4.7 liter engine swap??

[Clair]

Has anyone out there completed or even tried to swap a 4.7 in to an older body style? I'm thinking about doing this swap on my 67 Barracuda, but I'm having a hard time finding anything out there about this kind of swap. I know it's going to be funky, having looked over one installed in an 01 Grand Cherokee (starter on PS for one), but I feel like it can't be that bad. I'm looking for any info on bell housings, balance issues, strange clearance problems, basically anything you'd need to handle in a regular engine swap.
Thanks in advance,
Clair
67 Barracuda Vert ?/Tremec?
69 Valiant 100 340/833
74 Dart Swinger 440/727
87 Daytona Pacifica T2/555
Fort Worth, TX

[NewBlackDak]

Why in Gods name would you do that? Just to be different? You can get a 5.9 with more power, easier upgradeability, easier swap issues, easier maintenance, and it costs tons less.

[sbuc72]

heh, what NewBlackDak said.. Unless you plan on pulling the AWD system from a cherokee, it wouldn't be worth it..

hrmm.. thinking about an awd Barracuda, that would be mad cool, if you could do 4 wheel burn outs heh

.sbuc72

[Clair]

Mostly to be different, but a big part is that this little critter is already putting out as much rwhp as the 5.9 with little or no mods. It also seems to be a better starting point for an EFI project than the 5.9 since it has a better-breathing top end than the 5.9 and you don't have to go buy all that MP stuff just to make it run. But you're right, mostly to be different...

That being said, know of anyone else crazy this way?

Thanks,
Clair
FTWTX
http://users2.ev1.net/~clairdavis/

[NewBlackDak]

My current project is a 96 KingCab Nissan Hardbody/96 Chevy Z28 Camaro. Someone dropped a load of shingles on the back half of the Camaro, and it was totalled.
I've swapped the front clip from the Camaro to the Nissan. A 4x4 S-10 rear-end 4-linked. The LT4 and t-56. Had the dash rebuilt to house the Camaro guages. Smoothed the body lines, tailgate, and gas-filler door. Currently it's a rolling chassis, and the frame has been re-inforced and painted along with the suspension parts. The body is sitting on cinderblocks being blocked and sanded when I get to it. I'm still fabbing mounts for the rad, and other various things. I keep putting off the wiring, but I need to get on my horse, cause I'm tired of looking at all the peices in my shop.


AWD cuda would be schuweet!! I'm all for it if you do that!!

[dartsport]

the 4.7 has nothing in common with any other v-8 must use the total package,for starters you would have to use a 2wd dakota drive train,modify the crap out of the floor pan for clearance and modify the inner aprons since the 4.7 is wider........for less money just put the 5.9 380 hp magnum in itit will scream in an early A body.that would run all over the 4.7.........

[Clair]

Dartsport,
All-new I'll buy, but it's hard for me to imagine that it has no interchange possibilities with the existing LA drivetrain. What I have heard, and what I assume to be the case, is that the bell housings have the same bolt pattern on the block side. That would make sense from a mass-production standpoint, and would work fine for me either way. I've yet to verify any of this myself, tho. I don't want to run the factory manual trans (big+weak=sux), so all I would need is the engine and wiring harness, PCM, accessories, etc. As long as I know that I can bolt the trans of my choice up to a bell housing that fits, I'm cool. I know that the Kiesler 5-spd will slip in under the stock floor pan and that's the direction I'd like to take eventually. I just need to actually measure a bell housing before I think too long on this. It won't be long and that 5.7L Hemi will be out, and I'll have to have one of those instead...
NewBlackDak: You're a braver man than I, Kemosabe, but I appreciate the project. She'll rock-n-roll when you're done!
Clair

[NewBlackDak]

I've dubbed her Nismaro. Can't wait till it's finished. Have to get off my butt though. I keep wondering how an LT4 will do in a 2400LB truck. Guess I'll know w/in the year. Seems like it's taking forever.

[dartsport]

i just double checked and the bellhousing pattern is totaly different between,la and the 4.7.......

[Clair]

What kind of bell housing were you looking at? I checked on one at a salvage yard this weekend, an auto trans out of a Durango. I brought a standard bell from a 71 LA with me, and they mated up almost perfectly. There was a notch on both sides for a starter, so I think it's probably set up for both the Jeeps and the trucks. What part of the bell didn't look the same? The only thing that i saw different was the lack of a bolt hole at the top center of the bell housing on the 4.7. Everything else looked pretty similar, other than, of course, the starter hole on both sides. This is starting to look good, but it's not good enough yet to plunk down $2500...
Thanks for keeping your eyes open for me,
Clair

[dartsport]

from the look of it in the dakota the bellhousing is looking alot different than a LA new or old ,thats the reason if you check a 1999 dakota 318 manual trans bellhousing/tranny combo its different than a 2000 4.7 setup.....also you would have to make an oil pan since the 4.7 uses a rear sump......and like i said before the engine is pretty wide,i used to own a 66 barracuda with a 273 and headers wouldnt even fit unless they were fenderwell.....it would be great though to have a starter on the passenger side!

[fastback340]

dartsports is cprrect. the bellhousing is totally differant.