Finally got a 440 (bittersweet)
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 1:18 am
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.
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.