experience of these engines to impart?

 

[BeepBeepRR]

I built a 440 engine that came out of a camper. It was a 1975 block non HP with a cast crank. Had the heads rebuilt with new hardened seats for the valves, Also ended up installing all new pistons and a summit K6401 cam to help with the lower compression. My engine ended up being 9:64 to 1 compression. If I would have went with thinner head gaskets I could have gotten 10 to 1 easy.

Here is a link to my 440.
https://www.forbbodiesonly.com/mopa...p-a-low-mile-440-today.143842/#post-910849209

 

[Charger Dana]

A 440 Jensen Interceptor motor? Wow. THAT is rare. Any chance the rest of the car was just laying around somewhere?!?!

 

[Ginja]

I built a 440 engine that came out of a camper. It was a 1975 block non HP with a cast crank. Had the heads rebuilt with new hardened seats for the valves, Also ended up installing all new pistons and a summit K6401 cam to help with the lower compression. My engine ended up being 9:64 to 1 compression. If I would have went with thinner head gaskets I could have gotten 10 to 1 easy.

Here is a link to my 440.
https://www.forbbodiesonly.com/mopa...p-a-low-mile-440-today.143842/#post-910849209

Wonderful, thank you - I did search but did not find this thread.

 

[Ginja]

A 440 Jensen Interceptor motor? Wow. THAT is rare. Any chance the rest of the car was just laying around somewhere?!?!

I don't believe its in any way different from any other motor - there are no 'Jensen' specific markings or otherwise on it - it was just a crate motor at the time with Jensen valve covers added. There have been a few Jensen 440's that have popped up for sale here recently, I think a Jensen specialist sold on his stock. This one is from an upgrading owner who built a steel crank motor for his car. I'm an OK mechanic but have never done any engine work so am feeling my way here... The suggested thread matches my intent so I will read it carefully.

 

[Charger Dana]

I don't believe its in any way different from any other motor - there are no 'Jensen' specific markings or otherwise on it - it was just a crate motor at the time with Jensen valve covers added.

Do you know if there is a number along the pan rail? Or were these crate motors like a warranty block with no ID number?

 

[Cranky]

Cast cranks from Mother Mom were not junk by any means. For a mild to moderate build they will work fine however I like to do a fine polish job on the bearing surfaces. General Motors and Ford are the ones that have junk cranks with GM being the worse imo. They are the ones that gave the cast iron crank a bad name. The down side is no one wants them but the up side is that most will give them away if you need a crank for a mild/moderate build and don't have a steel one. Another plus is that they are lighter than a steel crank....