First engine swap slant 6 to 360 ?

[TANK]

First I have a 73 Duster that has a slant 6 I am attempting to do my first engine swap to a 360 with a 904. Is the full replacement of the wireing harness nessary? Will the K frame fit if it has a rear slup pan? Will a clutch fan fit? And is the power steering pump & bracket, Alternator & bracket, and starter interchangeable? Also I bought a Weiand Stealth intake and 625 Carter AFB for the intake, and a mild summit cam. Do I need all new linkage for the carb if so can I get that stuff at a normal auto store?
Any Comments are greatly appreciated

[Blaine Peterson]

Tank, you said "any comments are greatly appreciated", so here goes. I haven't done this swap personally, but off the top of my head I'd say no you don't need a full wiring harness replacement. I think most if not all the six cylinder cars came with a different K frame than the V8 cars (Shumacher may have mounts that will allow you to slip the 360 into your Duster), and as far as a clutch fan goes, it depends on the depth of said fan clutch and the location of your radiator in relation to your engine. Alot of this is just going to require you to use good sense and work through it as you go. The starter will work. If your 360 didn't come with a power steering pump & bracket, or alternator bracket etc. you'd be wise to go to the local Pick 'N Pull wrecking yard and get the small items you need. And no I don't expect you'll find the carb linkage you need at a normal auto store.

Not trying to discourage you from this swap or anything like that, but have you thought about needing to go to a larger/thicker radiator? And what about that small rearend your Duster has in it? I don't think it would hold up very long with a 360 crankin' on it. Theres also the small six cylinder torsion bars up front and the rear springs to think about if you want the car to handle well.

Just food for thought! Its nice to have eyes wide open going into these things.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[TANK]

Thanks for the comments Blaine
The Radiator is being saved up for right now and the suspension has already been taken care of. I have a spare rear end and am trying to get ahold of another 8 3/4 for a A-body which are pretty hard to come by. Do you think I can get ahold of the linkage through Summit or maybe Mopar Performance?

[Blaine Peterson]

I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to when you say linkage?
I'm thinking you'll go with a cable for the accelerator. Depending on your carb application you may need the small adapter they sell for the mopar application. Summit or Jegs should have that. As for your kickdown linkage from the carb to the transmission, and the bracket for your accelerator cable (which bolts to the intake manifold) I still think your best bet would be the local wrecking yard! That way you get all the small stuff like clips, pins, bolts, etc. that you'll need and its all pretty much dirt cheap. And its factory stuff!

I think you're wise going with the A-body 8 3/4 rearend. About six months ago at the Pick 'n Pull here in Salt Lake there were a couple of A-body cars that had the 8 3/4 housing still in them. The dropouts were gone but the housings were there. I almost bought them just because they are as you said pretty hard to come by. I did call a guy I know and told him about them. I think he may have picked one of them up. He sells used Mopar parts for musclecars and has a Web site called Rocky Mountain Mopar. You may want to check it out.

See ya,

[Thunderstruck]

having done a slant six to 360 swap in a 72 dart I'll comment. You can reuse the aleternator, but not the brackets, You can reuse the power steering pump but not the brackets and maybe not the hoses, I forget if I had to replace those or not. Wiring harness will not need to be replaced but you will have to shorten or lengthen so wires, nothing major. You cannot just bolt a 360 to a slant 6 K member, closest to that would be running Schumacher's conversion mounts, $150. You could run a 73 and up V8 k member and the proper factory mounts, your choice. The oil pan on the 360 will work IF the 360 came from a pass car and NOT a truck. You cannot reuse the slant six radiator, outlets on the wrong side. You'll need an exhaust as well. Another trans too. Kickdown linkage has to be from a small block car, I like the later M body stuff. The throttle cable will be too long as well, get a V8 one. You can reuse the starter.

[TANK]

Thanks for the tips I got the linkage to the tranie off of an charger in a wrecking yard with the same set up I'm doing, And the engine is from a 75 van, I also got Hedman headers for it. And I think I will check out that rocky moutain Mopar.

[Thunderstruck]

oil pan from the van will NOT work. Has to be pass car only. Odds are the Charger's (B body) kickdown linkage won't work. It' it's a one piece setup it won't, if it's a three piece it will. I swapped a 360 out of a 79 Cordoba (B body) into my 72 Dart and the kickdown wouldn't work, it hit the firewall down low.

Also, I think the 625 carb will be too small for a 360. I'm running the Edelbrock 600 cfm version and it runs out of steam in the upper RPM range, when I slap on the 750 AFB it'll fly. I'm only running the 600 till I get my 750 rebuilt, it's only 12 years old now .

