Hi. this is the first post that i made on here. so here is the deal. i have a 1971 charger SE 318c.i and i found a 1972 Chrysler Brougham 440 engine. would this fit into my charger? if it does fit what changes would i have to make?

 

that is an easy swap because chargers came with big blocks you will need motor mounts exhaust transmission and trans mount that is the biggest part of the swap

 

dustin -

I did that swap in 1982 (with a 74 SE) and it wasn't "that" easy. These days there are a few companies making correct motor mounts for the conversion etc. You might also want to beef up the suspension parts later on, but it's not critical. You'll obviously need a new trany as well.

If you plan on using headers, that can also be a tight fit. Again, there are probably betting fitting designs than my old Hookers.

Gook luck!

Archer

 

thanks for the replies. i didnt mention the transmission because i was not that worried about it fitting. it is a 727 torqueflight. my dad is a excellent tranny mech and he grew up working on his 340ci and 727. i am looking at two options right now: 69 440 hp short block - $400 is all that the ad says. Or Matching 440 & 727 - $500 from a 1972 chryler new yorker brougham. the first ad just said that it was a '69 and didnt say if it was chysler or dodge. i really dont know if there is much difference in the '69 block. i heard from somewhere that they had thicker piston walls and all engines before '75or'76 have a higher nickel content. if there is no difference between the two blocks i would assume taking the complete engine with the tranny. we could rebuild the extra tranny and resale it. I was looking for some help on here. Thanks for reading.

 

I would say to get the one with the transmision since there is a difference between big block and small block 727's. If you are looking for a good source of info check out Apollo's thread:
https://moparforums.com/forums/f10/1...ine-swap-1953/

He did the same swap and posted lots of info and pix.

 

About the conversion. i have a friend that i helped put a '69 chrysler engine in his '74 charger. the first problem we encountered was the oil pan and motor mount clearance. it also looked like the transmission mounts were different. well, my dad broke his finger trying to get the tranny to fit in. it slipped and fell on him. anyways, he sold the car shortly afterwards. it looked like it would have worked with a couple of mods. i would be very interested in part numbers i could look up for this conversion. i am driving a '95 mustang Gt conv and i am ready to drive a real american car now lol. i am a disabled vet with plenty of time and a little bit of money. i am ready to get this thing rolling. Thanks again for the replies.

 

hey thanks for that link. it was very helpful and will cut alot of my questions. still any input would be helpful.

 

dustin -

Yup, the oil pan was another problem. In 82, we had to modify (read chop) the existing pan to clear. On the last rebuild, we were able to find a new one that cleared. Again, the headers were the biggest problem.

Also think about cooling. The stock radiators won't handle a mildly worked 440. We went with an aluminum 4 row with a very big fan spaced about 1" away. The temp now stays in the 160 - 180 range.

I attached a couple of pics of the finished product.

Archer

 

the oil pan prob was due to car specific. im sure..i havent ever had a big headache from a small block to big block swap.

 

I had the same issue with the oil pan, but is car specific, pulled the pan and sump off the 400 I pulled and put it on the 440 I put in and no more issues, perfect fit.

 

Cool. so you are saying that a 400 oil pan and sump will solve the issue? what about the transmission mounts and the motor mounts did you have any trouble with them? any ideas would be helpful. thanks

 

dustin -

Maybe - sorry, can't tell from here.

Check my first post on this thread. In '82 we had to jury rig the motor/trany mounts to get the engine to fit. Not so hard these days as there are specialty items for the swap.

Archer

 

i just ordered a book on amazon about engine swapping. it contains popular engine swaps from chrysler and duster. it was only ten bucks. after i am confident about the conversion i will get started on the project. thanks for the posts. it is good to get people with first hand experience.

 

I just dropped mine in, didn't have to switch any of the mounts. Already had the 727 in it, so the new one just fit.

