77 440 Motorhome Engine - Info Needed

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PA Dart Guy

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I just picked up a running 77 440 out of a motorhome. Gonna drop it in my Valiant in more-or-less stock form just to get my car on the road and have something to play with.

Does anyone have any info on the engine specs for this engine? Did they have any extra performance goodies in them compared to the other low-compression anchors of it's day? I am aware of the extra cooling passages in the heads.

Compression is 8.2:1 on the other 440s of this year...Is it any higher on these motorhome engines?

If I do anything to it before I put it in, it's going to be a cam (original 383/440 HP Grind -.450/.458 lift), and a manifold (performer or M1 dual plane)

Any info would be great.
 
have you checked the numbers on the side of the block,, some of those motor homes believe it or not had 413 in them,,
 
The numbers should be on the raised pad on the engine forward of the intake manifold if it's a 440. I'm not 100% sure but I think 1977 would read M440 on the raised pad.
 
compression would be the same whether car or truck for that year. if it was me, i would pull the heads and do a template port job , put a thin steel head gasket back on then add everything you mentioned and you would have a decent performing car.
 
I can't remember which years but some of them had 440 - 8 on the side which I believe were extra engines from NASCAR that they just put in motorhomes. A friend of mine had a motorhome with that number on the side of his 440, and he did some research and apparently there are or were 53 or so of them put into motorhomes.
 
Yeah, haven't even gotten around to checking the numbers yet. Gonna do that tonight after work.

Was there anything special inside those 440-8 engines? That is pretty cool.
 
You need to check on the date of the block, as it will tell how much is actually added inside. If it is a 440 out of a motorhome, it should be stamped 440-1 or 440-3 on the side of the block. 440-1's are basically run of the mill truck 440s, while the -3s are more heavy duty oriented, with double roller timing chains, six pack rods, and more cooling passages in the cylinder heads (peanut shaped). These motors are near indestructable. We had a great running, good oil pressure -3 with 120,000 miles in a motor home before we sold it. Probably one of the better motors made, with the exception of lower compression of the day. These motors made 255 net horsepower and 360 ftlbs in 1977-78. Remember, net hp, although probably not too inaccurate. They do make a ton of torque though.
 
it may have a steel crank in it along with the heavy six pack rods in it mine did. the balancer is thin for a steel crank and the thick balancer has cast crank forged into it
 
Is the cast crank internally or externally balanced? I'm thinking it's external because of the size of the balancer. Is changing it over to a steel crank as easy as swapping in a new crank, balancer and flexplate/flywheel?
 
MOPARJ said:
You need to check on the date of the block, as it will tell how much is actually added inside. If it is a 440 out of a motorhome, it should be stamped 440-1 or 440-3 on the side of the block. 440-1's are basically run of the mill truck 440s, while the -3s are more heavy duty oriented, with double roller timing chains, six pack rods, and more cooling passages in the cylinder heads (peanut shaped). These motors are near indestructable. We had a great running, good oil pressure -3 with 120,000 miles in a motor home before we sold it. Probably one of the better motors made, with the exception of lower compression of the day. These motors made 255 net horsepower and 360 ftlbs in 1977-78. Remember, net hp, although probably not too inaccurate. They do make a ton of torque though.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'll have to check on the numbers again...
 
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