Hi Guys.

Please welcome my latest addition to my family of Challengers. This red/black 71 automatic has a 400 souped up engine and performs really well. I recently bought it and will do some fine touches to it here and there. With this, I now have an almost complete collection of the muscle 71 series (missing a Hemi)
The others are a 383 magnum convertible manual gear, and the third is a 383 magnum R/T absolutely untouched, all original and in excellent condition. See photos attached.

My question is the following. On my convertible, its original engine was replaced by a 400. When I bought it, I sought its original owner whom has died unfortunately, and his children claim that they have the orig engine, amongst many others in their store. They have no idea about engines, and the engines are stripped down, and probably peices all over the place.

I will be visiting them with a mechanic, who supposedly knows how to identify them. But I want to be sure. Can you throw at me suddestions to help

Thanks
Ok, I seem to be having a problem posting photos, will try later

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Looks like posting the pictures worked after all. Here are the rest


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The 383 and the 400 have their ID in the same location, if your looking at the engine from the passenger side, look just below the distributor at the flat angled pad, it will have coding stamped into it (this is sometimes unreadable due to heavy or multiple coats of paint filling in the stampings, you may need to chip the paint off to positively ID it if that is the case). Part of it will be a code for the year made, another will be the engine size in CID (383 or 400) and the last at the bottom right will tell you what type of engine it is (HP is the Magnum, some might have HP2 which means it is a Magnum that was built on the 2nd shift). Anything other than HP or HP2 are not the Magnum. The larger 440 and 426 have a flat pad in front of the valley pan under the intake manifold, it is seen from the front of the motor off to the left side and the coding is the same. Here are a few pictures showing where the ID pads are and they are highlighted by a red box around them.

The first picture is showing where the ID pad is on the 383/400 below the distributor and between the head and alternator:


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This second picture shows the flat pad for the 440/426 ID which is easily visible:


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Thanks buddy, This sure helps.

Quite a beauty yours too, and the power must be awsome[8D]

By the way, is it true that the engines labelled "magnum" not only are hi powered and give more power than the 400, but have a special metal crank shaft or other parts too? I even heard that the crank shaft is made out of Stainless steel??

 

Welcome back Farouk.... thought that white convertible looked familiar! Found another sharp one too, I see.

 

Hi Tom, and thanks for the welcome note.
Yes I am still surviving inspite of everything[&:]
With all whats going on, the only real thing is the soud of my Challys.
Actually, this last one only was made available because the owner got fed up and wanted to leave the country. As we say, the misfortunes of some are the fortunes of others.

Coming back to identification, would there be a similar way to identify the cylinder head, or that would not be so important? Does all the significance lie onto the block?
Also what about the crank material, is it different on magnums form other engines?

Thanks, Farouk

 

The heads for the HP engines from '68 to '70 used casting numbers of 2843906. It should be on the top of the head itself; if the engine is fully assembled, you'd have to remove the rocker cover to see it. '71 & 2 used a casting number of 3462346. To my knowledge, the HP engines all used forged cranks; the low performance versions were cast. They employ different crankshaft dampeners, as the cast crank engines were externally balanced.

 

Thanks Tom. Its great to know this. Now I feel well prepared

 

If it is not the 383 From your car (matching VIN #), and you truely want a 383, just put any 383 in it. They are cheep, I can get a core from $75-$250 any day of the week. I known runing I can get running engines from $100-$300, but I stick with 440's. I bought my last running 440 for $300. I test drove the car, then pulled the engine myself for $300. To find out about Mopar engine casting numbers the first two sites are a must read! If they do not have the block with your VIN, I would stay with the 400 you have in it now. They look the same anyway, and can only be identified as a 400, instead of a 383, if someone reads the ID or VIN pad. If you keep the 400 (if ou get the #'s 383, I would store it, and not beat it up) and want more power you could always stroke the 400 to 451 (kits sold on the second site). you will have the torque and HP of a BB, but rev like a SB. I would also go to the third site, and search (search box upper left) for information on the 451, then once you gave some information on the setup, ask some questions that you may have left.

http://www.yearone.com/infocenter.as.../engine_id.asp

http://440source.com/blockinfo.htm

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/in...870&board=16.0

PS. Other 400 based stroker kits are available, like the 470, but most see them as "over kill". I grew up racing NHRA T/F, there is no such thing as "over kill"

Ian

 

Hi Ian and thank you so much for your valued input.

I will check these sites and learn more before deciding.
I have always thought as you have suggested, that if I cannot find the original 383, then I will go a step higher. Now you are giving me choices to choose from, and I love that[sm=smiley20.gif]
Whatever decision I will make will certainly be to do something about the 400. The other day I was challenged by a BMW 325 and I barely managed to stay ahead of him
I mean imagine all the grace of my Chally supported by its musical roaring engine, and yet barely staying ahead of that........car!!

Ian, you mention get any 383, or 440. The prices you mentioned, do they apply for magnums?
Now I am not too technically clear with all the expressions, so please enlighten me again;
What is the meaning of BB & SB (double/single barrel?)
You say revs like a SB, what do you mean?

Finally, should I decide to go crazy and aim for a 470, how does that handle on daily slow driving. I want the best combination of power yet smooth driving.

I also ordered a pair of resonators from yearone labelled as "E body high performance models with dual exhaust". Will these still serve for the higher performance enginges?

Finally, you must be a wild one, with all the racing experience I have done a few myself, but only occasionally.

Looking forward to more answers.

Cheers