3rdGen hemi into a body questions

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Boony405hp

Boony405hp

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First off I'm wanting to put a new 3rd gen. hemi into my a body. Most information is available if you search around. I was curious though about the old style gauges (aren't they mechanical) compared to the new ones. Would you have a problem hooking these up with the new hemi?

Dave
 
Hi. If either of you Boony405hp or Dodgenut64 have questions or need help a friend of mine put a 5.7 hemi in his a body last winter. He drove it all last summer, worked great, tons of power. He chose to use a carb instead of efi. His car is a 71 valiant 4 door originaly a 318 car. What a sleeper. Good luck with your projects. Bobby
 
Thanks for all the replies so far its been good. For one thing I must say I'm jeleous as you have all the hemi's over there pretty much we have them but never see them in junkyards!, I will have to import one from the US to Australia. So when I do I must make sure I have everything that I need from the engine, to right accessories, to the wiring harness from S&P seems to be the way to go and avoid headaches.

Anyones opinions on computers, I want to keep it as reliable as possible , will remain stock for a while then maybe upgraded a bit, but is aftermarket the best bet?

Does anyone know the weights of the 6.1 and the 5.7 with or without transmissions?

Will definently have a read of those links provided quite a few times to make sure I get everything I need.

For those interested this is where my car is at the moment:

P3170216-small.jpg

P3170213-small.jpg
 
Very nice car man, Im diggin that thing. That will be nice with a new hemi in it. As far as what you need, unless you plan on spending real big bucks, Id stick with the factory computer stuff. Alot of guys like messinng with the FAST computer stuff because its programable, but it costs lots of money. The factory stuff works fine. You can get into a pulled or replacement 5.7 hemi alot cheaper then the Mopar crate motor. Your car is way different then my 64, so I cant begin to tell you what youll run into as far as clearance.
 
I was planning on sourcing a 5.7 from a junkyard/dismantler place. Seems to be clearance issues are obviously the:

Sump (source from charlies)

Possibly need to notch the body if wanting to use LX headers or use GrandCher.Ones which are tighter to the engine

Alternator on the car versions (truck has different setup)
Transmission if using the stock 5spdauto

Plus a whole swag of other things I can't remember atm.

As for the engine bay etc. I'll try find a picture as they are very similar to your 'a body'.

RIGHTBAY.jpg


Not the best picture due to the light, but I have seen it fit in a car exactly like mine

readersrides_360-1a.jpg


What did you end up doing dodgenut re: engine. Did you get one from a yard? are u keeping it relatively stock? Transmission etc?
 
Nah had a change of plan and it was getting supercharged or something like that, something to do with the government over here not approving it i think (if i recall right)
 
Well, I got a hemi off ebay cheap, because it was locked up. I needed a cheap test fit engine and i grabbed one off ebay from a guy a few hours drive from me. I opened it up to see what was wrong with it (two broken rods). I had the block cleaned, and dicovered the cylander walls were pitted real bad.
When I go to get a runnable engine, I might buy a pulled engine or a stock replacement. Im going for a stock look to my enginebay. Im even gonna stick with exhaust manifolds.
 
thats right, you folks have a real extreme inspection process or not extreme so to speak but rather particular...I have a friend who has a small collection of aussie falcons here in FL. and keeps me up to speed with the down under stuff....he's building a MAD MAX main force patrol interceptor right now...I bet those clones run rampant down there like we have GENERAL LEE's huh....
 
Your charger is the same size as our a-body, but different. Looking at the firewall on the blue enginebay pic (is this an aussie charger enginebay?), it looks a little bit like a 63-66 A-body firewall (without the tension bars for the hood) and 67-UP fenderwells. Pretty cool how different your cars are. Anyway, here is a few of the pics showing clearance issues with 63-66 A-bodies.
Im using an RMS front suspension that clears things up alot. As you can see from the pics, on my 64 dart, the truck hemis alternator and A/C clears the hood nicely. Also youll see how close the hemis comes to the passengerside inner fender. I had to make indentions so that my valvecover bolts would clear and made a hole for the center bolt.
Im not sure if Bill At RMS could build you an Assuie Alterktion setup (reveresed), but the Alterktion front suspension does clear things up nicely. If your gonna use your stock k-frame, im thinking youll have to get rid of any power steering box. I also think switching from a 4 bolt master cylander to a 2 bolt will help clear the last coil back on the passengerside. Youll also have to get a center sump oil pan, and possibly a remote oil filter setup. Have you found the Street and Performance website yet? If not do a search, I think the website is hotrodlane. or something. Alot of good information on that site if you hunt a little.
The last two pics are of a wayfarer that has an enginebay like the 63-66 A-bodies here.

