Val

[notadart]

This is VAL, my '75 Valiant Brougham.

My first Mopar.

Bought her with the body work done, subframe connectors and 8.25 rear end all in. She had a rather tired 318 under the hood, so I wanted to change that out. She is also interiorless, so that resto will be coming up later.

The reason I wanted to make this post, other than the obvious narcissism, was that I learned a TON doing this project, and most of that information came from the internet- specifically this site. I figure by making a somewhat detailed post, I could give something back to this community, and maybe help someone with a similar project in the future.

So here it is- some shitty pictures and foggy details about the coolest project I've ever worked on.

To begin, here's Val.

 

[notadart]

Val had the stock 318 under the hood. A great platform to work with, but she had blown rings on at least one cylinder, and was pretty tired overall. (See pic below)

The fellow I bought her off of had a 360 kicking around as well, so I grabbed that at the same time.

Originally out of a motor home, the 360 was zero decked, bored .30 and had a half decent cam, J heads, and a good condition intake manifold to slap on. Cam was already bedded in, and the block was in great condition overall.

 

[notadart]

318 and 360 blocks are super similar. Ostensibly this should have been a pretty straightforward swap.

It was almost completely done at night, in the rain, half-out of a shop that was just a little small for the car. Naturally, there were some hurdles with the swap, but nothing that a little money and a lot of time couldn't fix!

Differences you gotta think about:

Motor mounts. They're different. Get the right ones. It would appear that some blocks have different mounts (closer together) on the drive side. You can get a specific mount from Schumacher, or just weld a spacer in there.
The 360's are externally balanced (not internal like the 318's) This meant either getting a weighted flexplate, or welding a weight on the torque converter. I went the latter route. (see pics)
Truck oil pans are different from passenger car ones. DusterGlenn was able to hook me up with the right one (thanks buddy)
There is a brace that extends from the trans-cover to the block. I had to lengthen it on the drive-side. (cut, threw more metal in, re-welded).

For a way better article on the job, check out: http://www.dippy.org/forum2/index.php?topic=53.0

 

[70DartMike]

Looks good so far. Keep up the progress.

 

[pishta]

Love that block color...tangerine? Tell us the secret on the 360 convertor weight placement and mass.

 

[notadart]

Love that block color...tangerine? Tell us the secret on the 360 convertor weight placement and mass.

The secret? Go to an auto trans specialist. (The legs in the picture are Royce at Victoria Auto Trans. He told me right where to weld it. Guy's a hero.)

Or use that pic as a guide.

 

[notadart]

Couple little custom jobbies on the block.

Cleaned up the valve covers and painted them to match the block.

They look pretty fly.

Here's a pic of the motor and trans almost ready to drop in- note the rear-sump oil pan still on there. the center sump (passenger car) pan went on shortly thereafter.

Headers aren't on there either. They were enough of a ***** to warrant another post.

Here's a picture of the motor as it currently sits.