The casting date on that engine will be cast on the passenger side of the block and will tell you right to the day when the block was cast. The only closed chamber big block cylinder head was from 1967, and can be identified by the casing number located under the valve cover. The last 3 digits were 915. I doubt this is what you have, but more than likely you will have the more popular 906 head. If you find the compression is too high, you can use a late 70's 400 head which has a larger combustion chamber, and also has hardened valve seat. This was known as a 452. Take the valve cover off and this will help you narrow down what you really have.
-- Edited by hemi43 on Saturday 2nd of November 2013 08:28:53 PM
I need to ask you guys that know engines better then I do, I have a 440, believe its a mid 70's quite possibly from a motorhome, not sure just have a feeling it is, not sure of the internals although I was told when I bought it that it is a 440, 030 over bore, closed chamber heads, mild cam, not sure of what it is just told its a mild cam, Edelbrock intake and 750 Edelbrock carb, it has a fuel regulator and a large electric pump under the tank plus a mechanical fuel pump on the engine, stock cast performance exhaust, more then likely stock heads, they are cast also, I have been told by a mechanic that has worked with hotrods all his life that he suspects it is higher compression, 11:1 or higher, again a guess. I have tried using high octane gas and also used octane boost while it helps it still knocked once it gets warmed up and have now installed a Snow Performance water methanol injection that really does help and now no more knock but now when you get your foot into it hard it seems to be starving for fuel and will almost bog and actually died on me once, now when I feel this happening I have turned on the electric fuel pump for a couple seconds and all is well again. Now my question to you is this, is the mechanical fuel pump going or do I have a small leak somewhere, when the Snow Performance water methanol kit was installed you have to put a spacer plate in that has a port that you thread in a nozzle to spray the water methanol or windshield washer fluid into it. The electric pump can't be left on all the time as it pumps too much fuel and can't be regulated properly it is just used to start the car after it has sat for a few days and loses its prime, it has always done this so nothing different here. So what do you guys think could be the problem, sure would like to have it reliable and not doing this, thanks for any help and advice. Here is a picture of the engine too.
I don t have 440 I just wish I had one for my 63 Plymouth
but this year I had my mechanic fix my 56 Monarch......we replace the gas tank with a fuel cell install an electric fuel pump,, disconnect the mechanical pump completely and I drove it locally all summer had lot of fun.....now I m no mechanic but I think the floats inside the carbs is what control the amount of fuel ......it should get the amount if you use a mechanical or electric fuel pump
There were 2 closed chamber BB mopar heads, 516 and 915. 516 were the early 60's head, I raced a couple years with those until they cracked.
My guess is you are trying to pull fuel through the electric pump with the mechanical. That will not work very well as fuel pumps cannot pull fuel as well as they can push it. If you have a regulator I do not see why the electric cannot be used. I ran a dead head system in my 11 sec street car. Set at 7psi. The stock type fuel pumps for big block dodge do not work well in anything with power, I also found the limits of the stock pickup in the gas tank.
What is your timing set at? I want to know full timing and idle. If you have a compression tester would be interesting to know cylinder pressure. Eddy carbs are known to be lean out of the box which would help detonation. I'm guessing the vacuum advance will be hurting things. It was the first thing I had to eliminate when I started playing around. I raced these engines for over 10 years
glen's got a good point with the 2 fuel pumps. why? i know at westech they swear by clay smith pumps and they will handle any power you will throw at it. i have one on the hemi and one on the 572 and i've never had a burp. feel sorry for ya. it sounds like a process of elimination and that sucks. you really need to know what you got before you start the process. with one of them pumps on there with the elec gone its either in the tank or the carb as far as fuel flow. good luck
What ignition are you running? Stock with vacuum advance, or 6al, or...? Does your engine coolant temperature run high?
With the timing with too much advance, you can get these symptoms.
The first thing I'd eliminate would be the two fuel pump set up, and look at the timing.
Hi, thanks for all the help here, just a couple more things I need to add, first the electric fuel pump and the mechanical pump were both there and did work no problems until I added the Snow Performance water methanol kit, this shouldn't make any difference as it worked before but my first thought was the mechanical pump is going. To answer a few more questions, the timing was set lower until I had the Snow kit put on and then we found we could increase the timing a little bit, think it is at 34 degrees, I do have a MSD 6a on as well and it is mechanical advance and not vacuum advance, this because I didn't want the advance to move up any higher under acceleration and make the knock worse. My engine runs cool enough, under 200 and even less on the highway but it seems that when the engine gets internally warm that's when I get it knocking worse and the Snow kit takes care of this. This car was built by a couple guys in Barrie I was told, they owned a body shop and built it to drag race, the fuel line from the tank is at least 3/8" or maybe even more and this is why, or so I was told they put the large fuel pump on as it would lose prime if it sat for a few days, Now when I start the car I use the electric fuel pump on for maybe 5 or so seconds, pump the throttle and she fires right up, will still do this but just recently after the Snow kit was put on it seems to lack fuel when really getting my foot into it hard, this is why I am thinking I may have either a vacuum leak in the carb area or else my mechanical pump is going out slowly and not pumping enough fuel under hard acceleration. I want to try and find out my compression to know exactly what I have. How can i find out my compression without tearing it down? Thanks for any ideas and would be nice to find somebody in the Waterford area that can check this out for me.
I want to try and find out my compression to know exactly what I have. How can i find out my compression without tearing it down? Thanks for any ideas and would be nice to find somebody in the Waterford area that can check this out for me.
The best way to check the compression ratio, without taking the engine apart, is with a whistler. Most race tracks have one and the nearest track to you is Flamboro Speedway. You can see what a whistler looks like at the following site. http://store.katechengines.com/whistler-compression-ratio-tester-p174.aspx
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What's the point of writing a response if its only going to get deleted.
if the two pumps are inline - that is more likely to be the issue - the mechanical pump is tired from tryin to suck through the turned off electric pump
if you can leave the electric pump on all the time and you no longer have your issue then you have found the problem
the snow system is definitely not your issue unless you have a huge vacuum leak somewhere from installing it
Sounds like two problems. 1 - poor octane tolerance, 2 - fuel starvation
1 - It sounds like you have gotten your octane tolerance issue under control, but if I were you I would do a cranking pressure test to see what cylinder pressure your engine is making. This will give you an idea of your dynamic compression ratio, and if you know your camshaft specs, can give you an approx. static compression ratio. Anything more than about 160-175psi on a big mopar with stock open chamber heads is probably going to detonate on pump gas. You can get to about 200-215psi with modern aluminum closed chamber heads and a tight quench.
2 - either remove the electric pump or the mechanical pump. They are restrictions to each other (when the electric pump is not running). I ran a carter street/strip pump only for years on a legit 500hp 440 with no fuel starvation issues. Just make sure you have 3/8" or larger lines that are in good shape with no kinks and a good filter.
