Laura Cullen Reynolds

I found a 440 from a 74 dodge pickup with transmission. I want to put it in my 73 Charger SE. My Charger came with the 318 with the 904 Torqueflite. What will I need to do to drop this 440 and transmission into the car? I am assuming something with the drive shafts because everything that I have been able to find says that the 727 is around 4 inches longer than the 904.

TVLynn

That sounds right. Get the motor, mounts, pulleys, drive shaft yoke & drive shaft if it is long enough to shorten and accessory's
If the truck drive shaft is not long enough to shorten ? Have a new one made with the larger U joints.

Laura Cullen Reynolds

Are the drive shaft yoke splines the same on a 727 and a 904?

Chryco Psycho

the 904 uses a smaller Yolk & is 4" shorter , also the 73-74 Charger use a different K member with a big block , Schumaker should have an adapter mount kit

vern74charger

did the swap for a 318 to 383 many years ago. had to do a custom motor mount on the drivers side. worked, but the dipstick was a issue. when i when to the 440 the schumacher mounts were definitly needed. extra deck height etc. didn't need to change the lenghth of the drive shaft though. don't forget to get a bigger rad.might have to do some cutting to get air flow.Headers? have a thread on that.with the schumacher mounts you have to cut flanges off of the spool flanges on the K menber and drill a 9/16 hole lower on the k member. It's a lot easier to do this before you drop in the motor.

Archer

LCR -

Did a similar swap 30+ years ago, but had the SB A-727. Had to do a bit of fabrication back then, but with the Schumacker conversion mounts (I prefer neoprene), it's a lot easier. Yes, you will have to lengthen or replace the drive shaft.

Regarding headers, depends on who's headers. The older Hookers are a tight fit, but few mods were required. That's going to be a trail and error thing.

Archer

Laura Cullen Reynolds

Everything I am looking at to do this conversion, I don't know if I want the headache. I have a 440 with transmission that I can buy for $250. The motor ran 2 years ago when it was taken out, but it wasn't fogged so it is currently frozen. I think I will go ahead and buy it, pour some oil in it and see about getting it freed up. If nothing else, it would be worth the investment. Thanks everyone for your very enlightening information!

Archer

LCR -

Any way of soaking the cylinders and trying to spin the engine BEFORE buying it?

Odds are it and the tranny are going to need a rebuild, better to do that before dropping it in.

You didn't mention your plans for the car when it's done, but one way to solve the header headache is to stay with the stock or stock type manifolds. Not as efficient and less of a "cool" factor as with headers, but still an option.

Agree that a new radiator and a tranny cooler might be high on your list.

See if this whets you appetite for the engine swap...


Archer

Laura Cullen Reynolds

Nice Car Archer.

Went to look at a Mustang. Ended up buying a 73 Charger SE and a 69 Torino GT Fastback. Brother in law is buying the Charger when I am done. He wants beefed up, but doesn't want to part with the money to do it right.

I am now looking into what's involved with putting 360 heads on and what the costs involve with that would be.

Archer

LCR -

If you mean on the 318, a head with larger valves might help (I kinda liked the HP 340 heads, myslef). but to really make it worth while, you're still looking at a cam, headers and a new intake/carb. (I'm assuming the 318 is a two barrel?)

That's what I did with the 318 the Charger came with, before we did the 440 in 1982.

Archer

Chryco Psycho

the 318 is hard to get to respond , just adding 360 heads will not really help a lot , 1st you lose compression with the larger chambers . if you are going to do this the 87-92 308 or small port 302 castings work best , I would recommend a cam swap to build more compression such as a Lunati VooDoo http://www.jegs.com/i/Lunati/638/102...d=#moreDetails cam

old tired rebel

If you do the 440 swap you will have to change the truck oil pan,oil pump pickup to a car oil pan,oil pump pickup

TVLynn

If you don't put the 440 in You will always regret it...wishing you had done it!!!

Gorts 5th

Chryco is right just adding 360 heads wont make a large improvement, you may notice a slight mid rang power increases "more flow" but until you add a cam and intake not really much at all.
if you do go with new parts that voodoo cam is a good one,
my suggestion's on the heads is don't stuff them with the largest valves possible i left the smaller valves in mine, not wanting to loose the low end toque also a spread bore carb helps with low rpm driving.
of course i still ported my 360 heads to the max.

Chryco Psycho

The reality is the 340 & 318 are very similar , same stoke , just slightly bigger bore & either can be made to run hard ,the big differences were
1] compression , the 340 was close to 10:1 with the piston above deck , no 318 had decent compression factory .
2] Cam , the 340 had a far better grind , this is easily fixed
3] induction no 340 2 bbl bigger carb & intake , Also large port heads & valves
4] Better exhaust manifolds & dual exhaust
It is all about air in & air out ,address all of the above & 400 gross HP is not hard from a 318 , you can even throw in a stroker crank & get back to about 355 CI with less reciprocal weight allowing it to rev faster yet .