5.7 Hemi A Body Swap

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aacwilliams

aacwilliams

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I need info on an A body swap. I can get a 5.7 with 40 k on it cheap. As far as i know i need a ecm, gas pedal and engine harness. I want to use the stock ecm and efi. I need info on what years fit together. I heard that a 05 1500 truck ecm only manages the the engine. I want to use a 727 behind it, turning a Dana 60 with a powerlock. Does anyone have info/
 
All the truck pcm's control the trans , unless you can stumble across a rare manual trans 2500 PCM. And the trans functions will need to be removed. But other than that I think you got the general idea.
 
aacwilliams said:
I need info on an A body swap. I can get a 5.7 with 40 k on it cheap. As far as i know i need a ecm, gas pedal and engine harness. I want to use the stock ecm and efi. I need info on what years fit together. I heard that a 05 1500 truck ecm only manages the the engine. I want to use a 727 behind it, turning a Dana 60 with a powerlock. Does anyone have info/
Click to expand...

Don't make the same mistake some others are making, put in an OD trans.
 
Tincup said:
Don't make the same mistake some others are making, put in an OD trans.
Click to expand...

That's not really a mistake. I'm installing a 727. I don't need overdrive, because my car is a racecar, it will rarely see the street, so milage is not important, but strength is. I'm planning on pushing 1000+ to the tires, and the less complicated the trans the better.
 
Lot of questions, I'll try to be brief.

If you plan to use the factory fuel injection and computer contact Hot Wire Auto at hotwireauto.com they have been doing jeep 5.7 and 6.1 Hemi conversions and can steer you in the correct direction for getting the factory computer to work. Contrary to popular beliefs the "manual transmission" computer is not rare, with the factory service tool you can turn on and off automatic and manual transmissions. I.E. you select whether the car has an auto or manual, in the sevice code. The factory service tool is required to see this menu. The tool is $4500.00, this is why Hot Wire Auto can charge 695.00 to "program" your computer.

I am pretty certain, that all other who websites that are making harnesses are simply reselling the ones from Hot Wire Auto. (Disclaimer, I am not affiliated with Hot Wire Auto in any way shape or form.)

There have been guys who've simply modified a factory harness and got their cars to run without throwing codes. It can be done, but it ain't easy.

You'll also need a fuel system compatible with the fuel system. At a minium this means you'll need an electric fuel pump and fuel regulator. The cheapest way to do this is with an external pump and a fuel filter / Regulator from a GM LS motor. (They both use the same pressure)

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/LS1-Fuel-Filter-Regulator-Kit,41791.html

All of the information below ASSUMES YOU ARE USING THE FACTORY K-MEMBER!!!

Oil pans are available from the following sources: Milodon (cheapest, won't work with Alter-K-Tion) Charlies Oil Pans (people online have complained of workmanship issues) or Canton (Beautiful workmanship,but pricier than Milodon)

Motor Mounts: People have made their own. That being said, TTI makes mounts for BOTH biscuit style and Spool Type mounts. There mounts fit smal block V-8 K-members ONLY. If you have a slant six car, start looking for a K-Member. Street & Performance also makes biscuit style mounts.

Headers: TTI makes headers for A-Bodie, you can also use factory 5.7 Jeep Manfolds. Truck manifolds will not work. The TTIs are worth quite a bit of HP over the stock manifolds. Jeep SRT8 manifolds will work with the Alter-K-Tion but will NOT work with the factory K-member. The outlet hits the steering and can't be trimmed enough to fit.

Power Steering: At this point if you want power steering, your only option is the RMS Alter-K-Tion. There is a thread on this website where members are exploring getting power steering to work, but at this stage it is not yet possible.

Accessories: Truck accessories all fit, car accessories are more problematic. The car alternator location may require a little trimming. Again pics of this trimming are on this website and bigblockdart.com The spool mount interferes with the Car mounted A/C compressor, though I THINK you can make the compressor fit with the biscuit style mounts. Car power steering pump is not a problem, except you can't have power steering. ;)

Cooling: Depending upon your motor, whether it is a truck or car will determine where the water inlet and outlets are located. As a result you'll need a radiator that matches. The cheapest method is to simply use either the biggest A-body radiator or even a B-body radiator and have a radiator shop move the inlet to match your motor.

