72 duster 4spd swap

Information: Many years ago I built a 318 out of a auto something (I don't know what) to swap into my Dart sport 318 3-speed so it would be a 1 day down time.

Guess what! The pilot bearing wouldn't fit! I went to the dealer to get a smaller diameter pilot bearing and they told me that there was only one size. It seems that MOPAR didn't always machine out the crank on auto cars for the pilot bearing. (or that was the story I was told at the time)They had drilled the hole but didn't machine it out all of the way.

Good news, As I was staring in disbelief at my assembled and painted engine I picked up a lifter out of the old engine and stuck it into the end of the crank. (It's a guy thing) Anyway it fit perfect. So I took the pilot bearing down to a machine shop and had it turned .005 larger than the lifter. Perfect interference fit. Has been going for 200k so far. I am about to change the clutch so I hope it is still OK

You might want to check the crank when going from a auto to a stick as the dealer also told me that some of the cranks they didn't even drill out. (saved a machining operation I guess)

Hope this helps.