What New Engine For My Truck

[78 Red Express]

I have a 78 dodge lil red express truck and have been contemplating on what type of new engine i want to get for it. I was thinking about the mopar 500" wedge crate engine with 500hp and a B&M 727 tranny and upgraded gears to 3.91's, how would this go?? What would the 1/4 times be?? Im going to spend around $6500-$11000 dollars on these upgrades.. Could the crate engine handle twin turbocharging??? somethings i was thinking about...please give your suggestions, i want a engine that would also be somewhat fuel efficient(15-20mpg hopefully) so your inout is greatky appreciated!

[dewme5]

you have one of those trucks that --i can't belive i'm saying this--- but, rare enough that i you do swap engines, dont do anything that can't be undone, and then keep the original tranny and engine under the shop bench.

as for twin turbos.. you can do that to anything. Big block.. there should be enough room to make that work in there. For the kind of money you are willing to spend, getting a good combo should be no prob. 500cubic inches, and 20 mpg. that is going to be a problem. a decent twin turbo 360, and an over drive tranny, 20+mpg won't be a problem.. well with a truck body that will be pushing it.

after my own experiences, and those of everybody that I have read about... if you get a mopar crate motor. take it completely apart, and make sure everything is right. lots of bearing clearance problems seem to be popping up.

go for the gusto. stroke a big block, add a blower on top of everything, toss in fuel injection, and save a few dollars for the gas pump.

[78 Red Express]

Hey thanks for the input...im keeping the motor and tranny and will be storing them..i wanna go for something real fast, im getting smoked by everyone around here.. im still kind of big block illetarate, what type of blower should i get and who makes?? who makes a decent fuel injection for my truck??(i hear the holley stuff is junk).. I want in and around 550hp running mid 11's.. i could build my own engine, but i thought that the crate engines had warranty thats why i was leaning twoard it, but i thought it preety dam sweet if i had iyt topped with a blower!!

[Scott's440]

I have a pretty much stock 440 in a 78 stepside, with a 750cfm carter, 727, and 323's in an 8 1/4. (I know, it's not an 8 3/4) Best mileage this truck has EVER got was 11 mpg on a tank ONE TIME. Running good it gets 10, when it needs tuned up it gets about 7. And it doesn't like 87 octane.
As for the crate motor warranty, I'm of the understanding that they are only 90 days. There's a discussion on that on another thread in here, just look around.
B&M has been making blowers longer than I've been alive. Check with them.
For 500hp from a 440, there have been a dozen different articles in Mopar mags about ways to do it, with all Mopar parts, a list of the part numbers, and about $2500-$3500. Just an option if you wanted to do it yourself.
Hope that helps.

[78 Red Express]

Thanks dor the input..I think im just going to go with a blown 360 with a BDS blower with their fuel injection. Any tips on how to build up the block to handle the blower??

[DartByU]

The only engine swap that might get you 15-20MPG would be a slant 6!!! Any V-8 in a Dodge truck is lucky to get 14 MPG, my 2000 only gets 14 Avg. on a good day, 16 on a long trip.

[mr_340]

I'd build up another 360 with the 4" stroker crank, good heads that look stock (308's or maybe W2s), Hughes/Engle cam or the new Crane hydraulic rollers, Magnum exhaust manifolds (better than the '78 E58 manifolds) and paint that sucker up like a Resto piece. MP has a cast iron intake for the W2 heads if you go that route. I think these engines work out to around 406 CID. The TQ ought to be able to feed it with some rejetting.

"It's all STOCK!" Make sure you use the full resto treatment with corbin clamps and all the stuff those guys are into.