Wildcat-need some help identifying

Fire it up, that will tell you a lot!

Congrats Boys!!

Joe, I remember the video. What kind of damage did the engine suffer?

JoeinNY wrote: Zach knows his mopars but it is still a 440, and will be stamped on a pad in the front top of the block (hanging out in front of the valley cover on the port side) with the displacement as well as the casting numbers on the side.

Joe know's his marine Chrysler big block parts better than anyone.

I'd pull most of the foam out of it and let it dry out really well. If you're lucky, most of the stringer system will be solid and you can get away with using Git Rot in the areas that have rot, if they're not too bad. Unless you're dying to do a stringer job....

The only crazy plan is one that has you doing more work than is necessary, use good epoxy at it will happily bond to anything that is solid and dry.
Big battery, small battery nothing really makes a big block Chrysler sound like it wants to crank. In my experience they all sound like they are barely able to turn over right till they bump to life. If the timing is off at all it will be even worse. Make sure the wires and connections are good, and consider giving the starter a quick tear down. Its intimidating to some people but it's a quick project to pull the starter pull it apart and clean as needed with some crc electric parts cleaner and emory cloth.   
I strongly recommend you start by turning the engine by hand to top dead center then pull out the distributor/collar/cam gear and then manually operate the oil pump until you build pressure, and then long enough to make sure you move oil up to the top end. After that I would put the distributor back in and compression test, if everything went well there then check for spark and consider starting it.   

Joe, I think in marine/industrial applications Chrysler still opted to use the good old 1:1 starters. In automotive world they went to a different style that has the signature Chrysler starter noise. Early 426 street hemis still used the 1:1 and sounded just like the marine starters.

Newer style gear reduction Chrysler starters spin reallllly fast but I don't know if anyone makes a RR setup unless a rear entry would get the job done. May be an option for replacement.

phatsat67 wrote: Joe, I think in marine/industrial applications Chrysler still opted to use the good old 1:1 starters. In automotive world they went to a different style that has the signature Chrysler starter noise. Early 426 street hemis still used the 1:1 and sounded just like the marine starters. Newer style gear reduction Chrysler starters spin reallllly fast but I don't know if anyone makes a RR setup unless a rear entry would get the job done. May be an option for replacement.

The marine BBC starters of that era are definitely great big 1:1 starters made by prestolite - the polys used a very similar if not the same starter. They get the job done but often make you wonder if they are turning fast enough. - If I was running one of these engines in a day to day ski boat that I was going to start and stop a hundred times a day Id consider finding a gear reduction solution.

Just an update for Ken- I now have spark. So thank you! Confirms I got the wiring all correct also. As mentioned this thing was a mess and sorting out the problems. Need to get yet another starter solenoid, I’ve gone thru two trying to get it running. Going to make all new cables up to the starter. I am running out of solutions to the low cranking issue. Joe suggested pulling the starter to clean, and I would be all for that except I don’t see how I can get one of the bolts even loose without pulling the motor or cutting a notch in the stringer now. Which it is getting stringers so.... pulling the starter is two steps down my list of options

[QUOTE=SWANY] Just an update for Ken- I now have spark. So thank you! /QUOTE]

Kinda nice of Prestolite to use a lot of the same parts in their distributors for different brands.

Mallory has even more interchangeability of the internals

Since there's no shaft in the boat and you're not worried about alignment, why not just jack up the back of the engine enough to get the starter out?

Starting to loose patience with this project. That being said, without writing a novel of what I have done..... looking for input on why I would keep burning ignition coils (2) and it hasn’t even ran!? All the research and trial and error I have done are putting me back at square one. I’ve Gone over the simple wiring diagram at least 10x. Points,gap,dwell,firing order, wires 7mm, plugs gapped.
I MAY soon be asking if anyone is interested in the project or parts