79’ Little Red Express 360 and 727

-

67/6barracuda

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Messages
1,403
Reaction score
2,118
Location
Sharpsburg, GA
Picked up a 79’ long block and trans today from a Little red. So far the numbers check out. I’m excited about it and don’t know why. I guess it was the story of it that sold me. So legend has it the truck was purchased in or around the Florida keys and the guy at some point converted it to run on propane. Well he has since passed. So the guy I got the motor from bought it from the wife and started restoring it. Well he pulled the motor to rebuild, fell on hard times some years ago and sold the truck without the drivetrain. Well here it is years later he finally parted with the motor and trans and a few odds and ends. Standard pistons, heads, cam and lifters appear to be in good shape. I guess that propane ran clean hardly any wear. It sat for years but a good cleaning will make it a good one to build. If you know of someone who has a Little Red looking for correct drivetrain. I’m not opposed to putting a deal together to help a number correct build. Other wise I’ll be hanging on to it for future projects.
DD02D119-EFE9-48CE-B875-78511945C29F.jpeg
CF392C52-4F95-4D46-94A4-DE07CDBEAAB6.jpeg
6CCD0EB5-19F3-4B59-8425-9397CD0370C0.jpeg
E7F0E266-B24C-4AE0-AA1C-4A8F3970C877.jpeg
3D7A36EA-317E-4891-95F9-D8F75006DAB4.jpeg
260D1138-F30C-4775-B51E-A35BCE561844.jpeg
DD02D119-EFE9-48CE-B875-78511945C29F.jpeg
CF392C52-4F95-4D46-94A4-DE07CDBEAAB6.jpeg
6CCD0EB5-19F3-4B59-8425-9397CD0370C0.jpeg
E7F0E266-B24C-4AE0-AA1C-4A8F3970C877.jpeg
3D7A36EA-317E-4891-95F9-D8F75006DAB4.jpeg
260D1138-F30C-4775-B51E-A35BCE561844.jpeg
DD02D119-EFE9-48CE-B875-78511945C29F.jpeg
CF392C52-4F95-4D46-94A4-DE07CDBEAAB6.jpeg
6CCD0EB5-19F3-4B59-8425-9397CD0370C0.jpeg
E7F0E266-B24C-4AE0-AA1C-4A8F3970C877.jpeg
3D7A36EA-317E-4891-95F9-D8F75006DAB4.jpeg
260D1138-F30C-4775-B51E-A35BCE561844.jpeg
 
Nice find. Keep 'em together for sure. That trans is special too. I'm sure you already know your sittin on the fastest production drivetrain available in '79 lol.
 
When it was new, It ate 'Vettes, Trans Ams, Mustangs.....Hell all of them.
 
When it was new, It ate 'Vettes, Trans Ams, Mustangs.....Hell all of them.
.
The 78 Little Red did, not the 79 with catalytic converters it was slower.

The Little Red transmission was a beefed up loadflite(name for Chryslers truck transmissions).
 
What is the date cast into the passenger side of the block?
Did you get the windage tray with it?
How old are the decals?
 
Last edited:
That's because it attracted so much attention from the Feds, and GM's crying, the Gubmint required converters on light trucks for 1979. The '78's were definitely quicker than the "79's, but they were the fastest new, stock "muscle" cars in their day. I was serving in the USMC in NC in '81, and I made lots of pilots in Corvettes, and MP's pissed of with my '78. I had to sell it after getting too much attention. Damn I still love that truck. I like the round headlight on the '78 better, too. Thanks for bringing back good memories. I know it's an A body forum, but I'll go look in the shoe boxes for pictures. That and my '73 Duster 340 was what lured me away from Chebbies, to this day.
 
Last edited:
When it was new, It ate 'Vettes, Trans Ams, Mustangs.....Hell all of them.

the bar wasn't exactly set very high.



nothing real special with the engine. basically done like a E58 police motor.. double chain, big thermoquad, good valve springs.. cam seems to have always been argued about.. some say it was a 340 cam others say just a regular production 360 cam... someone with a LRE missing an engine may be interested but other then that its just a 360.

trans had a factory shift improver kit and a higher stall converter..
 
