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Just bought a 1966 440 pretty bad shape.

1K views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  Journier 
#1 ·
I was at my local junkyard searching around and found a 1966 440 which i was pretty amazed to find i thought.

on the outside the damn thing looked great "dont they all"

after i got home with it though 1 of the pistons the 1st one in the line on the left side had rust in it piled up with a bit of water in it, damp feeling.

after i scraped most of the rust out gently so i dont scratch the sides i notice the piston is pretty screwed, sorta melted looking along with major pitting "from the rust"yet the rest of the pistons down the line look great.
i have yet to check the other side but i would suspect its worse since theres a little water sitting in one of the heads.

now... would you guys reccomend i haul that engine right back to the junkyard where i paid $150 for it and just get my money back out of it or try to fix it up.

I thought since hell its a 1966 block... its gotta be pretty damn nice even if its a little messed up it would be worth it...

So... what do you all think? the guy also has probably like... 4-6 big block 400's and like 3 383's.

hes got a hemi also that i might squeeze out of him... but the old lady is getting tired of seeing the 2 392's i have right now laying around :)
 
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#2 ·
There is really no way to tell unless you pull the other head off and yank the oil pan to see the rest of the cylinder walls, if its just that one and the walls dont look like the pistons I would keep it for that price. You're probably going to take it to a machine shop anyway...right?
 
#3 ·
i might not.......

i yanked the other head off and the other side is not bad at all, its just the right side 1st piston that is completely corroded pretty much, the piston itself had the hole go straight down into it then goes down to a pinhole through it. i yanked off the oil pan and its all good on the inside. no problems i dont think.. was alot of work cleaning up this damn engine now, spent all day pretty much working on it cleaning all the old grease off of it.. and taking the heads off and cleaning them up... my dad thinks i should keep the old heads on them but the heads are pretty damn beat and fairly rusted, i was thinking about just getting new ones, this engine is being saved for something special if i can save it :)

bought an engine stand for 30 dollars its a nice edelbrock one so i think i got a good deal on that.

now i guess either i could go to a machine shop with it... but how much would that cost? never did do anything with a machine shop always manually honed out the cylinder.
 
#4 ·
If the engine is as you described, then I would just hone out the cylinder walls, make sure they are'nt tapered or anything and just go from there.

As far as the heads go, as bad as you described them you are better off getting new because you're going to spend the same amount getting the old ones machined and reconditioned.


A Basic Block Prep Includes:


1. Removing of ALL galley and freeze plugs in the block
2. Hot Tanking Blocks Overnight
3. Mag Block For Cracks
4. Torque Main Caps and Check Line Bore
5. Run Block Through Steel Abrator ( blocks come out looking new )
6. Deck Block to 45 Degrees ( Basically A clean up on the deck surface ) Deck Block Plus Or Minus .0002"
7. Bore Block In CNC Machine
8. Hone Block In Diamond Hone Machine
9. Re-Clean Block_
10. Install Cam Bearings , Galley Plugs, And Freeze Plugs

Most machines shops usually charge around $400

Keep in touch and let us know how it coming along!

:thumbup:
 
#5 ·
hmmm i guess i could go on ebay and buy "new" stock ones 100 for a pair, this engine is just going to be the original beast i really dont think i want it to run 700 horsepower :)

its just a slow kind of rebuild and maybe a few higher performance pieces will get dropped into it.. really dont want to spend 10,000 on an engine like some people, its surprising how much you can put into an engine.
 
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