Dodge Charger 440 Engine details

Hey TheKelev,

well the Ma MOPAR 's 440's spark plugs where placed like JHandle's thread states and the pix are great refferance, but the colors varied from Turquiose Blue to Chysler Blue to Hemi Orange, the blue dicated that the engine was either a 2 barrel or basic performance 4 barrel engine, the orange dictated that it was a high performer 4 barrel or six pack (6 barrel) engines, the closest color to theold turquiose blue would be Buick Blue, and the orange would be Orange, as for the color of the oil filter it depends on which filter company makes it, I know Fram's are orange, Wick's are white, MP (Mopar Performance) are either black or even chrome it just depends on what color or which manufacture you like the best, and Jhandle has the valley pan right again, but from the factory they where painted the engine color and after time the paint chipped away leaving the bare aluminum

And Rangerj

Sorry no factory built MOPAR 440 had a hemispherical head installed, you might be thinking of the 426 Hemi which have the spark plugs in the valve covers, but Indy Heads have a conversion for the Chrysler B or RB block engines as well as for their LA engine too for the HEMI head

JH,

Depending on "what" 440 was put in your Charger it could have the spark plugs that are mounted through the valve covers. The engine color could be orange if the engine is one of Chrysler's high performance "street racing" engines. These engines often had special limited production parts like heads, cranks, high rise intake manifolds, two or six carbs, and the Chrysler signature "Ram" headers to name a few.  The factory produced so many ( a limited number ) of these cars so that the version would qualify for NASCAR and/or NHRA as a "factory" stock item. The valley pan on the Mopars I have owned was always the same color as the engine. If you can see the valley pan then the engine must have a high rise cross-over intake. That tells me your engine should be Chrysler orange. Is that Revell kit of a 69 Charger R/T 440? A big color for the body for that year was "Plum Crazy". It is a metalic purple. Testors MM Pearl Grape is a close match. White leather interior and charcol gray interior carpet would be very common to compliment the body color. Just some thought.

Savin' the motor from a wreck sounds familiar... had a 73 T-Bird that got T-boned in Sept. '02 while parked infront of my house. An 85-90 5.0 Mustang did it. (I'll post some pics if ya want) It was still driveable but, after a year of looking for parts, I pulled the 460c.i. out of it which is still waiting to go into a '66 Ford F-100 pick up.

LOL, I had a few gems like that myself Don.

I always managed to save the motors for another project and scrapped the bodies.

No, not stripped of paint, in fact it looked really good after power washing it, better than the other parts of the car. . .well the parts that remained attached after I removed the rust and grease holding them on.
The chassis was so far gone  I couldn't even find a spot to weld up!I sold the engine for $300 to another guy who needed it for his 65.

Don

dkmacin wrote:

Hey Jim, Funny, the cast iron block on my 1965 Mustang wasn't rusting. . .but the rest of it was!! Don

It wasn't striped of paint and grease down to bare metal was it?

Or sealed in a large ziplock bag? 

Every block I ever had hot tanked, if I didn't wrap it in plastic quick, would start showing signs of oxidation within a few days to a week. 

Image an engine and freeze-out plugs rusting up like stock exhaust manifolds. AHHH
I screwed up once and replaced a water pump (non-painted) on one of my built motors (I was in a hurry). It didn't take long for that to look ugly. Had to rip it off, glass bead it and paint it... what a pain.

Hey Jim,
Funny, the cast iron block on my 1965 Mustang wasn't rusting. . .but the rest of it was!!

Don

Hippy-Ed wrote:

Jim,  That 'Cuda 440 looks great! only thing I'd change is the manifolds & put on a set of Hooker Headers My '74 does...it helps with the fuel mileage & adds a few more horses   my for what it's worth...

Hey Ed, I would too if it was my Cuda LOL. Even if headers means every other weekend having to re-torque the bolts or double up on the gaskets. Drilling the heads of the bolts and wiring them was a pain LOL.

dkmacin wrote:

Now no matter the size or the maker they are all bare aluminum...

