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  #1  
Old 03-28-2007, 11:13 AM
metalcastingman metalcastingman is offline
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Default How About A Reverse Swap??

I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of flack on this one, but here goes...Want to swap a 225 into a 318. Have an '87 Dodge Diplomat with a shot 318, but one of my buddies has a good 225 from an old LeBaron, good motor, shot body. All the info I've seen on swapping is for replacing the 225 with a V-8...but I want to go the other way around! I'm guessing since the 225 was the base engine in Diplomats until about 1984, the swap shouldn't present too much of a hassle, hopefully it's a total bolt in deal. Other than re-doing exhaust, anyone see any problems on the horizon with this kind of swap? Potential emmissions problems? hanks for your help!
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  #2  
Old 03-29-2007, 05:56 PM
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Robertson_Tech Robertson_Tech is offline
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what year 225? Will you need to smog it? Is the Lebaron still around to get parts from?

I for one like /6 motors and will not give you any flack for putting one in the diplomat
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Old 03-29-2007, 06:26 PM
metalcastingman metalcastingman is offline
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The LeBaron is long gone, my friend has two /6s. One is out of an '85 truck, and the other is an '81. I'm leaning towards using the '85 motor. Yes, it would have to be smogged. Strangely, my Diplomat has been de-lean burned and the O2 sensor is disconnected, yet it passed smog test w/ no problems. Would a /6 with no leanburn, but still running air pump and catalytic convertor be enough to make it pass, or am I looking at a whole big magilla hooking up vacuum lines and all kinds of emissions garbage? I'm hoping for an easy swap, but somehow I get the feeling that nothing's easy anymore!
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Old 03-29-2007, 08:59 PM
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The reason I asked about the donor car is the motor mounts and kick down linkage and the trans all things that need to get swapped. I would also swap the rear gears for 2.90 if your Diplomat is like mine with the 2.29. Mine is a 89 and it took about 3 hrs in the snow and ice to swap the rear.
Note sure if in NY if they inspect for all the smog stuff or just the pump EGR and evap system.
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Old 03-30-2007, 10:10 AM
metalcastingman metalcastingman is offline
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I have the bellhousing and kickdown linkage for the six - no motor mounts though. Are these pretty much "off the shelf" parts that I can order through NAPA, or do I need other parts as well? I know older Fords had metal pedestals that bolted to the front cross member, then the mounts bolted to that. Can I use my existing tranny? I have a 904, so I'm guessing I'd be good to go there, just change the bellhousing? New York is a big pain in the hiney emmissions wise. I'd be looking down the barrels of a full smog, tailpipe computer reading thing. Just to show you how much of it is BS though, you can't buy a new diesel car in NY anymore, thanks to the EPA. The dealers aren't allowed to stock them, if you want a new VW Jetta diesel that gets 50 MPG, they'll tell you "Sorry, Can't Do It" Then, you go across the street to the Dodge dealer and say "Give me that big ass ram truck with the 24 valve Cummings twin turbo that gets 13 MPG" the response would be "How many do you want, it's a truck, it's exempt from almost everything" Don't you just love that kind of crap? I swear on my life, and you can call me crazy if you want, but I firmly believe there's a huge plot going on between the EPA,the insurance companies and the auto makers to force everyone to buy new cars. I never had a new car with all the computer stuff make it to 100 thousand miles without something VERY expensive happening! Sure the new cars will get you better mileage, and they don't rust like the old Darts did, but when you have to replace something, there goes all your gas savings! Saw a thing in the news the other day, a new Jetta takes over 6 grand in damage from a 5 MPH hit!!!! I remember backing my old Galaxie into a tree at over 5, NO damage at all, and as an added bonus I knocked down the stupid tree!! Any-hoo, this has rambled to long, I hope the reply didn't get lost somewhere in all this! Thanks for your help!
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  #6  
Old 03-30-2007, 11:10 AM
Rug_Trucker Rug_Trucker is offline
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people throw away 318's! Why put yourself through all the crap when you can get a drop in engine for free or darn close? Ever drive a slant dippY? Heavy slugs that puke out 13MPG. I would go back to 318 or find a 360.
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  #7  
Old 03-30-2007, 05:10 PM
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Stay w/ a 318 The slant 6's are a pain in the butt to make pass an emmission's inspection. I used to live in NY (Suffolk County) I had to get our company's Dodge Vans (we had 4 with /6's ) inspected every year & they would. rarely pass. We had 318 vans too & they always seemed to pass. To make the slant 6 vans pass, the mechanic would put the "sniffer " in the tail pipe of a different vehicle. I know the inspections in NY have been changed since then, & these "trick's" can't be used anymore. Save yourself a lot of agravation & find a 318. By the way, a 904 trans from a V8 will not work w/ a slant 6.
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Old 03-30-2007, 05:40 PM
joe six joe six is offline
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Sorry to say it, but these guys are right. The only problem with the /6 (despite the fact they can take a beating like no other engine) is emmissions. It won't matter if you install a new whole ignition system, trick the carb. and play around with vacuum lines, it will fail any strict emmissions test like the one you mention. If I were in your situation, i would get an engine with less emmissions problems to kick that diplomat back into the road.
And you're damn right, those new cars are designed to start disintegrating after 60k miles. No matter how small and insignificant the part is -and I mean any part!- the price will be awfully big.
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  #9  
Old 03-31-2007, 11:03 PM
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"I remember backing my old Galaxie into a tree at over 5, NO damage at all, and as an added bonus I knocked down the stupid tree!! "

