Short Block!

Ok guys I worked most of the afternoon and evening on the 440 tearing it down to the short block.  When I bought this engine I bought it as a 440 54k miles running engine.  After tearing down it looks as if this engine was worse for wear then what was reported when I bought it... that being said ANY notion of doing a short block rebuild is out of the question.  Now Im needing to get the block completely machined and worked.  Still some serious decsions to make with this rebuild.  I got to make sure that I take my time and work out all the details, but Im leaning towards a budget build vice a HUGE stroker engine.  Well that is all for today.  Thanks for checking out my build. 

Got The 440 on a Engine Stand!

So having not messed with the engine at all since it has come into my possession has been a very sore spot for me hahahaha! Meaning Im getting anxious to tear it down. So I did some smiling and dialing and I got ahold of my good friend Bruce, he hooked me up with a cherry picker through a friend of his. I then got ahold of another good friend of mine David Bolinger, he had told me a year or two ago I could use an engine stand of his if I ever got a 440 to build... I took David up on his offer! So me and Bruce headed out to get the cherry picker. We got to his buddys house and there was a 65 Plymouth Barracuda sitting in the drive way. Looked in the garage and there was the 273 that went into it. The car was solid and would make an awesome quick project for someone who was into those cars as it had all the parts to go back on it. The body works was done and needed paint. So back to the task we got the cherry picker loaded up in the back of Bruces truck and some friends of his friends showed up along with this other guys sister in-law who was about 10 or 11 months pregnant... she was ready to bust! Anyways so this girl did not shut the heck up... she was just steady complaining about another one of Bruces friends her husband and we got sucked into listening to this chick for over an hour!!! It was so bad that the brother in-law and his friend left us hanging with this prego chick... we got pawned off on to this girl hahahahaha! I dont blame those dudes for ditching us after listening to this girl! Anyways we finaly make a clean break and head over to Davids house where we talked mopar for a while and engine builds. David has a sweet 70 RT Chally 383 FC7 with white int and a shaker. Along with an FC7 Demon his handle on cuda-challenger.com is FC7Freak. Go figure. Great guy I sometimes hang with him and another mopar guy around this area here in Clarksille TN and Hopkinsville KY as I live on the TN/KY border. Ok so David hooks me up with the engine stand and as we are kinda wraping things up the wife calls and says she is hungry... so that automaticly take priority and David who knows my wife understood why we had to leave right then... hahahaha! We had been gone at this point about 3.5-4 hours, on a trip that I didnt figure would get me back home in more than 2.5 hours... Once we got home and ate we get out the cherry picker and engine stand and unloaded the 440 from the back of my truck hooked it up on the engine stand and began tearing down the front portions of the engine. We got the AC/PS and water pump taken off and called it a night. Below are some pics of this evenings action:

The Cuda Guy Project 440 Build Intro!

So by total chance my buddy Bruce came upon a deal on a complete from A to Z 1973 440, 727 trans, NIB Fuel Pump, Radiator, and NIB Large Tube Headmen Headers for a total cost of $600.00... I jumped on it. Totaly broke at the time I had to speak out of my butt and commit to the package. Made a couple of moves and so far Im into the project for $600.00.

The objective of this blog is to document the my budget build of the 440 engine and trans for "The Cuda Guy Project" which in its self is worthy of its own blog! For back ground information on "The Cuda Guy Project" click on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq7UohHlvjw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8XSDwZ770I

My goal is 500+ Horsepower and 500+ Torque from a budget point of view. In my next post I will lay out a plan and a proposed goal for the budget. I would love to recieve any feed back on this project.

Total Balance For 440 Project:

-$600.00
440 Engine, 727 Trans, Headers, Radiator, Fuel Pump

- explaining to my wife I bought a 600.00 engine and trans that I cant use right now... expensive in the way of life $$$


At this time I would like to put out a special thanks to my family and all the members at www.cuda-challenger.com for all their love and support over the years. Without them this dream would have never came true. Thank you all.