Finally got a 440 (bittersweet)

[pats71]

Well I finally went out to the junkyard and pulled this 440 out of a 76' winnebago motor home. I had to put up with so much bs from the yard. They raised their price on the engine claiming that their "listed" price is for regular engines and not big blocks. So instead of paying only 90$ I was expecting, I had to pay 220$ with no brackets, just the long block itself. I will be contacting the owner monday to get the extra money back or else I will be filing charges. I brought my own cherry picker, tools, and everything with no assistance from the yard. The guy running the shift offered us a fork lift to help, then we go back two hours later and the same guy says " we don't run the fork lifts on the weekends". I ended up using the cherry picker to lift the motor home 8 feet in the air, then lying on my back so I could use my legs to push the motor up and have it drop out behind the k frame. So I go up to the guy and pay for the engine, my buddy sees him say "Fuck!" right when I had my back turned. The junkyard employees were trying to stop me from getting that engine because they pull all the big blocks before the vehicles go to the public. Problem is that engine has been there for 6+ years now. Nothing like being 19 and pissing all the older guys off lol. But I will never pull a 440 out of a motor home again. BTW the name of the yard is called "Pick N Pull" and is a very well know yard here in texas.

Now that I'm done ranting about the hassle to get this engine, here are is some info that I know of. The engine has blue paint, and is an E series engine. It has the 452 heads and the assemble rotates very with no spark plugs. The motor home only had 35k miles so the engine is sludge free. I'm pretty sure this engine has cast crank and pistons so I bought a forged crank and set of pistons at a swap meet the same day. So far so good. Just gotta figure out a cam and get the heads rebuilt.

[CtownRunner]

I would not do business with that yard again!
Good luck with your project.
I bet the works that day all have criminal records. LOL

[Elvad]

The engine brackets from the motor home are no good to you anyway, unless your putting it in your motor home. Sounds like something out of a movie. I am suprised it has 452's I thought most motorhomes had small plug heads, even better. Hey for 220 bucks?? i'd buy 5 of them. Piss those guys off by putting it together and leave 100yds of rubber in front of their shop. Check out http://www.engine-swaps.com for mounts, these guys are the best. Also check out http://www.440source.com http://www.firmfeel.com www.monicattichrysler.com

[landon1]

that's good, but sux. $220 isn't too bad, but i wouldn't want to spend it either. when i found out my block was cracked, i about had a heart attack - luckily it wasn't bad and was repaired just like new (can't even tell where it was). you wouldn't necessarily have had to get a new crank either. if it was in good shape and at a decent price, great though. hopefully you got a new balancer lined-up. if you don't need machine work, you could have a pretty nice combo for the money spent