'90 318 van accessory mounts

[Woody500]

Bought 90 318 w/OD trans a few yr ago, for 65 Barracuda. I am moving soon & accessories all removed & in boxes.
Are mounting brackets worth keeping for any A-body uses. I will be pitching Air Pump at least.
Posted in 'General Discussions' already, thought might get more responses in here.

 

[Professor Fate]

Can't say for sure without a photo, but I'm pretty sure the van and truck brackets were the same.
I used the truck brackets on the 360 in my '66 wagon. Fits nice, gives me the big Denso alternator, and is easily adaptable to a Sanden compressor.

The only issue I had was with the power steering pump brackets; the truck-style bracket(s) mount the pump pretty low (to make room for the air pump) and the pump would hit the K frame where it curves upward to attach to the subframe. This was easily solved by trimming the engine side of the brackets by about 1 1/4" IIRC and redrilling the mounting holes (there's plenty of extra meat there) on the front portion of the bracket, and shortening and rewelding the rear bracket by the same amount. This tucked the PS pump in a bit closer to the engine and provided plenty of clearance, and only required a slightly shorter belt. This may not be necessary in a later A.
The air pump and brackets were deleted (naturally) and appropriately-sized spacers were used to make up for the now-missing brackets, so all the pulleys line up. Stock truck pulleys by the way; except for the crank. Stock is a four-groove pulley, you only need three; so you either find a three-groove (non air pump) pulley, or take the cheap old man's way out and mount the four-groove pulley up in a brake lathe and cut the outer ring off. Done it both ways. Or just run it with an empty groove.

 

[chewy]

Mounting bracket for the truck and van mounts won't really work well in your early A. However, the motor has a different set of mounting tabs on the passenger side on the block. It will have 2 on the front. Cutting a portion of the bracket off and welding it to your early A brackets is a modification you'd want to consider.

When I installed a 78 318 truck motor in my 65 dart (while i gathered parts and rebuilt the 273), I modified my early A brackets and welded on the extra mounting hole location from the truck bracket, in order to mount it.

 

[Woody500]

Yes. Info I found earlier, with diagram & belt routing, said PUs the same.
I already have a 100 amp Denso alternator, that I bought on the road when my 93 D250 Cummins was acting up. It was only the rubber covered metal connector was loose, so I kept spare for later update on Barracuda.
I remember now the the engine mount is different Thanks for the reminder.
I thought if nothing else I could probably notch the K-member & beef it up, but nice to know there is another way. Also nice to know A/C mount is adaptable, certainly need it in Florida, especially with flat black finish I've been considering.

 

[Woody500]

Does the 90 engine have the 9.2 CR that some say the late LAs have?

 

[YY1]

It should.

That started in the early 1980's.

 

[Woody500]

Thanks. People usually only mention the roller cam and 302 heads(meh) when discussing late LAs.
Are there any other stock improvements?
What does open chamber heads do to the CR? Are the gains only from 302 small chambers, since piston compression heights are still 1.720?
1.810 heights are available aftermarket. But how much does .090 taller add to CR.
What I've read not specific, but I haven't looked further than AI answers, & we know how inaccurate they can be.
It also seems to infer taller heights did come stock.

Just looked further & 1.810 listed as stock 1990 Compression Height.

And looked again & that seems wrong!
So which is it? Or were both heights used(doubt it)?

 

[Professor Fate]

Bought 90 318 w/OD trans a few yr ago, for 65 Barracuda.

Are you SURE you've got an overdrive, and not the 32RH? (Lockup TC, but no overdrive-commonly used in vans & Dakotas, some light duty pickups). That will change how you approach the swap.
A500/42RH:

32RH:

 

[Woody500]

Under bench cant see it. But looked at elactrical plug long ago & I think so IIRC!

 

[Woody500]

But thanks, didn't know no OD was an option. Looking at your pics, the top tabs on the 1st shots' tailshaft look familiar.
My Dodge pu is up against bench it's under & no access right now.
I knew guys on here could help with these questions. I'm always learning on here!
Thanks all, & keep info coming! It all helps.

 

[Professor Fate]

But thanks, didn't know no OD was an option. Looking at your pics, the top tabs on the 1st shots' tailshaft look familiar.
My Dodge pu is up against bench it's under & no access right now.
I knew guys on here could help with these questions. I'm always learning on here!
Thanks all, & keep info coming! It all helps.

A quick glimpse of the tailshaft should tell you, the overdrive unit is pretty obvious. The A500/42RH OD trans will also have two electrical connectors (in addition to the NSS), the 32RH will only have one. In addition, the OD will require surgery to the crossmember in order to fit, the 32RH will not- although some mods will still be required to the trans itself to fit the tight constraints of the early A tunnel/crossmember.
I touched on some of that in this thread: 32RH 67 Dart