A V8 into a 63 valiant

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prorac1

prorac1

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Hey all. I have a 63 valiant. My son now has a 63 valiant that we are building together.

I swapped a 360 into mine 20 years ago using shumacher mounts and fenderwell headers. We want to swap a stock 318 with early A 273 manifolds into my sons car.

Heres my question. I have read on here that people had to move the wiper motor and do a "hump extomy" and use a dropped center link. I never did those two things on mine. If anything I might have dimpled my firewall but that's it.

How much do you have to dimple the firewall to clear a distributor

And how imperative is the dropped center link?

Is it possible that my factory 63 centerlink just BARELY tapped my pan and I never noticed that it inhibited my steering?

Thanks in advance. You guys have always been a great source of information that I cant remember anymore, lol. Eric L
 
I have a 63 dart I considered dropping in a s b, so I searched here and found quite a bit of info. everyone says the wiper hump will interfere with the wiper motor. some shimmed the engine mount slightly so would not interfere with centerlink.

easiest thing to do is change the firewall before engine goes in, no doubt. v8 centerlink shouldn't be too hard a find or costly. i' sure more guys with actual experience will chime in.
 
It would be a LOT more than a dimple. Maybe you just don't remember.

I would go with a 383. It will fit fine and the distributor is in the front, where it should have been on the small block.
 
RustyRatRod said:
It would be a LOT more than a dimple. Maybe you just don't remember.

I would go with a 383. It will fit fine and the distributor is in the front, where it should have been on the small block.
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That's what ive been reading. While I don't remember a lot of details from back than I do have some pictures I need to look through. Because I know for a fact that I had factory wipers WITH the V8 in the car. That's what confuses me, lol. BUT..............tell me more about the 383/400 low deck Big block idea, please. What would be the best low buck (RE, not a hack job by any means, but not a custom set of fabricated headers either) exhaust manifold option. This could be cool. Eric L
 
I am looking at a picture right now of my car with the 360 in it. It did have a MSD pro billet distributor (maybe smaller diameter?), but in the picture you can see a very small indentation behind the distributor for clearance. Im trying to figure out how to post a picture of my picture. Eric L
 
prorac1 said:
I am looking at a picture right now of my car with the 360 in it. It did have a MSD pro billet distributor (maybe smaller diameter?), but in the picture you can see a very small indentation behind the distributor for clearance. Im trying to figure out how to post a picture of my picture. Eric L
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If you have a scanner you can scan it then post it.
 
The 68-69 B body HP manifolds almost literally drop in. The passenger's side does. The driver's side requires some of the steering column housing to be shortened and also you cannot have a column shifted transmission. Of course, that only works with the low deck. The RB is out of the question unless custom or fenderwell headers are used. Search BigBlockDart.com there's some decent pictures of a blue one over there.
 
Are you SURE your car was a 63? The 64 had the firewall changed for the V8. That wiper hump has to all but be removed in the 63 for the distributor. One of our members on here did a super nice job of cutting and shortening his distributor on one. It's really badass.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Are you SURE your car was a 63? The 64 had the firewall changed for the V8. That wiper hump has to all but be removed in the 63 for the distributor. One of our members on here did a super nice job of cutting and shortening his distributor on one. It's really badass.
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Im absolutely sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that its a 63. It was Grandma fresh when I bought it and ive owned it for 22 years, lol. Im going to post the picture in a second, and you can clearly see a small half round indentation in the firewall behind the distributor.

But.................maybe ill be looking for a set of HP big block manifolds instead. Im in gear changing mode, lol..........................Yep, my wife has that annoyed look on her face...................im in gear changing mode, lol
 
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The picture didn't show up as clear as I had hoped, but I think it gets the job done. Eric L
 
It looks like the MSD distributor might be smaller than the MOPAR electronic distributor and freed up some room. Eric L
 
I think you're right. You got it done for sure. Looks nice.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I think you're right. You got it done for sure. Looks nice.
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I sure would hate to spend $200 on a distributor for a $300 318, lol.

All the pictures that I find on the big block dart website are of 67 and up cars. And it looks TIGHT on those, any pics of early a bodies with big blocks? Im kinda interested in this possibility. Thanks, Eric L
 
Well I don't know how else to tell you. It's over there. Lots of people have done it.
 
