My 440 rebuild thread
Well folks, don't do what I did. I bought my 74 Barracuda with a 440 six barrel last April, and hit sat for around 20 years without being run or turned over, according to the previous owner. I got it home, changed all the fluids, belts, hoses, plugs, etc., oiled the cylinders and turned it over by hand several times. What did not do, however, is prime the oil pump. It didn't even occur to me.
Previous owner told me the engine was a fresh build (20 years ago), and that it had maybe 500 miles on it. He said he was having trouble getting it tuned, got frustrated, and threw it into storage where it sat. I got it started and it ran ok, but the idle was extremely high once it warmed up, so I played with timing and fuel settings, and got it to mellow out.
There was always a problem that surfaced around 2800 RPM, and that was a stumble/pop/afterfire out of both exhausts. I tried many things from troubleshooting ignition and fuel, checking plugs, wires, nothing helped. Finally, I had a moment. Yesterday I had a valve cover off, and noticed the rockers were all just about at the same angle. Dammit. I'm pretty sure I know what that means. My cam is flat. Whether this happened because I didn't prime before starting or the previous owner didn't break it in properly, I don't know.
I need to pull the engine and confirm (also cut open the oil filter), but I'm quite certain that's what it is. So, I wanted to start a thread documenting my 440 rebuild for those interested, and because I know I'm going to have questions. I rebuilt my 318LA a couple years ago, and had immense help from the members here at FABO, so I'm pretty confident going into this.
The previous owner couldn't provide a build sheet for the engine, so I never knew what cam was in it, pistons, etc., so I'm excited to be able to tear this one down and build it how I want it, and now I'll KNOW what's in it.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you all will follow along.
Well folks, don't do what I did. I bought my 74 Barracuda with a 440 six barrel last April, and hit sat for around 20 years without being run or turned over, according to the previous owner. I got it home, changed all the fluids, belts, hoses, plugs, etc., oiled the cylinders and turned it over by hand several times. What did not do, however, is prime the oil pump. It didn't even occur to me.
Previous owner told me the engine was a fresh build (20 years ago), and that it had maybe 500 miles on it. He said he was having trouble getting it tuned, got frustrated, and threw it into storage where it sat. I got it started and it ran ok, but the idle was extremely high once it warmed up, so I played with timing and fuel settings, and got it to mellow out.
There was always a problem that surfaced around 2800 RPM, and that was a stumble/pop/afterfire out of both exhausts. I tried many things from troubleshooting ignition and fuel, checking plugs, wires, nothing helped. Finally, I had a moment. Yesterday I had a valve cover off, and noticed the rockers were all just about at the same angle. Dammit. I'm pretty sure I know what that means. My cam is flat. Whether this happened because I didn't prime before starting or the previous owner didn't break it in properly, I don't know.
I need to pull the engine and confirm (also cut open the oil filter), but I'm quite certain that's what it is. So, I wanted to start a thread documenting my 440 rebuild for those interested, and because I know I'm going to have questions. I rebuilt my 318LA a couple years ago, and had immense help from the members here at FABO, so I'm pretty confident going into this.
The previous owner couldn't provide a build sheet for the engine, so I never knew what cam was in it, pistons, etc., so I'm excited to be able to tear this one down and build it how I want it, and now I'll KNOW what's in it.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you all will follow along.
