1976 440 Block

[shawnmd]

I have an opportunity to buy two 76 440 blocks.  The guy has the cast cranks for them but also has steel cranks from earlier 440s as well.  He says that the the cast and steel cranked 440's had different connecting rods and that he has the rods for the cast crank.  BBuuuuttttt he also has an 413 block with 'steel crank' connecting rods?

I've done some reading and from what i can tell the connecting rods were the same regardless of the type of crank.  Is this true?

Could I purchase the steel crank, with the 76 440 and the connectiong rods from the 413?  Would they work.  There all goin dirt cheap.

Can someone give me a history lesson here??

[RD]

I have an opportunity to buy two 76 440 blocks.  The guy has the cast cranks for them but also has steel cranks from earlier 440s as well.  He says that the the cast and steel cranked 440's had different connecting rods and that he has the rods for the cast crank.  BBuuuuttttt he also has an 413 block with 'steel crank' connecting rods?

bs... they all used LY rods except for 6 pack motors

[Chryco Psycho]

2 common rods the strong & light LY & the strong & heavy 6 pack
the cast crank is good for 500 hp but causes balancing issues
the 440 & 413 steel cranks will both work well get the rotating assy balanced either way

[firefighter3931]

The rods you want will have 535 as the last 3 digits in the casting number....these are the LY rods that are plenty strong for allmost any build. The steel crank will be easier to balance as mentioned above....get it if at all possible. 


Ron

[charger harry]

Nobody has mentioned balancers yet.  Steel crank is internally balanced and uses a completely round, thin balancer.  Cast crank is externally balanced and uses a balancer that has a kind of counterweight cast onto the balancer and also will use a counterbalanced flywheel or convertor.  IIRC, the cast crank balancer also says"440 CAST CRANK" or some such words on the balancer.  All the rods are the same.  413, 426 wedge (I think) and all the 440's except for the later six pack rods.  Like Psycho says also, if you are mixing and matching from different engines, make sure to get the reciprocating assembly balanced.
Harry

[andyf]

Grab the blocks and the steel cranks.  I wouldn't bother with the stock rods unless it is just a low budget motor.  You can buy new 440 rods for not much more than what it would take to rebuild a set of LY rods these days.  Plus, the new rods are bushed for the 0.990 pins which is what most performance pistons are going to use.