Another possibility is a 5.2 or 5.9L Magnum engine since it's distributor is smaller (sufficient to clear?). I understand it bolts to a 904 or 727 tranny or use its OD tranny (re-work tunnel). Another idea is a crank-triggered distributor-less ignition, usually a 36-1 wheel and Ford EDIS processor (see Megasquirt site). I put a wheel & pickup on my 273 pulley for that later. I recall seeing a stubby replacement for the distributor that secures the oil pump shaft.
 
A Ford small block is another idea.
 
I'm still researching it, but all the details are sketchy. A lot of people refer to putting a 383/400 into an early A body, but when everyone chimes in on what they did for exhaust, half of them are working on 67-76 cars, lol. I have read that angle milling the hp manifolds works on 67-76, but not on early cars. Back to the research. Eric L
 
i am doing the same swap and was told and shown that using right angle pulg wires on the dist. would make enough clearance not sure i cut mine out when we were metal working
 
I don't know what else to tell you. It fits. It will work. I cannot lead you by the hand and throw it in there for you. People have been putting big blocks in the early A since they have been made. You can make the mounts like pishta said or you can get the Schumacher mounts. If all that ain't good enough for you, then I am sorry. I don't know what else you're lookin for. A picture to prove it? I am not gonna sit here and tell you something that's impossible to do. It's 2015. Everything has been put in these litte cars by now. Even Hemis. The low deck motors need such little mods to fit, that it's almost fair to call them a bolt in. You will never find out though doing research on the internet and looking for the end all be all answer to your question. I told you it is on BigBlockDart.com. I found it when I was lookin for answers for my 63. It took some digging, I admit. And you're right. I've said it before myself. When you start askin people for exhaust pics for big block early A cars, everybody clams up. I don't know why. But it's been done, it's pretty easy to do and it's damn near a bolt in with all the right parts. That's all I can tell you and if it ain't good enough then oh well.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I don't know what else to tell you. It fits. It will work. I cannot lead you by the hand and throw it in there for you. People have been putting big blocks in the early A since they have been made. You can make the mounts like pishta said or you can get the Schumacher mounts. If all that ain't good enough for you, then I am sorry. I don't know what else you're lookin for. A picture to prove it? I am not gonna sit here and tell you something that's impossible to do. It's 2015. Everything has been put in these litte cars by now. Even Hemis. The low deck motors need such little mods to fit, that it's almost fair to call them a bolt in. You will never find out though doing research on the internet and looking for the end all be all answer to your question. I told you it is on BigBlockDart.com. I found it when I was lookin for answers for my 63. It took some digging, I admit. And you're right. I've said it before myself. When you start askin people for exhaust pics for big block early A cars, everybody clams up. I don't know why. But it's been done, it's pretty easy to do and it's damn near a bolt in with all the right parts. That's all I can tell you and if it ain't good enough then oh well.
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I don't think theres any need for a post like that.

Am I looking for a picture to prove it? YES, and one was graciously provided by PISHTA.

YES, you stated earlier that it would work, and I trust you. But I don't know you, and when I read 3 other posts from other boards that say that it will ONLY work on the 67 and up.......................of COURSE im going to question my results and do some more digging.

I did find some answers on Bigblockdart.com, but that was where the results started getting skewed.

All im waiting on now is to stumble across a pair of the correct exhaust manifolds for a decent price to make the swap possible.

I respect you for your knowledge, and appreciate the information that you and Phista have given me. Thanks, Eric L
 
Take the girl panties off. I didn't mean it personally. I was simply saying I didn't know what else to say to convince you it will work. Nobody convinced Norm Krause the 440 would go in a A body Barracuda, he just did it. That's all I'm trying to say. There's nothing personal about it. All I know is what I told you. The car s either a 63 or 64 and it's like B5 blue. Thanks to pishta, you don't need to go huntin it down like I had to. Good luck.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Take the girl panties off. I didn't mean it personally. I was simply saying I didn't know what else to say to convince you it will work. Nobody convinced Norm Krause the 440 would go in a A body Barracuda, he just did it. That's all I'm trying to say. There's nothing personal about it. All I know is what I told you. The car s either a 63 or 64 and it's like B5 blue. Thanks to pishta, you don't need to go huntin it down like I had to. Good luck.
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The post where I questioned the possibility of the swap was 3 days ago.

I actually figured out 2 days ago, through a PM with Phista, and further research on Bigblockdart that the information I read about the HP manifolds only working on 67-76 cars, was false.

Thanks again for all your help and information. Eric L
 
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