I'm not a mechanic but I'll learn.

[BigWhi]

I'm a little late to the party at 34 but I'm wanting to learn. I bought a 71 Plymouth Scamp that currently has a slant 6 in it. I also found a 01 Durango Rt 5.9 Magnum that was rolled for very cheap. I am in IT and basically that's my first love, but I have recently found a new love which is Mopar.

My best friend has a scamp parts car that was a v8 car and is going to give me the things I need off of it to make this swap. He is an experienced technician and is going to be helping with this project. I'm just lost on what all will be needed to make this swap and what all will not be needed. I am leaning towards the carb setup over the EFI for ease of the swap. Please correct me if I'm missing something. I have been reading lots of articles on this type of engine swap but I don't know if I'm reading the right things or if I'm just not understanding a lot of it.

Any help will be appreciated. I have been on magnumswap.com reading a bunch but it seems like they want to sell you more things than actually keeping it under a budget.

 

[Dustert73]

Take the tech from magnummopar and buy it elsewhere for cheaper. It has pretty much all you need to know about retrofitting a magnum

 

[moparmat2000]

Magnum use longblock, carbed intake, electronic dist w vacuum advance. Somebody correct me if im wrong here but use LA waterpump and pulleys. You can even use 5 bolt valve covers on 10 bolt magnum heads if you like old skool look. Use V8 k off parts car or keep your slanty K and use schumacher motor mount adaptors from slant 6 to 360. Carb your choice. I prefer AFBs. Some like Holleys. If engine is not center sump. You will need to buy a 360 center sump passenger car oil pan and oil pick up tube. A 318 car pan wont fit a 360 and vise versa.

Trans. I dunno. Maybe use the magnums O/D trans and fab up a trans mount and beat the dickens out of your trans tunnel to make it clear, and cut the car driveshaft to fit. I hear these are pretty big. Or just use a torqueflight A904 3 speed that fits and may not have to cut down your existing slanty shaft.

Oh your stock 7.25 rear will go boom with a V8. So swap an 8.75 if you have the money, or swap in a furd xploder 8.8 out of a an explorer sport trak. Its got big bolt pattern, 5 bolt 4.5" circle. Rear discs, 3.73 gears and a locking diff. All for around $200 at a pick n pull near you
( this rear is nice when upgrading to discs in the front from an M body same bolt pattern.)
.

 

[BigWhi]

Magnum use longblock, carbed intake, electronic dist w vacuum advance. Somebody correct me if im wrong here but use LA waterpump and pulleys. You can even use 5 bolt valve covers on 10 bolt magnum heads if you like old skool look. Use V8 k off parts car or keep your slanty K and use schumacher motor mount adaptors from slant 6 to 360. Carb your choice. I prefer AFBs. Some like Holleys. If engine is not center sump. You will need to buy a 360 center sump passenger car center sump oil pan and oil pick up tube. A 318 car pan wont fit a 360 and vise versa.

Trans. I dunno. Maybe use the magnums O/D trans and fab up a trans mount and beat the dickens out of your trans tunnel to make it clear, and cut the car driveshaft to fit. I hear these are bretty big. Or just use a torqueflight A904 3 speed that fits and may not have to cut down your existing slanty shaft.

Oh your stock 7.25 rear will go boom with a V8. So swap an 8.75 if you have the money, or swap in a furd xploder 8.8 out of a an explorer sport trak. Its got big bolt pattern, 5 bolt 4.5" circle. Rear discs, 3.73 gears and a locking diff. All for around $200 at a pick n pull near you
( this rear is nice when upgrading to discs in the front from an M body same bolt pattern.)
.

Wow, this answered so many questions that I didn't have the answers to. I really appreciate it. This is pretty much what I read on magnumswaps.com but for some reason you made it easier to understand haha.

 

[snailpower]

in the middle of this myself. I planned on just keeping the magnum bottom end in tact but found some ugly cam bearings first then ugly main bearings. I would mentally prepare for the worst when you rip into the bottom end so your not surprised.

 

[moparmat2000]

Your stock bolt pattern is 5 bolt 4 inch with 7/16" lug studs. Wheel selection sucks for this.

Upgrading to M body. Diplomat / fifth ave / fury front discs puts on a 5 bolt 4.50" circle. With 1/2" lug studs. This is same pattern as the explorer rear end. Only one spare needed in trunk. And better wheel selection.

