So I'm new here and I need some help. I have recently bought back my 1969 442 after it had been sitting for about twenty years. It has the 400 cid engine and it will need to be gone through obviously. But I have a line on a 455 that ran last year.... for whatever that is worth. I think I can pick it up for around five hundred, I am just wondering what to look for on this engine. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

I've learned to take the oil pan off and visually inspect the rear main cap for cracks or broken chips. This would be a good time to look at bearings for any that have spun. It would be nice to take a few rods apart and actually see the bearing wear on them and the crank.

 

Looking at the bearings is key with a used engine, remove the valve covers and inspect. Lots of sludge would mean poor maintenance. Take a starter and battery to spin it over and do a compression test, test oil pressure. The seller should allow this, unless he is hiding something. If I sell an engine I have this all set up, speeds along the sale!

Cold compression reading 130 psi plus

Cold oil press 60-80

 

One should put in fresh oil and spin the pump before turning over an engine that has sat for 20 years.

 

Welcome to CO, can I ask why you wouldn't want to keep original motor?

 

Welcome to the group... JMO, but I would make an effort to keep the 400... Most used engines will need some sort of work (could be minor, possibly major)... You should try to compare the cost difference between buying a used engine needing possible repairs versus simply updating your 400...

 

Ok so here is the complete back story of the car as far as I know it. I bought the car back in 1996 and drove it for a few months then it started to blow and running weak so I tore the engine apart and found a piston that was half gone from detonation. So I rebuilt the engine and then it was blowing blue smoke and I ran it out of oil so I pulled it again and rebuilt it and then when I fired it up to break in in it broke in just fine but then it started to run like crap so i tore i took the valve covers off and found a bent valve and pushrods so it's that pint I was done with it. I went to college and while going to college I borrowed money from my dear old dad and when it came time to repay him I didn't have any money so I signed the car over and there it for the next twenty years until now I bought it back and now I want to get it going again. It is not a numbers matching engine so that part is not a big deal. So now you guys know what I do about the car. I don't remember how far it was bored out. I do remember that I had the heads milled so I think that is why a pushrod bent but wouldn't it bend all of them if that was the case? So at this point I'm thinking that I need to either tear tha 400 down and completely rebuild it or start out with the 455 that I have a line on. How much is a 455 non running engine worth?
I forgot to mention that I do have the build sheet for the car so that is pretty neat.