78 360 from carb to fi
 

I have a 78 power wagon w200 w/ 360 and a buddy is doing a motor swap in a dodge 2500. we are thinking that we can take the FI, intake, and heads and put them on my 360 add a MegaSquirt EFI II computer to make mine a FI 360. Anyone have any advice or have tried it? I am wondering about the cooling ports and if the will bolt to my block? Also, trying to figure out if this is realistic. I think that we can make the change for under $500. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

Later Magnum 360 heads will not fit the older LA 360

Rob,

Work this in steps.

You can use Mag head on the LA block. Use Mag head bolts and new PR for oiling. I think 7.625 is the mopar spec ( DON'T quote me on length, I posted it on here before with part number but they are out of production). AND its cam and motr specific so measure anyway. Just have them made. Must be oil thru.

As for mega squirt? Ive never used it. Im hearing good things on the new MSD though.

The MegaSquirt will require a crank sensor. Your LA has no provision. You'll have to use a FAST or Accel dual sync distributor for cam and crank. The Mega has the option to use both for sequential injection. BTW that's a $450+ dist.
I'd highly recommend replacing the barrel intake for an Eddy Air Gap FI manifold.

What about swapping in a Magnum 5.9L?

Thanks for the input. I don't think this will happen until next year. so i have time to save some money and get all of my research done. The mag swap may be an option. The original 360 only has under 93000 miles on it. I am also thinking about swaping out the rearends. Any idea how this will change the fuel mileage?

FI will give some a little better mileage over carb IMO. Easier startup, better fuel management, faster response time, etc.

As far as swapping rear axles, since it's 4wd, you'll need to make sure that the front axle has the same gear ratio as the rear otherwise once you put it into 4wd, the t-case will let go, front or rear R+P/spider gears/axle shafts could break and you run the risk of damaging the tranny as well.

If you have 4.10 gears in the axles now, you could go to 3.73 or maybe even 3.54. Being a W200, you'll have a full floating D60 rear (probably with 4.10 gears) and what they call an HD D44 front with the same gear ratio. Only difference between a normal D44 and the HD D44 is that the HD has 8 lugs instead of 5 or 6 (depending on the vehicle) and the axle tubes are larger.

What were you thinking about swapping your rear axle to? The D60 is very strong in stock form.

the truck has the HD D44'sI was thinking about the 3.73 and the FI. That will help on the long deer hunting trips.

You sure about having a rear HD D44? I had a '78 D200 and it had a FF D60.

I found a website to help me ID the dana axles. when i measured the pumpkin it measured as a 44.

LA motor does not oil thru the push rods. You need to change to ???? AMC lifters and custom push rods. HAVE you priced a MegaSquirt system ???? $$$$$. If it was mine I would just leave it carbed. You could put a Magnum motor motor in and just change the intake to carb.
Remember your power wagon is 4X4 any change in gear ratio needs to be done on both ends

we are considering the rebuild of a magnum. i will make sure both ends are the same gear. I have looked at the MegaSquirt. My buddy has a lot of experience with them.