Old cast iron blocks used to rust quickly, aluminum doesn't. Plus no paint helps with heat dissipation.

dkmacin wrote:

Only after painting do you find out your wrong! ... it'll look good on my shelf at least.

You could always repaint it.
But that's the right attitude, as long as it looks good to you Don. 

Now no matter the size or the maker they are all bare aluminum. .  .must be due to air superiority as that is the reason given not to paint aircraft

Don

dkmacin wrote:

Only after painting do you find out your wrong! I saw alot of pictures on the internet of Dodge Blue engines, but (wrongly) assumed (Ohhh that word again) that this color was due to the preference of the (re) builder. Oh well, as I said, it'll look good on my shelf at least. Don

As long as it looks good to you & it is the Dodge/Chrysler color I had a '70 Barracuda with a 225c.i. engine which wasOrange, But, ny 73 Duster had a Blue 225 in it. Go figure. just depends on what's in the gun at the moment? Or, like you said, whatever the re-builder prefers...

Only after painting do you find out your wrong!
I saw alot of pictures on the internet of Dodge Blue engines, but (wrongly) assumed (Ohhh that word again) that this color was due to the preference of the (re) builder. Oh well, as I said, it'll look good on my shelf at least.

Don

Don, the colors are pretty correct for a 318c.i. (Mopar small block) I don't recall the big blocks ever being red. in my own experience with having owned many-a- Mopar in my day (& currently 3 trucks-'71 D100, '73 D200, '74 D300) The '74 1 ton flatbed is my work horse  which has the 400c.i. engine in it painted Dodge Blue. The valley pan is actually a tin sheet (steel or Aluminum is ok) that sits under the intake manifold (which is block color) You are correct about the oil filters being white w/ the red chrysler/Dodge emblem on them  when they come out of the factory.

Jim,  That 'Cuda 440 looks great! only thing I'd change is the manifolds & put on a set of Hooker Headers My '74 does...it helps with the fuel mileage & adds a few more horses   my for what it's worth...

I'm working on the same kit and here is what I am did:
I painted the block, heads and valve covers Testor's Model Master Chrysler Red. The valley I painted aluminum. The exhaust manifolds were painted Testor's Metalizer Burnt Metal fading to Metalizer Steel for the pipes. The Carburator got a coat of Metalizer brass right over the chrome, and a wash of thinned flat black to bring out the detail.
I painted up the oil filter orange (FRAM), though in the late 60's-70's they were white with a red Chysler star from the factory. Some also said MOPAR or MOPAR Factory Parts.
I drilled holes beneath the exhaust manifolds for the spark plug wires. They were evenly spaced in the actual block, but due to the mold you cannot get the even bank to be evenly spaced. I am not too concerned as you won't see that much once the engine is installed. I did ruin both distributor caps trying to drill them out for the wires and ended up using a piece of sprue for the cap, thinned down after I had all nine holes drilled in, and painted tan.
I painted my coil yellow, for the Accel brand. I used yellow plug wires from the parts box with wiring looms I made from a sheet of thin plastic painted gloss black.
I also decided to go with cutting off the plastic belts from the pulleys and use masking tape as in the Scale Auto article. If you decide to do this, you will have to put some spacers behind the alternator and power steering pump brackets so the new  "belts" will line up.I 'm not sure all the colors I used are "correct", but I like the look, and as the model is only going to sit on my shelf, I'm the one that has to be happy.

Don

The spark plugs are under the exhaust manifolds and evenly spaced as seen here or here (manifolds missing above spark plugs).

As far as the other two questions regarding color, that's tough. It was not uncommon for factory motors to come through with almost everything painted one color, including the first oil filter.

It wasn't until the oil was changed that the filter color would be different. Also the rocker valley cover might become stripped down to an aluminum color to match an aluminum intake manifold after a rebuild or detailing project.

So something like this "could" be correct - 440 engine
As this can too - Super Commando 440

I'm really a GM man (some Buicks and Chevy's) so I'm not sure what the correct color would be for a 1969 Mopar 440. I just know what I've seen coming through the dealerships and garages I've worked in for the past too many years.