440 engine id

[danbrooks]

I recently purchased a 1970 440 hp block and wondered if anyone could tell me exactly what car it came out of.
The pan rail stamping is OB130628
This shows me it came out of a 70 vehicle
from Dodge main Hamtramck MI plant
then the last six of the vin are 130628

Can anyone decode this and tell me exactly where this came from?? someone once told me it was out of a cuda or challenger but no one knew for sure.
Thanks, Dan.

 

[MarksMopar1]

Those #'s are just the year, plant and Vin# of the vehicle. It looks like you have all the info you can get from those #'s There is no way to really know what this engine came from without the rest of the vin# in front on the "0". It could be any vehicle assembled at that plant that would use a 440 hp, Narrows it down as far as it can.

 

[DetMatt1]

Not necessarily, if you find a registry where they’ve listed known vins from before and after the one in question it could narrow it down even further but to what end?

 

[MarksMopar1]

Good luck with that! Lets just say, does it matter what it came from and why? If your building it for something just do it.....you dont have the car that goes with it so doesn't mater IMO. Unless of course you think its a big dollar motor (not) or you figure you can cash in on finding the owner with the car to match, it happens but Good luck with that

 

[aussiemark]

1968-1971 440 blocks are worth the most money I suppose because they are the muscle era blocks and people who haven't got their original engines try and at least get one from the same time period.

 

[340challconvert]

You can also look at the casting number and casting date on the left side of the block. It will confirm when the engine block was cast. The casting number should be: 2536430 Chrysler - Dodge - Plymouth RB 66-72 440.
You could also look at the date codes on the heads found on the underside of the head on an intake runner. If original, the heads should have a date code similar to the block casting, though there could be several months in between the block and head dates.
You could also look at the crankshaft damper; you could by some chance have a 440-6 engine with a damper that was different from the HP 440. Look at the date on the intake manifold also. You never know; someone could have switched the intake manifolds.

Not really able to determine what 70 high performance Mopar the engine
came out of. You could at least narrow down dates for the engine and heads, which typically were produced sometime prior to the install into a car.

DetMatt is also on to something; I have seen sources for Mopar builds where you could determine the type of car based on the production sequence numbers. Not sure where I have come across this? Again this number can also narrow down a potential APPROXIMATE build date or car type.

It could have come out of any 1970 high performance Mopar.

Some information on the B/RB engines:Moparts on the Web - Main Index

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

What's the stampings on the distributor pad?

 

[shakercuda]

It’s either from a U or V code Challenger RT or Cuda. The 375HP 4bbl 440 used the same rods and balancer as the 390HP 6bbl 440. The main difference was the three bolt cam/timing gear and 4 valve relief pistons. If you send the partial VIN to Barry Washington at the 1970 Hamtramck Registry, he can likely tell you if it was from a Challenger RT or ‘Cuda. He’ll also ad it to the lost and found.

 

[70SunFun]

I have to agree with shakercuda that your engine was most likely in a 440 U or V code Cuda or Challenger R/T. Without the first five digits of the VIN it's impossible to tell if it was a Cuda, Challenger R/T or if it was a hardtop or convertible car. The letter "B" is the Hamtramck plant build letter in your VIN. I have my 70 Challenger R/T registered in the 1970 Hamtramck registry (Barry Washington is its caretaker as shakercuda mentioned). When I looked in the registry there is a 70 Challenger R/T 440 hardtop with the VIN JS23U0B130619 listed. That car was built 9 cars prior to yours. There is a run of Challengers (VINs) built just before your VIN but then almost 1,000 cars later is a run of Cudas. So again, it's hard to tell if your engine came out of a Cuda or Challenger but most likely a Challenger (judging by the closeness of your VIN to the others in the registry). There are also VL cars listed in this registry. You should register your car in this registry. It's free but Barry asks for a donation as he spends a lot of time keeping it going. Your engine might have been in a 440 4bbl or 6bbl convertible and if that's the case, the current owner of that car's matching VIN (if it's still on the road) would probably pay dearly for it. Good luck!

 

[DetMatt1]

I have to agree with shakercuda that your engine was most likely in a 440 U or V code Cuda or Challenger R/T. Without the first five digits of the VIN it's impossible to tell if it was a Cuda, Challenger R/T or if it was a hardtop or convertible car. The letter "B" is the Hamtramck plant build letter in your VIN. I have my 70 Challenger R/T registered in the 1970 Hamtramck registry (Barry Washington is its caretaker as shakercuda mentioned). When I looked in the registry there is a 70 Challenger R/T 440 hardtop with the VIN JS23U0B130619 listed. That car was built 9 cars prior to yours. There is a run of Challengers (VINs) built just before your VIN but then almost 1,000 cars later is a run of Cudas. So again, it's hard to tell if your engine came out of a Cuda or Challenger but most likely a Challenger (judging by the closeness of your VIN to the others in the registry). There are also VL cars listed in this registry. You should register your car in this registry. It's free but Barry asks for a donation as he spends a lot of time keeping it going. Your engine might have been in a 440 4bbl or 6bbl convertible and if that's the case, the current owner of that car's matching VIN (if it's still on the road) would probably pay dearly for it. Good luck!

There you go, see how easy that was?

 

[6PKRTSE]

Make sure to sonic check it for wall thickness & mag check it for cracks. I have seen where the supposedly best 68-71 block have been thin & have also seen some later 70's blocks be thicker than even the 68-71 era of blocks. depending on core shift, if it's been bored over etc.

 

[70SunFun]

There you go, see how easy that was?

LOL! Easy peasy. Thanks!

 

[aussiemark]

Make sure to sonic check it for wall thickness & mag check it for cracks. I have seen where the supposedly best 68-71 block have been thin & have also seen some later 70's blocks be thicker than even the 68-71 era of blocks. depending on core shift, if it's been bored over etc.

That article on 440 source's website was good reading apparently there is no such thing as thin wall castings and all 440 blocks are good to go 60 thou over plus the latter blocks have the thicker mount ears ( how many early blocks have you seen with broken mount ears?). I would use a late 70's block for a performance build no problem at all.