RV 440 for my 72 Charger

[DustyRoads]

Awesome Thanksgiving! Spent some good time with the family, hope you did too. My cousin has a friend with a 440 w/727 30k miles on the rebuild that he is going to get me for free 99(was an RV motor, but I don't know anything about the rebuild, Ill try to get more info).
I was talking to my uncle after I got the news, and he let me know that he can get be a 440 out of an RV that needs to be pulled off of a friends property. Apparently it has just about 1k miles on it. Again free 99, and I could probably drive it home. I know getting that out of the RV and disposing of the rest is going to be a bear. I'm so far behind in knowledge on what to do. I planned on grabbing both up. Figured free = something to sell and dump back into my car. What would you do? My goal is to get this car to run a solid 12 on the strip and have something to drive to work and leave the parking lot feeling good after a shitty day. What kind of mods will I need/save up for to make it happen? Any links and your knowledge on this kind of project would be so much appreciated. Have a good one.

 

[moparwacko]

If I remember correctly RV blocks depending on years had stiffening ribs???
Some help here guys......
Good choice. good deal too just labor.

But be careful, your car will be drawn to Walmart parking lots and will want to spend the night.

 

[dsd1967]

I ended up with a 78 block out of a RV with less than 300 miles on it. They're low compression....something like 8:1, but I ended up with a stroker kit, ported aluminum heads a good solid flat tappet cam and 645 Hp, 677 Tq out of it. They're cheap and a good foundation to start with. Mine does have the stiffening ribs. I've heard the older blocks have higher nickel content, but I've also heard the later blocks had better manufacturing techniques and are less prone to core shift. They are cast crank and externally balanced, so you will have to pay attention to the harmonic balancer and maybe the flex plate.

I bought the whole RV for 500, and by the time I parted out the aluminum from the skin and all the steel from the frame and axles, I was about $200 ahead....just a lot of labor.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

Hopefully this helps.... I had a '73 RV 440 short block. Mine had a forged crank, external balancing & "six pack" rods. The only difference I noticed was two extra holes for each cylinder on the block where the heads bolt up. I read that RV's and some police cars had extra cooling passages which was basically a coolant loop inside the heads going around the spark plugs. The two holes/cylinder in the block was supposed to line up with two holes/combustion chamber on the heads.

I believe that head gaskets with those two extra cooling holes are hard to find, but you can drill out some holes in standard head gaskets. Also, I believe you can just use the standard head gaskets & block those holes off if you don't have RV/police heads.

I think the bottom line is that you've got access to two free 440's. If you're putting pistons in your motor anyway, I think either one would make a good motor to rebuild. You should be able to get a b-body into the 12's with a moderately built 440 & some 3.91's or 4.10 gears.