53 Plymouth v-8 conversion

get ready to do some radiator moving and firewall work if you go with a modern 6. The Plymouth engine is only 2 feet long. Most modern 6's including the /6 are 30 plus.

The common trick with v8 to older mopar is to mout the engine a couple inches toward the pass side. This gives you clearence for the steering box.

If you are still considering a sub look into an early 2wd Dakota. Then you get brakes steering and mounts for any Mopar engine.


But you already have IFS, all you need to do for an upgrade is to move the front shock mounts for the frame and buy one of the several disc brake adapters that are out there. Don;t make it harder than it needs to be.

 

i am going to post a couple of pics of underneath and show what they have done to this point before me,they used lowering blocks in rear and airshocks
the front looks like they took and softened the coil with a torch and compressed it and added those lead coil plugs
to give it the height and spring they could get out of it
cannot tell if they moved shocks or not upfront
and i need some frame repair on rear left in front of spring shackle
guy at frame shop told me for moment do not go rock crawling with it
and of course the mounts can be messed with
some minor outer floorboard repair outside the frame rails .....

i love my car

 

Yeah, but in a truck it's a piece of cake!

 

touche'

I had my 53 hardtop when I was 15....that was 27 years ago!

 

Several posters have suggested installing a 241 hemi in your 53. You might be interested to know that all 53 & 54 Dodge hemi convertibles and 2 dr hdtps were built on a Plymouth chassis. Not advocating cutting up one of those to do a swap, but you could use one as a pattern for modifying your car. Sounds a whole lot easier (and cooler) than swapping in a Dakota chassis.

 

This close but not quite accurate. the '53/'54 Dodge Hrdtps/convt/wagons were based on Plymouth body shells and wheelbase but the frame in the area of the steering gear is wider than the Plymouth frame in that location and the steering linkage pieces are different.

I have owned several '53 Plymouth convts and hrdtps over the years and currently own a '53 Dodge hrdtp. In addition, in my earlier posts on this thread I described doing a 270 hemi (same as 241 dimensionally) on a '53 convt many years ago.

You will need to either narrow the frame rail or offset the engine to the right for starter clearance if using a stock Mopar starter. It MAY be possible to mount one of these new fangled mini-starters on the old bellhousing.....thereby solving the clearance problem. Worth taking a look see.

Ray

 

Someone mentioned using a 340 - save your money and make more power with a 360 - a 360 has a .040" smaller bore with a longer stroke, the thing that made the 340 such a big block killer was it had 10:1 compression, a nice cam and heads that would breath to 6000 rpm no problems. Add on the 6 pack and it would scream.
However, you bump the compression on the 360 with either readily available and inexpensive pistons or mill the heads .060", put a good cam in it, pocket port the heads and put in 2.02 valves or find a set of X or J heads, and use either 34O exhaust manifolds or 1 5/8" headers and a good dual plane (Weiand Stealth, Performer air gap or even a factory cast iron 4 barrel) and you have much more low end torque than a 340 and revs and power like a 340 - more is easily available.
Cheaper power than a small block chevy, more reliable and just plain cooler.

 

i just got off the phone with machine shop and my 340 will be complete by turkey run
i weigh the cost of everything and i already have money vested in 340 and will take less to finish than starting from scratch with the 360.
now comes the next part i have pedal set in car for hydrive clutch auto,can they be used on later manual trans conversion? maybe 883?

 

The linkage issue can be solved if you are adept at designing things like bellcranks and levers. It may be easier to use a hydraulic system.
You might also look at the AX15 5-speed; they use hyd slave and hyd t/o bearings and are alot cheaper than the A-833.

.

 

geez i kinda like my red pedal,does anybody know anyone near atl that can help with conversion.

found this also
The Jeep/Dodge AX15 5-speed, the Jeep NV3550 5-speed and the 87-92 Toyota Supra Turbo R154 5-speed all share the same case to bellhousing bolt pattern. As such there are a number of possibilities that can be had when a 5-speed is desired:

94-99 Dakota 3.9L V6 Bellhousing: Connects R154 to any 3.9L V6 and any 273/318/340/360 V8.

 

Send a note to Marty ( Dynaflash_8) and ask what he had to do for Pete's car. Also, check Pete's build thread.

.

 

hey have not forgotten post ,i am pressure washing car today to get to all the under stuff
and will get pics out

 

post #4-5
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=495353