Last edited:
What is the date cast into the passenger side of the block?
Did you get the windage tray with it?
How old are the decals?
Jadaharabi, the graphics are from Phoenix graphics. The ship date appears to be 2004 they are old. They are stored in a cardboard cylinder. The born date of block is 12-12-78 making it a 79’ truck engine. There does not appear have been a windage tray. I haven’t looked but I don’t think it has the pedestal bolts either. However, literature is contradicting the 79’ truck motors may have lost the windage tray and the 68’ cam. They added the catalytic’s as well, the 79’ where a full sec slower in the quarter than 78’s. 78’s for sure the preferred yr. I’ll try and get it on the stand tomorrow for a better inspection. I don’t have a cherry picker man handling by myself gets interesting. I’ll get it done. I have one of chrome steps where the exhaust stack comes through.
EDF9CF9F-35F9-4906-9C51-C23064E440AE.jpeg
352C43B4-B8E1-4BD5-9922-039816FB8AE8.jpeg
07247763-15CB-4650-AE7C-6CB4CD665523.jpeg
3194BD2A-0117-4FF8-8668-F446EB078887.jpeg


1506F7A0-8017-4A85-86ED-5649285D771C.jpeg
 
i don't think a real Lil Red block had the VIN stamped on it..

Quick reference

1. VIN numbers for both years contained the "S" designation for the special engine used in the Li'l Red Express truck.

· D13BS8J______

· D13JS9S______

2. Both years had pine bed floors that were painted. They were not varnished oak.

· The bed floor strips were steel that were painted red, not polished stainless steel.

· The exterior wood trim was red oak, however, some trucks came with white oak.

· Some trucks had both on the same truck.

3. Oak bed racks were not original equipment on the Li'l Red Express Truck

· Oak bed racks were standard with the Warlock package only.

4. Interior color combinations were as follows

· Black interior with standard black bench seat or optional black bucket seats w/fold down armrest.

· Red interior with standard red bench seat only.

· Red bucket seats were not an option on the Li'l Red Express truck.

5. All Li'l Red Express trucks required the Adventurer 150 package.

6. The Adventurer SE was an option in '79 only.

7. All instrument panels were argent silver.

· Briar wood or walnut was only available on the ‘79 Adventurer SE package. The instrument panels were changed, on some trucks, by dealers and/or owners to appear like the “Adventurer SE” option, but were not original for the Li’l Red Express package.

8. Speedometer

· 100 MPH on 1978 models, (late production ‘78 models had the 85 MPH/KPH speedometer.)

· 85 MPH/KPH on 1979 models and also had “Unleaded Fuel Only” sticker.

· 1978 trucks had MPH only. (except late production ‘78 models)

· 1979 trucks had MPH in white and Kilometers in blue.

· Canadian trucks had MPH and KPH reversed from the U.S. models.

9. Oil pressure gauge was standard on the Li'l Red Express Truck package

· The red oil pressure light was standard on all other Dodge trucks.

· Tachometer and volt / vacuum gauge units were optional, not standard.

· The electric clock was also an option.

10. Turn signal lenses

· Clear lenses on early ’78 models - prior to 2-1-78 (Prototype LRE only)

· Amber lenses on ’78 models - after 2-1-78

11. Standard radio

· AM / FM / MPX stereo

12. Optional radios

· AM / FM / CB stereo

· AM / FM / 8 track stereo

13. The AM, AM/CB, & AM / FM Mono were not available on the "Li'l Red"

14. Brake pedal arm

· Red on '78, black on '79

15. Carpet

· Loop pile on '78’s until approximately VIN 516XXX, cut pile on all later ‘78’s and '79’s. Bucket seat models (both years) also had a curtain behind the seat with a support for the center seat back.

16. Rear axle

· 9.25 inch, 12 bolt, (3.55: 1) standard, Should have 2 metal tags. The Sure Grip axle was an option



17. Transmission:

· Modified production A-727 Load-flight, with a higher shifting 440 valve body.

18. Engine serial number

· A true Li'l Red engine has no vehicle serial number on the right side of the engine block.


19. Alternator:

· Alternator should be tagged, 41amp-violet, 60amp-yellow, 100amp-natural.
 
i have some good reference and information books on them but they are in word and adobe files if anyone needs them.. i guess i could email them to ya.
 
My '78 was an E58 police spec motor, never measured the cam, just put an old DC purple cam in it. It did have a windage tray, but no cats like all the car engines from 1975 and on. I'm still digging for pictures.
 
the bar wasn't exactly set very high.



nothing real special with the engine. basically done like a E58 police motor.. double chain, big thermoquad, good valve springs.. cam seems to have always been argued about.. some say it was a 340 cam others say just a regular production 360 cam... someone with a LRE missing an engine may be interested but other then that its just a 360.

trans had a factory shift improver kit and a higher stall converter..

...and windage tray if it's still there. I do agree it was "just" a 360, but it was a heavy duty one. It got a few things the rest did not. Sorta like the 340s. Still a dang good foundation.
 
