Stupid Question but are 383 Rocker Arms and 440 Arms interchangeable?

[Mfr426]

Can I take a rocker arm assembly from a 68 440 and install it on a 71 383 motor?

Thanks for any comments!

Mike R in Reading PA

[dodge freak]

Hi again, hows the motor doing?? Did you get it working good again. Sorry not sure about the rockers.

[RD]

yes you can

[Mfr426]

Hey, Yep...I figured it out. I had (2) bent push rods on number 1 cylinder. I pulled each plug wire and had a drop in the idle with all except number one. I knew something was up with number one cylinder so I pulled the valve cover and sure enough I had (2) bent pushrods. They were in tact but bent up. I does not appear to have damaged anything.

I pulled the rocker arm and realized that there was a spacer missing in between the rocker arms for #3 cylinder. I'm not sure that had anything to do with it but did not put the motor back together (the last time) so I cant confirm that everything was tourqued down correclty. It's obvious that some parts were missing...

I have an original 68 440 sitting on a stand in my garage. It came of out a NewYorker. The rockers are clean and I'm thinking I'll pull them and bolt them on to remove any doubt.

Thanks for asking and for the help!

[Mfr426]

Thanks RD!

[dodge freak]

Thats great, but I wonder how the push rods got bent? Thats the problem with having somebody else put your motor together, seems like there always something that is loose or not right. You think because they are be payed they try to do a good job. I had my motor redone in 2001 and let the shop do everything, so far I had to change the water pump, it was "new" and the intake gasket. Its runs good and has not had anything else go wrong so I guess I did better than some. Next time I will put it together and break it in, cause people don't seem to care. I did find a few loose bolts around the timing cover and motor mounts. You should try to check all that you can, before theres a problem. Check the fan too.

[Chryco Psycho]

could be just a bad lifter [lots of them around right now ] it may not be holding pressure & causing the valvetrain to go loose

[Mfr426]

Thanks guys. I did put the motor back together initially (and painstakingly torqued the rockers). I had them do a rear main seal and then at that point they took the whole motor apart...

Rest assured I'll be doublechecking my work. I have a feeling that NOT having that spacer caused some valve train looseness...

[TylerCharger69]

Are you talking about the spacer that separates the rocker arms that are underneath the bolts that bolt the rocker shaft directly to the head?....If  so....yeah...you need those!!!   As far as the bent push rods....I'd be checking my lifters, and.... i shudder to think.....maybe bent valves??  But   if those spacers were gone.....That's probably the culprit

[Chryco Psycho]

do NOT over-torque the rocker shafts , it can oval the shaft & cause wear ro binding problems , 25 lbs max

[Mfr426]

Yep, those are the spacers in between the rockers themselves. I was missing one. Not sure if the "garage" that did my motor the last time neglected to see if they were all present before putting it back together. One would think to check for that? Friggin' idiots!

I dont think I have bent valves as I have compression in the cylinder. I'm not pulling off the heads to check either at this point. Honestly, if I do have bent valves I'll build up the 440 that I have and drop it in for some real HP. I think I'm just looking for a reason to do that anyway.

Fingers are crossed for a fresh set of pushrods (torqued correctly), correct spacer and a good running motor.