Pre- 440 swap question

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Crazy4408pac

Crazy4408pac

N. Michigan
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Am trying to think ahead, to when I drop the 440, in my Dart. The Dart was a /6. In the Charger, that the 440 is coming out of, the below pic shows the bal resistor, a two wire silver box and the orange box.
Now in the Dart, I have the bal resistor and a two wire box. I don't think the 440 will run, with just those.
What needs to be done before I put the engine in? Better to do it now, when I can stand up in the engine bay.
Thanks for and help.
 

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The "two-wire" box is a voltage regulator. It's hooked inline with the alternator to make sure you do not overpower the charging circuit.

The "orange box" is you ignition box and you will definitely need one in order for your ignition system to work. You may also need the four-prong ballast resistor from the Charger in order to get the ignition system to work correctly in the Dart. I'm not 100% sure what the difference is between the ballast resistors, so I would wait for somebody else here to comment on that.

-Mike
 
What year is the slant six car? It could have run without an ignition box if the distributor had points (1-wire, electronic distributors have 2 wires). That would be a strange combination to have the later electronic Vreg, but points, so likely one is not original.

You can find much info on here for wiring the orange box and dual ballast into a points car. However, that is fairly ambitious unless you are competent with wiring. The dual ballast was an early design for boxes w/ 5 active pins (most 5th pins today are a dummy). It would be easier to install a new HEI distributor ($60 on ebay for RB engines) and would give a slightly stronger spark. You can sell the other parts here or on ebay for about that to people already wired for them.
 
Ok, I looked at the whole engine bay and can't find any trace of an ignition box. How did the /6 run without one?
Any way, I'm leaning towards using the unit by Classichei. Any big block people have feed-back on this unit and the install? What coil is required?
 
The /6 didn't have electronic ignition. The balast won't work with electronic ign. Find a MSD 6 and you won't need any balast. Your coil will be OK for a stock 440 that doesn't have high compression or rev to 6K
 
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