 

The swap should be a straight forward swap for your Charger. Since the Chargers came with most engine options Chrysler was smart and made it efficient to interchange drivetrains based on the order. The bare minumum for the swap would be
tranny mounts
motor mounts
radiator
driveshaft

Thats it. Everything swapped over without major issues. Shouldnt be any different for your Charger. I think. haha. Im pretty confident. Its Chrysler. . . everything swaps!!

 

The engine will fit without any issues. The oil pan should be okay, the K frame on the Charger and Chrysler are similar enough that it should fit. If the 440 were coming out of a truck or A body car (rare with a big block) or later Chrysler with a different type K frame there might be an issue.

Check the 72 engine carefully, many were left over engines from 71, and had steel cranks. If the car has a thin harmonic balancer (about 1-1/4 inches thick) it is a steel crank, if it is thicker, and has a counterweight on it, it is a cast crank. The 72 engine will have lower compression and a different cam than the 71 and earlier, but the block and cylinder heads should be the same. I once found a '72 Dodge Polara police car which had a factory-installed '71 440 HP2 steel crank engine in it, and I bought a '72 Roadrunner with a steel crank 400. These engines were detuned to '72 specs, but still had plenty of heavy duty '71 parts in them.

All wiring should be exactly the same, though the wires for the distributor will need be longer because it is located on the front of the engine instead of the rear.

You can use the Chrysler exhaust manifolds on your Charger if you haven't picked up headers yet. Motor mounts are the only difference, but it's possible that the motor mounts in the Chrysler will work. Make sure the rubber pads aren't rotted out.

The only real issue you are likely to have is with the drive shaft. The 727 is longer than the 904 which is probably in your Charger, the slip yoke will be different, and the u-joint size will also be different. Keep the drive shaft from the Chrysler, and take it and the one from your Charger to a drive line shop. They can adapt the Chrysler shaft by cutting it down and welding on the rear yoke from your Charger's drive shaft.

Have fun, the first time I attempted such a swap I was only 19 years old. It took me about a week to sort out the bugs and get everything working properly. The last time I did it, it took only 5 hours. Practice makes perfect.

 

I spent a little time with the 318 and got it running over the weekend. my dad was trying to convince me to get this current car running, sell it, and buy a car that was made with the big block. would this car be worth more with the 318 in it? there are plenty more mopar projects around.

 

Original big block cars aren't cheap, and that is why there are so many clones/project cars around. When I was in high school a big block 'cuda or Challenger could be found for a few hundred dollars, and you could find a beater Hemi car for $3000 or so.

Your '72 is a good candidate for a conversion, a big block will fit with a minimum of work and cost. If you were to fix up your car and sell it, you wouldn't end up with nearly enough money to buy a big block car (unless you were lucky enough to find a very good deal somewhere).

I miss those days when muscle cars were cheap. Here in Japan used cars sell for almost nothing. Yesterday I was looking at a Japanese muscle car, an all-wheel-drive, 4 wheel steering '95 Nissan Skyline GTR. It had a heavily turbo'd and intercooled twin-cam, 4 valve per cylinder, Greddy, HKS, and a side of hashbrowns equipped inline 6 cylinder engine. Horsepower was more than impressive, it set me back in the seat far more than my old 440 Demon did (all-wheel-drive really grips the road). The only bad thing was having to shift the 5 speed tranny with my left hand. The price was only $5000, less than 1/10th what such a car (with a title) would sell for in America.

 

i did this swap in my 72 charger. the 318 w/ a/c radiator kept my 440 cool enough.i used a passenger side housing the tranny mount from the 904 fit the 727 and the engine mounts from the 67 440 were the correct ones. i swapped the engine trans and rearend out in a 3 day weekend. i would swap to a 8 3/4 if you have the 8 1/4 in there now. the edelbrock rpm intake didn't leave much room for the air cleaner with a stock hood though. it was a pretty simple swap and worth doing. it was my first project at 18 yrs old.