440 Build Begins

[72RDRNR]

Glad to hear you got it back. Can't wait to see it out on the streets!

[landon1]

block is....BLUE...no pics, forgot the camera, but the block is painted, cleaned and oiled cylinder walls (jeez that takes a long time), test-fit oil pickup tube and windage tray (have to clearance the tray, as the tube rubs on it), installed dipstick tube, and that is basically it, other than making sure i got all my new parts.

pick up my oil and filters tomorrow, goal is to get the motor assembled this weekend...will most likely have to wait til next weekend to get it back in the car.

[landon1]

progress! i got some work done this weekend...not quite as much as i'd like, but i started feeling like "world's worst dad" so i had to quit - more important things to do. anyhow, i got quite a bit done and i'm pretty happy with the progress and quality of the parts and machine work. only problem was the milodon windage tray/my oil pan/pickup combination. windage tray needed some clearance work for the pickup tube - cut out a section, reamed it out further....after that was done, the darn tray was interfering with the rotation of the crank - rod caps hitting, so installed the gasket and that solved that, but the pickup tube was then hitting the tray...i gave up on it...pan has baffles in it and it's not going to be a 5K RPM+ motor anyway (most of the time ) hopefully have time this week after work to get the rest of it finished up, then this coming friday night/saturday i can get it dropped in

so, on to the pics...

[rr6pak]

Lookin good, Landon!

[CtownRunner]

Looks like your in the home stretch!
My buddy has a 74 truck 440 he is beggin to get rid of cheap.

Your tempting me to get the block and sit on it for now.

[Smellslike1974]

Looks like your in the home stretch!
My buddy has a 74 truck 440 he is beggin to get rid of cheap.

Your tempting me to get the block and sit on it for now.

Blocks make great chairs and end tables.


That motor looks great landon!

[landon1]

thanks guys! i got a bit frustrated today, but very happy with all the progress made after waiting months to get the block back.

hell, it'd be worth it just to get a block and have it tanked and painted up to use as a nice piece of furniture in the living room imo...just beautiful, and the blue would go with most decors

i'm very happy with it, so clean i'd eat off it. i think i probably wiped down each cylinder 5 times to the point they were spotless when the towel was wiped around it. assembly is taking a bit longer than i had thought, but the hard part is over. measuring clearances, checking end gap, installing rings, lubing up everything, getting the cam installed, etc. etc. etc. takes forever (especially when i'm wiping everything down several times to make sure it's clean).

almost a shame to put this beautiful piece of machinery into my old beat up car guess it gives me an excuse to start saving up for those new quarters, doing body work, and finding someone, or learning myself, to paint.

[landon1]

motor was all assembled, had it primed, got it turned enough so there was oil coming to the rockers, put it in the car, everything together..........fired right up, but was ticking like no other.......heard the XE cams are notorious for being a bit noisy, especially at start-up, so i let it go for awhile, but it was way too noisy. ended up getting intake and head off to check out more and i'm getting no oil up the passageway even to the top of the block, therefore, the cam bearing that oils the top end apparently wasn't installed right or something. i don't know how i got oil to it on the stand, but oil puddled up on the rockers, now not at all. really ticked-off right now, not sure what to do at this point

[landon1]

got it tore down.......machine shop didn't put in the lower front oil galley plug. i am ticked unbelievable. all that work done, just to tear it down and do it over again. i think i'm owed at least the plug and a new gasket set since mine are ruined now. let this be a lesson for everyone who gets machine work done in order to assemble the motor at home, and even if they assemble, go ahead and check to make sure all the plugs are in - 2 in front, 2 in back

[Elvad]

You did get rid of that old nylon timing gear that breaks the oil pump drive shaft..right?

[Smellslike1974]

I think he got a steel one,couple pics up

[landon1]

nylon cam sprocket isn't gone - it's sitting in the garage lol. new timing set is a comp magnum double roller set-up. the nylon coating came off in the original motor, going through the motor scoring the hell out of the crank and basically plugged-up my oil pickup tube.

in the process of trying to get the machine shop to cover cost of new gaskets, etc. once that's taken care of, it will be re-assembled (another couple hours of work) and hopefully be burnin rubber shortly after

[landon1]

mk, so after about 5 hours last night getting motor re-assembled, accessories on, radiator in, hoses on, etc. etc. etc. and then another few hours tonight getting plugs in, ignition temporarily set-up, etc. it fires, it runs, and i only had one fire darn #5 plug wire managed to touch the header tube - not only did it just melt like i used to constantly have problems with, it actually caught on fire, flames and all - extinguished quickly - no harm, other than to my pointer finger

anyways, here's a couple pics and a short little video, not best quality, but just to kind of hear idle and exhaust ...very happy with progress. now it's on to wiring.

[steved]

WOW!! sweeeeeeeeeet. awesome job.

sjd

[landon1]

thanks!

still a bit of work to do - car is a mess from sitting for so long...now i need to sort through all that, hopefully be driving it around in a week, just in time for snow to about start falling