By 78 about the only thing they were still sticking 440's in were motor homes,low compression smog 440's,but they weren't bad to use as a foundation for a mild street build.Brother-n-law had a 76 3/4 ton with a 400 that developed a bad rod knock after my sister ran it out of oil, we dropped a 440 out of a late 70's motor home into the truck with a small cam,aftermarket aluminium intake and a set of headers,and that damn thing would spin the tires to beat hell,lol
Had a friend in Colorado with a black and gold 79 440 warlock. Original paint and engine, but he built it the way he wanted it.. He ran a big hughes cam in it for awhile until it wiped a lobe and switched over to a bigger Racer Brown cam. Flat tops, 9.5:1 shaved heads and an M1 intake. That truck was quite the runner.
Funny to hear that story about your sister, have one quite similar. She wanted to go see her boyfriend in the town down the canyon, and took dad's 75 club cab powerwagon, not knowing how to shift.
She took my 10 year old little brother who was going to shift because he could shift the old case tractor out in the fielrls.
Needless to say, he couldn't get ut out of granny. She tried to go the speed limit but couldn't get higher than about 45, until the engine threw a rod outta the oil pan.
It was snowing, she coasted to the bottom of the canyon into town and got a few blocks from her boyfriends and calls me. I pulled that big club cab across town, almost to my house in a little 63 Chevy Ii with a 194 six and a 1 barrel. Parked two neighbors down the little car wouldn't top the hill in the snow..
Dad was a bit upset about it, she got grounded and so did my little brother. Sooo, he did have a early 70s 440 out of a Monaco that dropped in place of the 318 she blew. Just changed out the belhousing and the block and it was running again in a day.
hauled a lot of wood in that truck...