1972 Dart LS swap

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We sell the eagle hemi's for the same price as our LS3's.
I suppose if someone is set on a pullout engine vs a crate, then the ls is still cheaper. However we worked hard to keep the price down on our hemi offering. I cant see doing an engine swap twice (with 2 different engines), being cheaper in the long run no matter how you go about it. Interesting to see how it turns out though.
 
Interesting build. Have a buddy with two twin turbo LS Camaros. 1995 runs high eights with 1242 hp. Has a 2010 Hennessy car running 2075 hp. Currently running 8 flat but will be in the mid 7's when they get it tuned in.

This is personally not my cup of tea, but to each their own! In my plans is to rat rod a 49 ford pickup that was my grandpa's. Hoping it will fit on a Dakota frame and will run an all Mopar drivetrain, just to piss the Ford guys off!!!
 
Licorice72, I totally understand the decision to swap in an LS. I am a born and breed Mopar Man, and have a 1971 Plymouth Roadrunner. Which I have had for 37 years, but Chrysler did not make the new Hemi swap friendly. Unless you have extremely deep pockets or extraordinary fabrication skills. The new generation Hemi is a beast to put in and expensive. New technology far exceeds the old, and it would be awesome to have a 1972 Hellcat Dart! It's a shame that Chevy and Ford created powerplants with more adaptability than Mother Mopar. This frequently puts you in a position to consider Hybrid engine swaps because they are cheaper and the aftermarket is extremely supportive. Good Luck and post pictures of your endeavor!!!
 
cuda620 said:
I am curious though as to which transmission you folks are gonna use? Most everything will require you to cut up some amount of the flooring and removal of the torsion bar cross member center. Although there is a VERY good write up on a Dart or Duster using a built 2004R gm tranny. It seemed to only need trimming of the crossmember and no floor cutting. With your swap,perhaps if you trimmed the K member or the oil pan and moved the engine forward,you could end up in a narrower area of the tranny and not have to cut the crossmember??? Dunno,thinkin out loud. I've done many swaps and cross-breed swaps that worked out well. Just put alot of thought to it,then if you want to go back to a mopar power plant,nobody could tell a difference. Including the snobby ones.:prayer: Its just Hot Rodding. Car people been doin it since the Model A.
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We are using a 4L60E

The engine is as far back as it can go, sits perfect. Only cutting we had to do was on the K frame where the oil pan could sit lower, (I didn't want the engine at a high angle) the transmission wasn't an issue. The hump in the floor isn't an issue at all, which is surprising and makes me happy. We did have to custom make a tranny mount, which its almost finished.
 
Megabeast said:
Licorice72, I totally understand the decision to swap in an LS. I am a born and breed Mopar Man, and have a 1971 Plymouth Roadrunner. Which I have had for 37 years, but Chrysler did not make the new Hemi swap friendly. Unless you have extremely deep pockets or extraordinary fabrication skills. The new generation Hemi is a beast to put in and expensive. New technology far exceeds the old, and it would be awesome to have a 1972 Hellcat Dart! It's a shame that Chevy and Ford created powerplants with more adaptability than Mother Mopar. This frequently puts you in a position to consider Hybrid engine swaps because they are cheaper and the aftermarket is extremely supportive. Good Luck and post pictures of your endeavor!!!
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THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR KIND WORDS!!!! And exactly what you have posted, is the main reason why we are doing this.... THANK YOU!!!!!!!
 
moving over to members restoration so I can post some pictures. I appreciate all the positive advice and thoughts! look for me there!

As far as my member ID is concerned. Licorice is the name of my car because she is Red, 72 is the year...

And my husband does VERY little to the car with out me. I have more time, money, sweat, blood and tears in this car then anyone else. I take pride in my stuff and I have been hands on since day one.

See you on the other side...
 

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Divenut said:
Welcome. Look foward to following your build. May want to start a thread in the "members restoration" section.

Be well,
Pat
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I posted pictures in the members restoration section if interested....

thanks
 
Licorice72 said:
Hi everyone🤗. I am a new member and so glad that I found you. A little about my project. I have owned this car since I was 9. Built it, drive it, wrecked it, started restoring it about 10 years ago. Got married to my childhood friend and adopted his son, and then we had 2 kids together. So now we are current.