Jadaharabi, the graphics are from Phoenix graphics. The ship date appears to be 2004 they are old. They are stored in a cardboard cylinder. The born date of block is 12-12-78 making it a 79’ truck engine. There does not appear have been a windage tray. I haven’t looked but I don’t think it has the pedestal bolts either. However, literature is contradicting the 79’ truck motors may have lost the windage tray and the 68’ cam. They added the catalytic’s as well, the 79’ where a full sec slower in the quarter than 78’s. 78’s for sure the preferred yr. I’ll try and get it on the stand tomorrow for a better inspection. I don’t have a cherry picker man handling by myself gets interesting. I’ll get it done. I have one of chrome steps where the exhaust stack comes through. View attachment 1715721856View attachment 1715721857View attachment 1715721858View attachment 1715721859

View attachment 1715721860

It's possible they may have eliminated the windage tray for 79. Does anyone know for sure? Or was the windage tray ever a part of the LRE trucks at all to begin with? Just a rumor?
 
I have to dig out my old photographs(remember them?), and my old books and ads. IIRC, my '78 had a windage tray from the factory. My truck was the 727 and no AC. I remember the stacks had to be tightened every two weeks, or else they buzzed at idle.
 
I have to dig out my old photographs(remember them?), and my old books and ads. IIRC, my '78 had a windage tray from the factory. My truck was the 727 and no AC. I remember the stacks had to be tightened every two weeks, or else they buzzed at idle.

Well maybe that was one of the differences from 78 to 79. The 78 had the windage tray and the 79 did not.
 
The 78 and 79 had the EH1. A modified E58 that was only available in the Little Red.

Yeah I remember it was different than the E58. Now tell my why you disagreed with my windage tray theory. Do you know for sure the 78 and 79 both had them? I sure don't....and this 79 engine seems untouched and doesn't have one.
 
I have read countless arguments and articles about this and I’m not confirming or denying any of it. Mother Mopar never had anything absolute. I am willing to believe that some 79’ models may had or not had windage trays. This motor that I have is believed a little red motor, with no indications that’s it’s not and doesn’t have the windage tray. It does have the double roller timing chain and there is no vin on the ID pad. Consistent with literature. Now that I have on the stand. It does have the rods marked. So that also could mean it was refreshed and for some reason may have lost the windage tray for one reason or another but they would have gone the extra mile to replace the pedestal bolts for standard bolts. Just my observations so far. I’m curious of the cam and I believe the balancer is also different. According this article 79’ no windage tray.
About - Lil Red Express Trucks
 
I have read countless arguments and articles about this and I’m not confirming or denying any of it. Mother Mopar never had anything absolute. I am willing to believe that some 79’ models may had or not had windage trays. This motor that I have is believed a little red motor, with no indications that’s it’s not and doesn’t have the windage tray. It does have the double roller timing chain and there is no vin on the ID pad. Consistent with literature. Now that I have on the stand. It does have the rods marked. So that also could mean it was refreshed and for some reason may have lost the windage tray for one reason or another but they would have gone the extra mile to replace the pedestal bolts for standard bolts. Just my observations so far. I’m curious of the cam and I believe the balancer is also different. According this article 79’ no windage tray.
About - Lil Red Express Trucks
.
Where in this article does it say there was no windage tray in the 79 little red express engine?
The E58 police or heavy duty 360 all had windage trays. EH1 engines all had windage trays.
That this engine that's being talked about in this thread does not have a windage tray does not mean that it one time it did not have a windage tray. There could be a million reasons over the past several years why there is not a windage tray on that engine if it is in fact an E 58 or an EH1.
It may be that on the particular day this engine was built they had run out of windage trays but they went ahead and built engines. It's just pretty hard to tell what this engines past actually is.
 
Very bottom look at the chart. 78’ on left 79’ on right. Oil pan w/windage for 78’ standard pan for 79’
761C0E42-93B7-4F45-83A1-359F9A1BD476.png
 
Very bottom look at the chart. 78’ on left 79’ on right. Oil pan w/windage for 78’ standard pan for 79’ View attachment 1715722605
.
The left chart is the W2 prototype engine. It was only installed into 2 trucks. One stayed in Michigan and the other went to California.
I don't take that chart as Gospel of anything it may have a little bit of good information but it is not the Bible for the EH1 engine.
I know for a fact the engine in my wifes 78 Little Red had a windage tray from the factory.
 
You are right the 78 trucks had a windage tray. But the 79’s did not that’s what I was saying all along.
 
-
Back
Top