Steve

[TANK]

I can't remember if the linkage came out of a charger or a challenger but if it hits a bit I will make room. And is the oil pan too deep or is the sump in the wrong place, should I get a end sump or a center sump?

[Thunderstruck]

Pan sump is in the wrong place, it needs to be a center sump for pass car use. trucks and vans use rear sump. The kick down will hit more than a bit and you'll have to hammer a serious dent into the firewall, do yourself and your firewall a favor and find the three piece kickdown linkage setup. Any 4bbl Diplomat or Gran Fury will have what you need. If you can't find it I am sure someone here can. I don't know of any available locally to me, but it's as good an excuse as any to hit the yards.

Steve

[DartGT66]

I just did a swap like this in the spring, although my car was a little newer and I used a 318. Yes, you must have a center sump oil pan and pick up. Using the /6 steering pump may cause some problems, you may have to change the pulley too because the deepness is different. I didn't manage to do that and I had to use the vans steering pump and modify it's return hose outlet. The alternator fits if you get the correct brackets; they aren't that difficult to do yourself either if you have a welder and a drill. The A-body 8 3/4's have the small 4" wheel bolt pattern and if your duster has disc brakes it should have the 4.5" pattern, so better get some wheels for the rear too. Aftermarket wheel availability with a 4" bolt pattern is rather limited. The '73's engine uses the spool mounts. Schumacher offers the 'swap' mounts that are supposed to fit a SB to a /6 K-member. So I thought that if Schumacher can make the mounts, I can too. I still can't understand how they can do that; I had to modify the drivers side mount in the K-member to make the engine fit. Without modification I couldn't get the engine to the correct place, the block was leaning against the K-member mount while the engine was still too much on the drivers side. So I modified the mount in the K-memeber and made the brackets and after that all fit well.

[ChristianCuda]

DartGT66

Shumachers instrustions also have you madify the drivers side mount on the k-frame along with the modified mount that the provide.

I looked at a installation done with the conversion and duplicated the mounts and everything and worked great.

Christian

------------------
68 'Cuda 383 Formula S recreation
Working on adding EFI
69 'Cuda Race Parts Car
76 Duster 273 recent transplant
95 Neon 2.0 SOHC best of 16.96
84 Dodge Ram D50 transplanting 360

[TANK]

Thanks for the ideas, how do I get a hold of Schumacher to get the mounts? Is there a # and does it require welding? Also I have two 8 1/4 rears how long do you think it will take me to go through these or can I build these up to strength? Also how much do you think the mounts will run?

[rumblefish360]

The 8 1/4 can handle it. Don't abuse it . It will last, so long as you don't think it's as strong as some big monster rear. Light strip use is fine.

[DartByU]

I did the same swap on my 74 Dart, I just cut off the old engine mounts and made some out of 1/4"x2" flat plate and welded them in. The 6 cyl. torsion bars work well for dragracing, they let the front end come up easy for better traction. Everything else was easy if you get the parts off a v-8 car. But take it from me, if your going to put a 904 in it, get it built by someone who knows how to build racing transmissions even if you don't race it, and get a good converter and flexplate for it. I broke the stock flexplate quick, and then broke the snout off the stock converter, then I switched to a B&M flexplate and TCI converter and have had them in for 12 years with no problems.

------------------
2000 Ram Sport 1500 5.9 RC
92 Camaro RS 5.0 5-Speed
74 Dart Sport 360 (11.2sec. 1/4 mile)

[TANK]

Thanks Dart, I'm not one to custom fabricate things so I was still wondering if any of you had the # of a place that had the kit for the engine mounts. And when you say you broke the snout do you mean the tail housing?

[DartByU]

TANK, The snout that broke was the one on the torque converter, the part that goes into the transmission and drives the pump, it broke in the corner of the slot that engages with the pump. The place to get the mounts you want is Schumacher Creative Services in Seattle,Wa. 206-364-7151 but they are kind of expensive $150.00

------------------
2000 Ram Sport 1500 5.9 RC
92 Camaro RS 5.0 5-Speed
74 Dart Sport 360 (11.2sec. 1/4 mile)

[TANK]

Thanks for the info, but what is so special about the mounts and are they bolt on ?

[DartByU]

TANK, What is so special about the mounts? They keep you from having to change the K-frame when you change engines from a I/6 to a V/8, and I am pretty sure they bolt in.

[TANK]

Dart, Do I still need the center sump oil pan then?