Off topic, but what the hell. A few years ago I was following a dumbass in a brand new Mitsubishi truck (still had the dealer plates and window stickers) when he missed his turn in a parking lot, so he decided to stop and and reverse 20 feet flat out (without looking of course) into the front of my '65 Electra. I couldn't even find a mark in the chrome on my bumper, but his rear bumper was pushed so far forward it was upside down under the bed, with the tow ball pointing at the ground. He got out and tried the "what the hell did you do?" routine, obviously thinking that without witnesses I'd be blamed for rear ending him. Shame I was right outside work - I shouted hello to all the guys standing outside smoking (and laughing), they shouted hello back, and the poor guy just got in his truck and drove off. My front bumper had that new car smell for weeks. Ouch.
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  #10  
Old 04-02-2007, 08:10 PM
metalcastingman metalcastingman is offline
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So I guess the general opinion is I should rebuild the 318. My thinking was that since the /6 was a smaller engine with a 1 bbl, I would have less problems with the emissions crap than I would with the larger V-8. Guess there's something about the basic design of the 318 that makes it naturally burn cleaner? As for "get up and go" it really isn't that important, since here on Long Island, with all the traffic, you're lucky if you can wind it up over 65. /6 Diplomat couldn't be any slower than my old '60 Falcon with a 144! Thing was slloooowww (0 - 60 in over 20 seconds) I used to tell my buddies "Hey, any moron can race another car...It takes a real man to race a school bus"
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  #11  
Old 04-02-2007, 08:31 PM
Rug_Trucker Rug_Trucker is offline
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The intake design of the slant is one of it's problems with emissions.
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  #12  
Old 04-03-2007, 06:17 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by metalcastingman View Post
So I guess the general opinion is I should rebuild the 318. My thinking was that since the /6 was a smaller engine with a 1 bbl, I would have less problems with the emissions crap than I would with the larger V-8. Guess there's something about the basic design of the 318 that makes it naturally burn cleaner? As for "get up and go" it really isn't that important, since here on Long Island, with all the traffic, you're lucky if you can wind it up over 65. /6 Diplomat couldn't be any slower than my old '60 Falcon with a 144! Thing was slloooowww (0 - 60 in over 20 seconds) I used to tell my buddies "Hey, any moron can race another car...It takes a real man to race a school bus"
It's not that the 318 is that much cleaner but how the "dirty" the /6 runs . You should have no problem finding a good used 318, they made millions of them. I would do that before I went to the expense of rebuilding yours.
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