$800 for Motor Home

[rkressg]

I went with a friend of mine today to look at a mid 70's motorhome. I don't even know the name of the mfg. The truck has 21,000 orig miles. It has sat for 4 years. They want $800 for it, I tow it. It has a 440 wedge with a 727 transmission, and a dana 80 rear. They are all still good. the motor sound healty, but needs an accerator pump. It drives good, started right up, transmission makes no funny noises; but the truck has no brakes. I want it, just for the transmission to put in a 73' 3/4 ton Ram. The 73' Ram runs great, it has a 383 but the transmission is a 225. I will pull the transmission, motor, and rear-end, scrap the alum, and get $50 for the remaning heavy metal.



Does this sound like a good deal I am not real familar with the 440, such as what commonly breaks on them. Also, anything I should look for with the 727 transmission to check for abuse. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks:-laf

 

[NVR FNSH]

I don't know much about Mopars but our '72 Winnebago had an 'industrial' 413 V-8 in it. I don't remember what exactly was different from a 'standard' 413 but we never had a problem with the engine - except cracked exhaust manifolds & 4-5 mpg. Neither was really the engine's fault... .



Brian

 

[lgibson]

will not work

The 440 has a different bell housing on their transmissions than that on a 383. Correct me if I am wrong, but there are 3 basic Chrysler transmission bell housing. A six cyl. ; a small block; and a big block. It has been a while since I did transmissions, but we could get good transmission cores for $20 to $40. A good rebuild kit with a convertor and a shift kit would cost less than $150. This is what it cost in 1994 anyway.

 

[Mark_Kendrick]

The 383 is 'B' block. . the 440 is an 'RB'. both have the same housing. Hang onto the motor. lots of interchangable parts.



the only difference between the two motors is deck height, bore, and stroke.

check out sweptline.org they do old doge stuff. lots of links and motor info. I leaned a lot about my '70 Crew Cab there. '



l8r,

Mark

 

[rkressg]

Thanks for the Info. I will try to hold onto the block. If I really get daring, I will just put both the motor and transmission in the good old 73'.

 

[Deezul1]

Those old 440s were pretty strong running motors and seemed to live pretty long too.

 

[Un-Hemi]

If it really is a "truck" or "industrial" engine, it MAY have different heads on it, as well as a different crank. The proper truck heads had a cooling passage around the spark plug that the 'passenger' heads did not. I believe that the truck heads had spark plugs angled in, and I know that the passenger wedge heads have plugs that stick straight out of the head under the exhaust manifolds. If the engine in the motorhome appears to have the same heads, rocker covers and exhaust manifolds (general shape) on it as are on your 383, you are laughing. If they look totally different, it's probably not practical to swap it with the 383.



I have a 727 out of a '76 Dodge motorhome out in the garage. I just went out and looked at it, and the tailshaft is different, and it has a HUGE yoke nutted to the back of the output shaft. Your '73 probably has a slip yoke into the tailshaft. Some applications used a drum brake on the tailshaft. Compare the two tailshafts to ensure that they are the same, otherwise, it will be necessary to swap the 73's old output shaft, housing and yoke. Pull the trans pan and smell the fluid. Does it smell burnt? How much junk is in the bottom of the pan? Some is normal. A bunch is not.



Assuming that both the 383 and 440 are passenger variety, the intake manifold won't interchange either, because of the differing deck height.



Your 383 has a 727 transmission behind it. There was never a 904 transmission put behind an R or RB engine (361, 383, 413, 426, 440) that I am aware of. In the early '70s, the 904 was mostly, if not only, put behind 225 slant sixes. Is this why you suspect that it's a '225' transmission?



(Not many people know that there was a 383 RB engine, but that's another story!)



If you are more curious about these truck engines, I can dig out one of my old shop manuals and tell you more about the differences.



Tom