I'm entertaining the idea of doing a motor/trans swap on the '54 plymouth. I'd like to find a donor car with the most amount of swapable components to keep the costs down and ease the conversion. Currently it has a 230 flathead six with a powerflight 2spd trans. I'd like to eventually pull that and put it in something like a fenderless '26 dodge or something hot rod. But the plymouth I'd like to get to daily driver status with a 318 V8 with OD auto trans for fun and cross country highway cruzer/DD. I've had a few people suggest a LS1 chebby motor/trans swap with the easy hotwireauto wiring harness that they've done. I'm a little jealous of the ease of that swap but would like to keep it mopar. My brother put one in his wifes 50's international and she drives it all the time to pickup the kids and groceries, but also drag races it. I've already looked at a trans swap, but it looks like as much work and more complicated to get everything to mate up. The trans tunnel has already been hacked(big hole in the floor). But the Plymouth needs a rear differential swap as well and drive shaft built. Also the transmission mount would be different and I may have to electrically modifiy the OD auto trans depending on what transmission I swapped in. My thoughts are that it would be easier and a greater benifit to swap a drivetrain system into the car even if I have to fabricate a crossmember and driveshaft. It would then be all external fabrication instead of internal components that may or may not work, balance or line up. It should work together correctly and if a part is worn out or needs replacing I can reference the donor car to the high school kid at the parts counter. Ideally I would find a donor(like a dakota or something) with a magnum EFI engine, od auto and usable differential. Buy the hotwire harness(or other) and have the driveshaft modified to fit the Plymouth. Or at least get most everything and find a different rear. Something that would smoke the white wall tires but get decent gas millage on road trips. Thoughts?
I did a similar job in my 53. I ended up buying an old 73 Dodge full size van B300 and gutting it for the motor and trans and driveshaft. It already had a rear end swap so i didn't mess with that, just had the driveshaft ujoints for the different model vehicles. Used a Rebel Wiring harness. Got some universal Chrysler engine mounts and fabricated a trans crossmember (or just use a universal one). The job wasn't a huge deal, I just had to take my time and do a bunch of reading about what the critical stuff was. It was my first attempt and it's my daily driver now so it can be done by a first timer like myself. Good luck dude, NAES
NAES is on target. Vans & pick ups have the rear sump set up you need, usually they can be found cheap. Usually use a car rear axle so you have the same wheels as the front
I'm no expert on the LA 318, but I thought they were all rear sump...anyway, I'd find a 70's Diplomat/Volare/Cordoba/Monaco since a lot of those had good 8 3/4" rearends, decent length driveshafts, torsion bar front clip that you can resell or use and can sometimes be found in drivable condition for dirt cheap if they didn't get swallowed up by the cash for clunkers program...
The 318 is about as reliable as you can get as far as engines go as long as you take care of it. I'm in that camp for buying a running driving doner car. A guy should be able to find a good running but tired looking 70's to early 80's Volari, St Regis, or small body Chrysler with a 318 and 8-3/4 rear end fairly easily and drive it home for 500 or so. look for a rear end with a drop out third member. Vans might be a good choice for engine and trans as they are usually cheap and still run and drive good and the salvage off the van should bring enough to pay for the rear end. Buying a running driving doner rig also lets you get all of the bugs worked out of the engine and trans before you pull them from the doner.
Just did this - lucked into a '61 t-bird and used the motor, trans, exhaust, wiring, driveshaft, etc for my f-100 - saved a ton of dough and will now have the truck on the road in a month or two
You can buy a rear sump "kit" from mopar performance for the 318. It includes the pan, pickup tube for the oil pump and dipstick all new for under $100.00
Really not nit-pickin on this but, IIRC, the 8 3/4 was last used in 76 in A bodies and 74 in B, C & E bodies. The F and J used the 8¼. The 8¼ (spicer type) is actually a fairly stout axle, although expensive to swap gears. The 9¼, also available in many 70's C bodies, is extremely durable. The OP will need to find an axle that is the correct width before worrying about style. .
I thought the 8 3/4 ended in 72 on the A-bodies? I could be wrong, though. I do know that there are 8 1/4's for 73-76 A-bodies. Also, I strongly agree that width is the bigger issue. Here's a good place to get widths... http://www.moparts.org/Tech/Archive/axle/17.html
i agree get as close as you can on width, did a 318/904 swap in my 56 plymouth, oil pan has same front sump as the old 270 poly so did not have to change it and it was also shorter in height than the poly one..i used a 76 sport fury donor even used the electronic ignition from it....still looking for another year as the 76 -9 1/4 is too wide
For cheap and low mileage check out the van styled Dodge campers. A lot of these are 318/727 rigs. Most don't have hardly any mileage on them and they usually go for scrap money. My friend went this route with a free 73 Dodge camper and got a sweet running motor and trains out of it with only 30,000 miles.
Here is another link with more info than most folks will ever need... http://members.tripod.com/mojo_page/chry875.htm .
Mopar <TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 width="100%" border=2><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle>Outside Width</TD><TD align=middle>Year</TD><TD align=middle>Model</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>55.60</TD><TD align=middle>1960-1976</TD><TD>7 1/4 A-body</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>55.60</TD><TD align=middle>1973-1976</TD><TD>8 1/4 A-body</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>55.60</TD><TD align=middle>1966-1972</TD><TD>8 3/4 A-body</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>55.60</TD><TD align=middle>All</TD><TD>8 3/4 A-body</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>56.00</TD><TD align=middle>1932-1934</TD><TD>All Mopars</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>57.40</TD><TD align=middle>1963-1972</TD><TD>7 1/4 A-body</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>58.54</TD><TD align=middle>All</TD><TD>8 1/4 F-body</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>58.54</TD><TD align=middle>All</TD><TD>8 1/4 M-body</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>58.54</TD><TD align=middle>All</TD><TD>8 1/4 J-body</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>59.00</TD><TD align=middle>1935-1936</TD><TD>All Mopars</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>59.14</TD><TD align=middle>1966-1970</TD><TD>9 3/4 B-body</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>59.20</TD><TD align=middle>1962-1970</TD><TD>8 3/4 B-body</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>60.00</TD><TD align=middle>1937-1948</TD><TD>All Mopars</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>60.70</TD><TD align=middle>All</TD><TD>8 3/4 E-body</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>60.70</TD><TD align=middle>All</TD><TD>9 3/4 E-body</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>62.00</TD><TD align=middle>All</TD><TD>8 1/4 B-body</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>62.00</TD><TD align=middle>1971-1974</TD><TD>8 3/4 B-body</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>62.00</TD><TD align=middle>All</TD><TD>9 1/4 B-body</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>63.40</TD><TD align=middle>All</TD><TD>8 1/4 C-body</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>63.40</TD><TD align=middle>1971-1974</TD><TD>8 3/4 B-body S.W.</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>63.40</TD><TD align=middle>All</TD><TD>9 1/4 C-body</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Look like we need a universal swap spreadsheet like in Tex Smiths "how to build real hot rods"...It's how my brother and I put a 455 buick in a 1950 chevy
When I had my '53 I bought a late 80's 5th Avenue. Used most everything I could off that car. The sump is not an issue though I did get the pulley, water pump and alt bracket off of an early 70's van.You really don't need a 4 v-belt set up.
The Jalopy Journal