M body brake swap is easy. Pull everything from the spindle out off an M body.but leave upper and lower suspension arms behind because you cant use them. You need A body large ball joint upper control arms that use the K772 ball joint. and A body 73-76;"disc brake" lower ball joints. They did offer drums in 73 and 74. Make sure they are disc brake lower joints. Your stock lower control arms are reused. Also need 73 to 76 A body disc brake flexible front brake lines.

You also need to buy grade 8 bolts and lock nuts the size shown below. Not nylock but the squeezed ovaled lock nut. These will attach your M body spindles to the disc brake lower ball joints. M bodies use a large 2 75" piston caliper.

You can use a stock M body master cylinder with this as long as your using the 2.75" piston M body calipers. If you use smaller piston calipers the pedal effort goes up and the clamping force on the pads is decreased. If your car is manual brakes you will need to save the brake pushrod to reuse it.easy to remove, just pull the brake pedal toward you pretty firmly till the rod pulls out of the back of the old master cylinder then remove the old master cylinder. Some will say it doesnt work but the math works out. The M body is a 2 bolt master will work fine with manual brakes. You buy a 4 bolt to 2 bolt adaptor to use it. About $38 off evilbay.

With explorer rear discs you will need to buy an adjustable biasing valve and tune the fluid amount going to the back brakes.

 

[moparmat2000]

in the middle of this myself. I planned on just keeping the magnum bottom end in tact but found some ugly cam bearings first then ugly main bearings. I would mentally prepare for the worst when you rip into the bottom end so your not surprised.

The good news w magnum blocks is usually the bores are pretty straight and unworn due to the EFI having way beyter fuel metering and not letting the rings get washed out. Like a flooded carb can.

 

[BigWhi]

Your stock bolt pattern is 5 bolt 4 inch with 7/16" lug studs. Wheel selection sucks for this.

Upgrading to M body. Diplomat / fifth ave / fury front discs puts on a 5 bolt 4.50" circle. With 1/2" lug studs. This is same pattern as the explorer rear end. Only one spare needed in trunk. And better wheel selection.

M body brake swap is easy. Pull everything from the spindle out off an M body.but leave upper and lower suspension arms behind because you cant use them. You need A body large ball joint upper control arms that use the K772 ball joint. and A body 73-76;"disc brake" lower ball joints. They did offer drums in 73 and 74. Make sure they are disc brake lower joints. Your stock lower control arms are reused. Also need 73 to 76 A body disc brake flexible front brake lines.

You also need to buy grade 8 bolts and lock nuts the size shown below. Not nylock but the squeezed ovaled lock nut. These will attach your M body spindles to the disc brake lower ball joints. M bodies use a large 2 75" piston caliper.

You can use a stock M body master cylinder with this. If your car is manual brakes you will need to save the brake pushrod to reuse it.easy to remove, just pull the brake pedal toward you pretty firmly till the rod pulls out of the back of the old master cylinder then remove the old master cylinder. Some will say it doesnt work but the math works out. The M body is a 2 bolt master will work fine with manual brakes. You buy a 4 bolt to 2 bolt adaptor to use it. About $38 off evilbay.

With explorer rear discs you will need to buy an adjustable biasing valve and tune the fluid amount going to the back brakes.

View attachment 1715083385

Keep the knowledge flowing my friend. This is all very good information for me to have.

 

[moparmat2000]

Ford explorer rear end swap just use search function up top for ford explorer 8.8 swap. These guys got it all figured out.

 

[moparmat2000]

Master cylinder adaptor. Square O ring in middle fits onto a groove on the end master cylinder pushrod that you pulled out of the old drum brake master. A small amount of silicone spray and push it right into the back of the new master cylinder. The M body one will have a groove in it for a manual brake pushrod. And the M body fitting threads are SAE not metric.

If your car has small bolt pattern 4 piston disc brakes on it, you can upgrade to the M body brakes and sell those to the resto crowd.

 

[Toluene56]

Doctordiff.com has good 83/4 stuff... but probably won't be budget friendly. Cheap Chinese airgap knock off intakes are drilled for both magnum and la heads (speedMaster). La timing covers and forward will bolt to mag block, which means you can use stock 70s pullies and water pump if that's the look you're going for.

 

[moparmat2000]

Essentially with the V8 swap you will keep the body and ditch everything else lol.

If you dont have an 8.75 to start with. Figure on spending minumum $1,200 to build one up. I did one for my 67. Will be going xploder sport trak 8.8 on my sons 69 barracuda though. I cant argue w $200 for BBP, discs, 3.73s, and a locker VS $1,200 or more and still being drums.