1978–1983 dodge challenger

i might have a chance to get one at a dirt cheap price and in really good shape i been looking around on the Internet and cant seem to find anything on putting a v8 in one so if someone has any information on that i would appreciate it

I remember seeing a thread on turbododge or turbomopar about RWD conversion kits sold throught MP back in the 80's, you might check there

The only "very good price" for one of those is if the guy is paying you to take it away.

My aunt and uncle had one...... It was a total hunk of crap.

yeah they aren't worth crap but if i can make a decent street track car out of it wile still building my demon then that would be nice and different i saw guy on YouTube that had small block track car but it wouldn't let me contact them

if you cant find a v8 to put in it,or it becomes difficult,find a nice 2.2 with a Turbo II ,intercooler,A555 5 speed,MP Logic Module ,all the wiring and you will have a nice sleeper that will kick *** on alot of V8s.:thumbup:

My mother always told me that if you can't say anything nice, say nothing at all.

Consider this, nothing at all!

1BadDodge71 said:

if you cant find a v8 to put in it,or it becomes difficult,find a nice 2.2 with a Turbo II ,intercooler,A555 5 speed,MP Logic Module ,all the wiring and you will have a nice sleeper that will kick *** on alot of V8s.:thumbup:

Click to expand...

So I guess you would plan on installing the engine and trans in the trunk???

I had to look one up and see what they even looked like.

I'm glad my browser has that 'Back' button.

440 with a motor plate, cage, dana 60, gutted, shouldn't be too hard to do.

I had the same idea 10 years ago. Theres a guy used to run at lonestar raceway that had a very nice one. it was a m/p k member conversion with rack and pinion.Go for it.

Dear Mr one bad dodge 71

i believe you got some things mixed up in regards to the 2.2 turbo setups from the 80s. all that stuff was U.S. made and front wheel drive. i used to be an ASE mastertech for a chrysler dealer back during this time.

the MP K member and tranny cross member are very hard to find, and were designed for the front wheel drive K car based cars G body 84 to 93 daytona / 84 to 86 chrysler laser, P body shadow and sundance , J body 87 to 93 lebaron coupe. to convert them to rear wheel drive. these were american made cars.

the dodge challenger from 79 thru 82 and its counterpart the Plymouth Sapporo are already rear wheel drive and were part of chryslers captive imports made by mitsubishi. the mitsubishi MCA Jet 2.6 L 4 cylinder engine is completely different than chryslers own in house designed OHC 2.2 and 2.5 L engines. these captive import challenger / sapporo vehicles share NOTHING with the FWD K car based chryslers.

that being said a 2.2 turbo engine may fit, if you turn it the right way to fit the challenger engine bay, tho its designed as a slant 4 and for a FWD application. the chrysler new process A-555 heavy duty manual gearbox however , is a front wheel drive transaxle. i would know i have 3 of em in my shop. if you went this route you would need to get a RWD gearbox from a 2.5L dodge dakota to mate to the 2.2 turbo engine and run it back to the stock challenger rear end.

if doing a v8 swap the challenger is already RWD so its just a matter of making a V8 fit. motor ears would be the easiest, enlarging the existing tunnel, and putting a better rear end under it.

hope this helps

I may be wrong but I think the 2.5 dakota block is different from the fwd car block. If I remember correctly, the car block will not bolt up to a rwd trans like the dakota block did. (Dakota 2.5's were all manual trans I think)You may be able to put the car internals in the truck block, but a custom flywheel or flex plate would need to be fabricated, to work with a custom bell housing. sounds like an extremely expensive swap.

67Baccaruda said:

I may be wrong but I think the 2.5 dakota block is different from the fwd car block. If I remember correctly, the car block will not bolt up to a rwd trans like the dakota block did. (Dakota 2.5's were all manual trans I think)You may be able to put the car internals in the truck block, but a custom flywheel or flex plate would need to be fabricated, to work with a custom bell housing. sounds like an extremely expensive swap.

Click to expand...

they do bolt up....even later 2.0/2.4L stuff bolts up with the exception of one bolt and st starter being in the way of an oil drain port on 2.0's...remidied by cutting and plugging the port closest to the bellhousing...there are two other ports just like the 2.4L

it can actually be done quite inexpensively money wise but time junkyarding and miss-matching stock parts runs high...especially when using the 88-92 R154 trans out of a turbo toyota supra...

if you want to keep the 2.6 just convert it to the conquest set up. turbo intercooled. use the ecu and harness to make it easy or mega squirt it. best bet would be a 360/904 ;)

The engine swap would be similar to a D50 swap. The rear end would be the tough part as the rear suspention is a 4 link not leaves.
John