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  #1  
Old 02-05-2002, 04:15 PM
curtis026 curtis026 is offline
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Default Need help

Well I am almost 16 and for my first car I want nothing else than an old mopar. After my dad passed away recently I have been wanting to start working on a car. He used to be a mechanic and he has a pistol grip tranny, one 340, one 360, and two 440's siting our back garage. By looking at them straight on i cant tell one from the other. They are sitting a differnt angles and they all look the same size. I was wondering what the numbers on the 440 would be. One of the 440s is over 600 hp (he claimed) and I really dont want something that big to be my first car and my daily driver. So I was thinking I could get the other 440. How much would it cost to get it rebuilt? I have a feeling since it hasnt been running in god knows when that its gonna need a rebuilding job. Another thing, how much money does it cost to fix up a muscle car? I have read alot of restoration sites and none of them ever said about how much it costs. I know it wont be cheap by now means, but can someone give me an estimate? I have alot of questions dealing with these subjects so if someone wanted to, my AIM screen name is curtis026. If someone could talk to me and give me advise it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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  #2  
Old 02-05-2002, 07:13 PM
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fastback340 fastback340 is offline
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welcome aboard! restoring a car is defently not cheap. how much it cost will depend on the car you start with , condition , body style you like , and what you plan on doing with it full resto or street car. my suggestion would be to save as much as you can and start out with something solid and drivable. A bodys such as darts , dusters , and barracudas made before 1970 are probbably your best bet. theres plenty of them out there and the pretty affordable. Start out with a small block such as a 318 or 360 they'll make the small a body move pretty good. when your ready for more power you can swap in the 440. a 600horse power 440 will make that little car fly. the easiest way to tell the differance between the small block 273,318,340,360 and the big blocks 383,400,413,426,440 is the distributer location. big blocks up front small blocks out back. by the way if one of those motors has really large valve covers with the spark plug wirers running right in the middle , its a 426 hemi and you should just give it to me.
good luck
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  #3  
Old 02-05-2002, 08:05 PM
WS23 WS23 is offline
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Curtis, sorry for the loss of your Dad. I assume you have little to no experience at this point. No offence, just a point of reference. You really should start by obtaining some reference material. The Mopar Performance Engines book would be a good start but may seem overwhelming. If you stay in the hobby you will want this. I would also suggest picking up a magazine like Mopar Muscle, as you can learn a lot & they have great photos.

Of the 4 engines your Dad kept, 2 are "Small Blocks" & other 2 are "Big Blocks." You can easily tell the difference at a glance by looking at the location of the distributor (the thing with the cap & 8 wires). The small blocks will be located to the rear of the engine. The big blocks will be located at the front of the engine.

Rebuilding the engine is not rocket science. Even at your age, you can accomplish great results. The key is to exercise care & do your homework. It would help if you had an older relative with experience to help look over your shoulder & provide guidance.

As for restoration costs, the sky is the limit. There is a simple axiom in this hobby: Whatever your best initial dollar estimate is for restoration costs, should be DOUBLED to get a more realistic amount you are likely to spend. But you can still build your car in stages without spending megabucks. At your age money is tight so you should attempt to do every thing on the cheap. This is your 1st car, & sadly there is a strong possibility that it will take some damage along the way. So don't through all your money into a fancy paint job. Plan on building a dependable & safe vehicle. You want to build it so it starts every time you turn the key, steers straight, & stops when you use the brake.

If you want some cold hard numbers so that you can start to save up now, I'll take a chance. Best guess on a high school driver car using your engine that needs rebuilding.

Engine rebuild: $1500
Tranny rebuild: $1000
Project Car: $1000

If by some chance you can find a good car with a bad engine & just swap your engine in, you can save money. If your project car is in real bad shape, add the cost of tires, interior, etc. You can see how this adds up real quick. Good luck Curtis.
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  #4  
Old 02-05-2002, 08:21 PM
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road chicken road chicken is offline
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Hi Curtis,

Sorry to hear about your dad

To identify the engines-

Smallblock the distributor is in the back and it has an identification pad on the front of the drivers side cylinder bank. that will tell you cubic inch displacement of the block and other things.
Big block has the distributor up in front. On a 383/400 (B series) block- the ID pad is at the front top of the Passenger,( right) side of the block, just below the distributor.
413/426/440 ( RB series) blocks the ID pad is at the front top of the block offset to the drivers side.
If you can, get the engines standing upright,( support them by the oilpan rails so you don't crush the pan), pull the sparkplugs and squirt oil in the cylinders, about 2 table spoons or so in each one. The see if you can turn the motors. They rotate clockwise as you face the engine. Don't get a big bar and reef on it, just see if you can turn it by the crank pulley. If not let them sit and keep trying them 1-2 times a week. If the don't move- post back here and we'll see what we can figure out.
As far as starting out- that is up to you- as fastback 340 pointed out- start out with as solid a car as you can. You can rebuild and replace most of the wornout parts a few at a time- but a badly rusted body is a pain in the butt and the wallet to deal with and is expensive to fix right. Early A bodies are the cheapest and best bet talking purely budget. Also a good platform to learn your wrenching skills on.
Cost is variable. How restored do you want it. I'm sure some restoration costs have gone well over 20G. for 100% perfect concours resto. If your like me and don't have the sort of " pocket change", or need for totally perfect. Start out with the body you want and build it a little at a time. One year do the brakes and bearings, then the next the motor, then the exhaust... ect. It doesn't have to be done in one swoop. In fact I would bet dollars to doughnuts that 98% of the people who do this, do it that way. I know I did- I bought my road runner when I was 19 yrs old,( my first car too and while its 16 years later and it's still not done- it is looking very very good . I think I have about 13-14G in it total. But there are alot of upgrades and everything but the body has been completely rebuilt. It would have been less had I not rolled it a year after i bought it. NO drinking and driving- please be smarter than I was. You go ahead and ask anything you want- you definately came to the best place for help on mopars.
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  #5  
Old 02-05-2002, 10:37 PM
curtis026 curtis026 is offline
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Wow this is all great help. I am glad that you guys can help me out. I am going over to my step moms this weekend so I will check it out. I am thinking that I am going to look into getting the stock 440 going. I know the 340 is in need of a rebuild and so is the 360. As far as the moded 440, i think it might only need minor work becuase my dad had it in his truck within the last 4 years and it ran great, but who knows. I know that if i go with the 340 i will want more power a little while after and there is no point in dumping money into it. So i am figuiring that i can get the stock 440 running and play around with it until I get more money to do upgrades. I really appreciate all your help, I am glad to see that so many people will actually help out a 15 year old becuase some other kids give us a bad rap as to being stupid.
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  #6  
Old 02-06-2002, 12:25 AM
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Mr.Mopar Mr.Mopar is offline
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Atta boy! Lets rescue some more old Mopars! If you look at the picture of my Dart you will see about $15,000 Canadian Dollars spent on it. I am not finished yet and I started out with a $500.00 car. I made numerous modifications to the interior and drivetrain so it took a little more cash than I expected. But everyone knows that a restoration done by yourself is never really finished. You keep finding ways to modify it and make it better. I would try to find an A body and stick with the small block, everything fits nicer and they can really rip. Welcome aboard!!
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