You'll also need an electric fan. I THINK only a few trucks came with engine driven fans. The fan should be thermostatically controlled.

Oil Filter: The stock oil filter will hit the factory K-member. You have two options. 1. You can buy a filter relocation kit that places a block off plate and oil lines to a remote mounted oil filter. (Some on the internet claim these will eventually leak, I am unsure I ran braided lines on a dunebuggy for over ten years without a leak, but your mileage may vary) Your other option is a 45 degree filter fitting used on some jeeps, downside you'll need to trim and box weld your K-member for it to fit. Lots of pics of it, look around on this website to find examples.

If your interester in the various options for mounting your hemi including aftermarket K-members you can read my blog posting about Hemi motor mounts Here:

http://drhemi.blogspot.com/

Regards,

Joe Dokes
 
Thanks for the help everyone. Joe i really appreciate all the advice. It is more than i expected but exactly what i need. I have some friends at Dodge that can help with the scan tool. What do you think about the trans? i don't want to cut the crossmember which i will have to if i use a 500 or 518.
 
If you don't want to cut the cross member or modify the tunnel you're pretty much limited to the following:

Automatics:
727 or 904

Manual
A833

You can add a Gear Vendors Unit to any of these if you want an over-drive. The Gear vendors unit, has a strong reputation and is rated for 1200 HP. Many drag racers who compete in Hot-Rods Drag week use them.

You can also wait for Passon Performance's 5 Speed, according to Jaimie, they should finally be shipping in May. (Of course they were suppose to shipping by Summer of last year.) I really like the idea of the Passon 5-Speed, it's pricey at $4295.00. If you already have a four speed all you need to buy is the five speed, it even comes with the appropriate shifter. If you're converting from an automatic to this setup the cost is high.

The 518, TKO, T-56, and 6060 all require some modification to the floor pan and or the cross member.

A word of warning, the TKO from Keisler does require some modification, even though they claim a perfect fit. What Keisler promises, is that the shifter will remain in the stock location and provide an accurate historic placement of the shift handle.

Regards,

Joe Dokes
 
03ramit1 said:
That's not really a mistake. I'm installing a 727. I don't need overdrive, because my car is a racecar, it will rarely see the street, so milage is not important, but strength is. I'm planning on pushing 1000+ to the tires, and the less complicated the trans the better.
Click to expand...


Sorry, let me re-phrase, If you plan on driving it to shows and cruises outside of a 20 mile radius, put in an OD trans.....:eek:ops:
 
i got a 518 in my garage and it is in good shape. i think that with a bigger pan, shift kit and a 10 inch torque converter might be good. What do you think? Thanks Aaron
 
HemiTronix offers a package to put the 3G Hemi in almost anything. see the August issue of Mopar Action for more info.
 
I can't help with A-body specifics as I am putting mine in a B-body. That being said, depending on your budget there are many ways to accomplish this. Joe hit the nail on the head with most of it and all the parts can be purchased over the counter to make it almost plug and play but the price tag gets steep quick.

What I have found...The hotwire harness is awesome, I just got mine back today and it looks great. I think 5 wires is all I need to wire in myself. Don't be fooled about the PCM's get a 04-05 truck pcm and have them "flash it" If you are getting a harness from them and ship them your pcm then its $100. (its what I did)

Oil pan's...I modified the stock truck pan to be a mid sump. So far I haven't run the engine so no idea how/if it might leak but the time spent is a major investment...so Milodon is the cheapest but if you are broke you can move the sump and make it clear.

Motor mounts - TTI makes them like he said but making them yourself is not too difficult if you know where you want everything to sit. But doing this way pretty much ensures a set of readymade headers will not fit. So if you intend to run tti headers make sure you run their mounts and the price tag for those is not too bad. I made my own since I wanted to control where my transmission ended up.

Fuel system - An in-tank pump is the best and there are companies that make kits but the externals will work. The corvette style filter/regulator is the cheapest way to get the pressure right...just like he said, perfect part. I am modifying a stock tank to add baffles and run an in-tank pump. Some have said that without a baffled tank and an external pump below half a tank on cornering they exhibit fuel starvation issues.

Good luck, have fun, it can all be done.
 
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