K member swap question

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ColoMopar

ColoMopar

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I need some advice. My new 70 Duster has a 360 but the car was born with a /6. After looking closely I see that the original /6 K member is still in the car because it has a motor swap mount kit, the one that pushes the motor about 1 1/2" to the drivers side. It only leaves about 1/4" header to steering shaft clearance

Anyway, to put in a v8 k member what all would have to be changed? and how much of the /6 stuff that is in the car still work? If I buy a 73 k member that comes with spool mounts will my torsion bars, lower control arms, pitman arm, or anything else be a problem? The car doesn't have a sway bar but I would like to add one.

Thanks for the advice!
 
ColoMopar said:
I need some advice. My new 70 Duster has a 360 but the car was born with a /6. After looking closely I see that the original /6 K member is still in the car because it has a motor swap mount kit, the one that pushes the motor about 1 1/2" to the drivers side. It only leaves about 1/4" header to steering shaft clearance

Anyway, to put in a v8 k member what all would have to be changed? and how much of the /6 stuff that is in the car still work? If I buy a 73 k member that comes with spool mounts will my torsion bars, lower control arms, pitman arm, or anything else be a problem? The car doesn't have a sway bar but I would like to add one.

Thanks for the advice!
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Since you don't have a sway bar everything you have now will bolt to the V8 K-frame. You might want to upgrade your torsion bars to some that are stiffer but what you have now will go in place.
 
Everything you have will interchange with a v/8 k member. Sway bars on the /6 and 8 interchange, at least mine did. Changing out a K member is allot of work, you sure the engine is not sitting centered as it would with the correct k member? My 360 headers are close to the steering box and mine has a factory issue k member swapped in. Of course you will have to get the proper spool brackets for the block. 360 bracket is different than others on the driver side mount side I think.
 
ColoMopar said:
I need some advice. My new 70 Duster has a 360 but the car was born with a /6. After looking closely I see that the original /6 K member is still in the car because it has a motor swap mount kit, the one that pushes the motor about 1 1/2" to the drivers side. It only leaves about 1/4" header to steering shaft clearance
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all mopar V8s sit to the right side an 1 1/2 or so . its their design. it has nothing to do with the swap kit. they are designed that way. the V8 k member is the same way.


ive never seen a swap kit that does not relocate the engine where it should be. my /6 to v8 conversion mounts put the engine where it should and the headers fit right.
 
Wish I was at the car with my camera. On the passenger side it is not a typical biscuit and I am sure this is not the stock v8 motor mount. I could put a small orange through the space between the k member and the motor. The vin on this car is slant six and I know the 6 cylinder k member motor mounts are a couple of inches wider than the small block k members. It looks like it still has the 6 cyl k and all the space was taken out on the passenger side.
 
I found a picture in my file here at work where you can kinda see the passenger side motor mount.
 

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ColoMopar said:
Wish I was at the car with my camera. On the passenger side it is not a typical biscuit and I am sure this is not the stock v8 motor mount. I could put a small orange through the space between the k member and the motor. The vin on this car is slant six and I know the 6 cylinder k member motor mounts are a couple of inches wider than the small block k members. It looks like it still has the 6 cyl k and all the space was taken out on the passenger side.
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i guess if someone did some kind of homemade stuff thats entirely possible. if they used the shumacher conversion mounts and they didnt work properly , it would seem to me there would be many threads on it. im using the spool mount conversion kit and it works perfect. is there a way to contact the PO and ask them if they know anything about it? i know you just got the car right? if they are the right conversion mounts, the V8 k member will put the engine where it is now.
 
it sure looks like the front of your engine is sitting up higher than mine. i guess it could be the angle of the pic too
 

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73AbodEE said:
is there a way to contact the PO and ask them if they know anything about it? i know you just got the car right?
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Yep, got it from Slappy a stand up guy. But he didn't do this work, except for general improvements the car is the way he got it about 8 years ago. I'm not in a huge hurry to make the change but am looking at parts for when the day gets here. I know me and I know it will bug me if it isn't right.
 
73AbodEE said:
it sure looks like the front of your engine is sitting up higher than mine. i guess it could be the angle of the pic too
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I didn't notice the height, I'll check it when I get home. I know the fan is not centered in the shroud. It's very close to the driver's side and about 1 1/2" from the passenger side. I'll look at it up and down too.
 
A bunch of owners have had to grind on the box coupling to get any clearance for headers.
I think you're going to find the engine is infact very close to where it should be.
You can't judge by an aftermarket radiator or shroud either.
A oem shroud has 1.5 flange on one side and no flange on the other. Slant 6 shroud offset is exactly opposite a LA shroud but that due to both engine placement and water pump/fan placement .
Drive line position remains unchanged.

One place you could measure for others to reference and compare is balancers relation to frame rails.
 
ColoMopar said:
Yep, got it from Slappy a stand up guy. But he didn't do this work, except for general improvements the car is the way he got it about 8 years ago. I'm not in a huge hurry to make the change but am looking at parts for when the day gets here. I know me and I know it will bug me if it isn't right.
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i see. yes its a beautiful duster. i live down in C Springs , its nice to see another yellow duster in CO, there arent many LOL. it would bug me too if the engine was not sitting right in the engine bay. my long tube headers fit perfect in there, but i have manual steering.
 
Just took a look at the car and the hood liner has an impression from the air cleaner, so now I'm also beginning to think that it is higher. I can measure the balancer to the frame rails as suggested, does anyone know what those measurements should be?
 
Here are a few more pictures I just took with my phone. In the first one you can see the position on the driver's side and in the next two can are able to see the passenger mount. If you look you can see the floor right through the passenger side mount.
 

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if you have long tube hookers on that car i can measure the distance from the front tube to the inner fenderwell on mine.
 
Looks like a good fit to me. If you have a slanty k-member it has a taller motor mount bracket welded on the driver side than what would be on a V/8 one. V/8's have two brackets welded on at same height and general size. And allot of guys just flip the slanty fan shrouds up side down and use them after the v/8 swap, that's what I did. The fan will not be perfectly centered but it works, probably what that guy did.
 
ColoMopar said:
Just took a look at the car and the hood liner has an impression from the air cleaner, so now I'm also beginning to think that it is higher.
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it is a different air cleaner and intake than factory. if it bothers you get a drop base for it.
My 74 has the shumacher mounts and I have a performer intake and 14x4 air cleaner with a drop base no touching problems at all or even with my 72 trap door air cleaner
 
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