I am restoring my 72 Dodge Dart swinger. But putting an LS engine and finding it difficult with the oil pan. Does anyone know where I can buy the oil pan to fit around the center link?
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Our '72 Dodge Dart Swinger is completely stock, but I can ask around some of our Cal Rod Car Club members, and see what I can find out...
 
How far did this project get? Do you have any pics of/a link to the oil pan? Considering a similar swap myself. :)
 
daveakre said:
How far did this project get? Do you have any pics of/a link to the oil pan? Considering a similar swap myself. :)
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Gto oil pan will fit the steering and chassis. I'm wondering about tranny and crossmember/ floor mods. Thinking bout a turbo 350 tranny due to being smaller diameter and shorter.
 
cuda620 said:
Gto oil pan will fit the steering and chassis. I'm wondering about tranny and crossmember/ floor mods. Thinking bout a turbo 350 tranny due to being smaller diameter and shorter.
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69340dart used a TH350 in his 5.3L 69 Dart build. He reported that "done all of it without too much custom work or mods to the body or structure of the car."
1969 Dart Chevy 5.3l LSX
 
I will add that there is an uncommon 904 TorqueFlite transmission that has a Chevy bellhousing.
This 904 transmission was used on 1982 DJ5L postal jeeps with the 2.5L GM Iron Duke engine.
The 1980-83 AMC Spirit, Concord and Eagle also used the Iron Duke/904 combo.

I have 2 of these cool transmissions in the garage for future use.

GM bolt pattern 904 Torqueflite 1982 jeep amc.jpg
 
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topbrent said:
I will add that there is an uncommon 904 TorqueFlite transmission that has a Chevy bellhousing.
This 904 transmission was used on 1982 DJ5L postal jeeps with the 2.5L GM Iron Duke engine.
The 1980-83 AMC Spirit, Concord and Eagle also used the Iron Duke/904 combo.

I have 2 of these cool transmissions in the garage for future use.

View attachment 1715060939
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Huh, gotta go hunting. If too hard to find I can build a strong 350 turbo and install a gearvendors overdrive. Hopefully find a Chevy/ 904 then my console shifter will still work. Thanks.
 
Licorice72 said:
Thank you. We ended up buying an oil pan with front sump, beautiful actually. And fits perfect. Also we have had a tranny mount and motor mounts brackets custom built.

After they are finished I will post pictures. Im super excited how its all coming together nicely!

Thank you for the link! Its much appreciated!
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Did you go with the front sump GTO pan or an aftermarket front sump pan?
 
Curious about the crossmember and floor mods? Just wondering. Topbrent showed me some great info on a gm/904 I'm gonna use. Then with a Dana 60 and 3.55's I'm set. Shame ma mopar couldn't do it all though...
 
mopardude318 said:
Welcome to the site! Hope you find what youre looking for! Not my type of build, but I wish you luck! I wish I could've done an LS conversion in my 77 Chevy truck that would've been pretty neat.

The LS is a great engine but when I see one in a really nice Mopar at a car show, I take a quick glance and say, "..oh" and just walk away. LOL. Mainly only because it's not what I'm looking for..I'm looking for ideas on how to build my car;)

I will keep an eye on this thread though! Cheers mate!
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Hmmmm....whenever I see a Mopar with a Mopar motor I think must be nice to have deep pockets.....
 
Hey all, I'm looking for som LS camaro/ corvette pedestal type engine mounts if you know of any for sale. Also LS camaro/ corvette front end mounts, accessories, etc. Cause all my mounts are from a truck and not sure they'd fit with my swap,so tucking everything in would be better. Thanks!
 
topbrent said:
I will add that there is an uncommon 904 TorqueFlite transmission that has a Chevy bellhousing.
This 904 transmission was used on 1982 DJ5L postal jeeps with the 2.5L GM Iron Duke engine.
The 1980-83 AMC Spirit, Concord and Eagle also used the Iron Duke/904 combo.

I have 2 of these cool transmissions in the garage for future use.

View attachment 1715060939
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Hi Topbrent, Cope didn't think the 904 would hold up to repeated hp street use. Dunno. Just passing along info. Your leads were very good on getting the tranny cores. Thanks!
 
God I’m sooo glad I’m not doing a f,,,Ching mopar engine on this build. I’m goin to some mopar meets and races with my LS3 cuda and gonna shut some down.
 
Most mopar events won't alow a mopar with a brand x engine in it. As some will alow brand x cars with mopar drive train swapped into them. So goodluck with that.
 
If I lock down the hood it’s not their business what’s under my hood.
 
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