Dodge 440 Engine Rebuild - Mopar Muscle

16. Lightly lubed bores allow the pistons to slide easily into place. The rod bolts are covered with a condom to prevent marring the crank, and a piston ring compressor squeezes the Sealed Power rings down into shape.

17. Proper Fel-Pro gaskets seal the head to the block and line up the cooling passages between the two. Using top quality components makes for a reliable, trouble-free rebuild, rather than discount-priced parts that may not fit right or last long. It's worth it in the long run to use quality components.

18. Lifters are coated in a break-in lube, and then slid into the bores in the valley. Pushrods slide home and are topped off by the rockers on the shaft with all the appropriate retainers. The timing chain, gears, and cover are also fitted onto the block.

19. Unlike most other rebuild shops, Coast Motor Supply has a run-in fixture for each engine. This machine pumps the assembly with oil, and then spins the crank to lube and break in the components. The engine is left running away on the fixture as oil is pumped through the block, and proper oil flow is noted. This is the critical time when pushrods can be bent or other problems arise. Using this fixture ensures proper lubrication before initial firing of the engine.

20. Coast can supply you with a turnkey engine, but in our case we decided to finish the assembly ourselves. We painted and installed our own tin as well as the intake manifold, and all the little ancillaries needed to make an engine run.

21. The final product may not look like a full-on race-ready power brute, but then again it will be far more reliable than such a build. Stock rebuilds with great attention to detail and proper machining can lead to a reliable and economical engine choice.

The stamped pad numbers tell a strange story on this block. Located on the left front top of the block, these stamped numbers "9 T 440 E" indicate that this is a 1979 440 with a cast crank. 9T is 1979 (even though it was produced in 1978, it wasn't built or installed until 1979 in an '80 model year motorhome chassis), while the 440 is displacement. The E indicates a cast crank, the only style available at that time.

The cast numbers on a block tell you many things. This 4006630-440-4 tells you the block is a 440 from '78, as the date code above it shows as well. The first 440s were built in 1966, and the last came about in 1978, even though they weren't being used in passenger cars.

The crankshaft damper on our engine is clearly marked "use with 440 cast crank only," which is what we have on this engine. Even the torque converters are different for the two and must not be interchanged.