Performing A Mopar Small Block Engine Swap - Double-Shot of Go

After the K-frame was cleaned and painted, the engine and transmission were installed.

To make the engine turn the transmission, we chose a Spec clutch. The clutch is a diaphragm style, and Spec offers different clamping pressures and clutch materials depending on your application. They are custom-built and shipped in a relatively short time.

Changing the engine this way, makes it a whole lot easier. (You guys that have installed headers on an A-Body know exactly what we mean.) Now the engine was in the car, and the only thing left was plumbing and wiring.

When it came time for wiring, the same wires run the same items they did for the Slant Six; you might just have to make them longer or shorter. We decided to remove any wires not used. We used masking tape to temporarily "group" the wires while we routed them.

You may also notice the absence of an ECU. The Pertronix billet distributor is a fully self-supporting unit, so no ECU is needed. This means another set of wires is not needed, which helps clean up the engine bay.

The Slant Six radiator wasn't going to work. First, the inlet was on the wrong side, and it just doesn't have the capacity needed to cool a V-8. since the underhood was all cleaned and shiny, we decided to splurge and order an aluminum radiator. The Wizard unit fits like an O.E unit and is more than capable to cool the Sport's 360.

Here's a detail we almost forgot-a V-8 throttle cable and brackets for the throttle cable. The cable came from Imperial Services, and the bracket is available from MagnumHP.com.

Next, we needed a shifter. There are three ways to do this: you can buy a swap-meet shifter, install it, and hope it works; buy the swap-meet shifter and send it to Hurst for a rebuild; or buy a new complete unit from Hurst. Either of the latter two ideas will be the way to go, it just depends on whether you need a "new" shifter or a "like-new" shifter from Hurst. Those of you that like the Pistol Grip shifters found in E- and B-Bodies, can also get one for your A-Body. Just order one for a '71-'74 B-Body without a console.

One thing we had to do (you might not), was replace the gas tank and fuel line. Before the swap, the filter got plugged quickly, so we decided to change the tank, the sending unit, the pickup, and the fuel line. This was the perfect time to upgrade the fuel line to a 3/8-inch size.