The block is stamped 3-17-76, 4006630-440-7 It has 452 heads with small tapered spark plugs.What do i have? What does the"7" stand for?
Been few years since my last 440.....should be a cast crank smog motor....452's are a decent head....are the the same as 906 with hardened seats?
That is actually the date the block was cast at the foundry. The "-7" you referred to is not clearly defined, but my guess is that it may be a engineering revision level. Nobody really seems to care about any dash numbers after the 440 casting number. The stamped numbers are just to the left of the distributor (as viewed while sitting in the drivers seat) and in front of the intake manifold on a horizontal machined pad. Sometimes the AC compressor blocks the view. You will probably find 7T440E stamped into the pad as well as the factory engine assembly date and possibly undersize/oversize markings. 7 = 1977 model year, one of the last T = VIN code for std performance 440 (U = hi perf version, i.e. squad car) 440 = engine displacement E = cast crank (most 440 engines were since 1974)
Allot of guys put the 70's 440 down but it's just because they had super low compression. I like the blocks and heads and a cast crank is great for a steet fighter. Find some better pistons (yours probably sit .160 to .180 down in the hole) a good cam and it will start smiling at you.
I am under the understanding the 7 means the following. The mold to cast that block has been used, at that point, 7 times. Chrysler starting doing this in the 70's. That's why there was more core shift in some later model blocks. It really wasn't that they were a lot thinner. A late model -1 or -2 block is just as good as an early block.
Ok so this thread is old AF, so this undoubtedly won't help the OP, but I find that people often stumble across such threads looking for correct info even years later. The dash number on Chrysler big blocks is not an indicator of how many times a given mold was used. The dash numbers were Tooling Revision Numbers. The dash number indicated how many times a given core mold was revised...either to include updates and improvements (of which there were many over the B/RB's long production run) or to indicate the core mold having undergone a refurbishment process. There is no limit on how high a dash number can go. I have seen them as high as 12. It is a common misnomer that the dash number represented how many times a given core was re-used. The biggest problem with that idea is that some core molds were used for many years and went thru repeated updates. Others were damaged or worn out before being updated many times. Also, the "thinwall" myth has been thoroughly debunked. extensive tests were carried out by both 440 Source and Mopar Action Magazine on a large selection of late model blocks. None were found to be any thinner than earlier blocks. The earlier blocks tended to be up to 5% harder however, due to a slightly higher nickle content. Core shift is indeed a problem with some B/RB motors, but the core shift problem applies to 440s of all years, and is relatively rare. I've seen 1968 blocks split open. I've seen 1978 blocks make 7-800 horsepower and run on the strip for years and vice-versa. I am running a smogger 440 engine that came out of a 1975 New Yorker that was going to derby. The derby guy ran chevy gear in all his derby cars, so I got the motor, 727B trans, driveline and Sure Grip 9 1/4 for a paltry 450 bucks. The bearings and bores were absolutely perfect and someone had installed a double roller T-chain that was still tight, so I just buttoned it up, tossed in a Comp XE268 cam and topped it off with a pair of 440 Source Stealth heads. With headers, a Mopar M1 intake and 800 AVS thunder series carb, it's making around 475 horsepower, even with the low compression. It's totally docile on the street and even makes good vacuum. Not bad for a total investment of roughly $2500. These are great motors that make gobs of torque and I hope the OP did something with that old RB motor of his.
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