sml2.jpg


alternaotclears.jpg


valvecoverfrontview.jpg


accessside.jpg


compressorclears.jpg


headclears.jpg


accessport.jpg


vcuteo04.jpg


vcuteo05.jpg
 
All the engine bay picks i put up are of Aussie chargers yes. Those studs are right up flush aren't they. Your def. right about having to get a remote oil filter and the centre sump.

As for the mad max replicas I have really not seen a lot of them over here, to be honest i see more general lee ones (not that there are a lot) over here. Most people keep to the replicas of the gtho's in falcons.
 
I'll also go for a stockish look too, only have 200 hp standard so least the hemi standard has another 145 on that, then we'll see how it goes after that. Think i'll stick with the 5.7 for less weight as i want this car to go around a circuit track a few times a year too and less weight over the front would be good.

As for alterktion setup, i think bill was looking at a right hand drive setup a while ago and a few places over here seem to sell the setup over here but i think its about 7000 australian dollars!!! and then thats before you look at mucking around changing from leaf spring rear which would be my ultimate dream. Had a watch of XV motorsports dvd and there was some pretty mind blowing stuff in that the car looked great on the track with level 2 mods.
 
Yes the XV stuff is awesome, but way high in price. Are far as clearance on my car, yes it was tight on the passengerside, thats why i had to make indentions and that hole. Your enginebay may be wider and you may not have these issues. Youll have to buy Jeep grand cherokee hemi exhaust manifolds, the trucks manifold on the passengerside comes strait back and dont bend down much.
As far as weight, the new hemi is only about 15 pounds more then the slant six, so your right, the weight savings will be nice. The alterktion also drops some weight off the front also.
 
On the weight issue , does anyone know the weight of the new hemi?

The alterktion front end would be nice (i found the model number of the right hand drive version from RMS on a site here in Australia, did a search for it on bill's site but it didn't come up so I will email him about that.

What are going to run rear wise in terms of suspension?

At current I'd have as close as I can get to a XV setup 1 i can get, with good adjustable damper shocks all round, swaybars front and rear, new bushes all round and good tyres and larger rims.

What about transmission? I could bolt up a 727 but I want to go manual so probably the tremec 6 spd sounds the best option...we have them over here in monaro's (pontiac gto), commodores and falcons but they aren't the viper spec so that will also be a decision i have to make. However these cars are putting out just over 400hp from factory without that box

I'm not sure if our chassi or inner fenders/engine bay are the exact to one of your 'a' models but I'd dare say they would be, just not sure which one. would help to know when looking at all this stuff on the net when it says suits a body 63-67for example to know what model mine is equivilent to
 
Check out this link for hemi info http://www.allpar.com/mopar/new-mopar-hemi.html. Also, looks like with the 2009 hemis 385 hp, gets a new intake.

As far as what Im doing for the rear, Im using 2" drop leaf springs, and QA1 single adjustable shocks. I didnt want to get too exotic on the rearend.
As far as transmissions, Ive bounched from 5 to 4 speed, and now back to 5 speed. Tko 500 is choice. I think your 6 speed will be fine, they are abit bigger then the tko 5 speed, but as some people have discovered, you gotta do some hacking when putting these 5 and 6 speed manuals in.
As far as American A bodies, 63-66 are the same in the enginebay area. Im not sure how much different your AP6s, chargers and the like changed, but id guess that if the hood has the tensioning bars its like the 63-66 a-bodies.
 
Yeah i read about the new 09 5.7 with mds and vvt. More power slight better fuel economy.

As for the engine bay there are no tensioning bars on the hood like in the ute u posted. I'll have a read on the aussie forums i'm sure it has been discussed before.

For gearboxes i think anything other than a 727 is going to require floor mods so if i'm going to I'll go the 6spd.
 
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