Getting ready to swap a 5.7 into my 73 Dart Swinger

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Enjoy it while you can fella. We only have a short time on this rock. Don't lose sight of what's MOST important. You'll get it done.
 
Ok in a horse trade for some side work I may be able to get a 8.8 rear end from a mustang with disc breaks and im hearing that its already equal short length axles? Please help what length am i looking for? I'll look all night i know ive seen it here before on this site. And I got turned around from the fram shop cause my steering wasnt in at all so I'll be trying this again this next week.. Thats the rear end I'm being offered..
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Can anyone link me to the thread where someone braced there transmission from the inside using some wood and straps? There was so much info on that thread I dont think ill have time to find it for like a week but I want it to move foward freshen my ideas up
 
Vega73dart said:
Can anyone link me to the thread where someone braced there transmission from the inside using some wood and straps? There was so much info on that thread I dont think ill have time to find it for like a week but I want it to move foward freshen my ideas up
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That was likely mine 6.1 into 72 Demon March 2018. Thread is in hemi swap section
 
Sublime one said:
That was likely mine 6.1 into 72 Demon March 2018. Thread is in hemi swap section
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Ok it was ur thread and ive read it a few times now and g50 did it to the frame connectors I can recall his too. But there was one more I remember seeing. They used a u shape piece of rectangle tubing for the upper half of the mount and there was something about tubing . I'm dying trying to find it. But i kick this off tomorrow
 
Vega73dart said:
Ok it was ur thread and ive read it a few times now and g50 did it to the frame connectors I can recall his too. But there was one more I remember seeing. They used a u shape piece of rectangle tubing for the upper half of the mount and there was something about tubing . I'm dying trying to find it. But i kick this off tomorrow
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Go man go! Hundred ways to skin this cat! You can't be wrong since there is no OEM on this one! Slash weld and repeat!
 
Ok been running into an issue how can i get ride hieght correct so that I can measure my 1to3 degrees to the rear? Do I just put blocks and stands and make the vehicle level? I have had so many people say they will help, FABO is the only help I've gotten so far you guys rock! Dying to finish the Fab work on my transmission mounts
 
Vega73dart said:
Ok been running into an issue how can i get ride hieght correct so that I can measure my 1to3 degrees to the rear? Do I just put blocks and stands and make the vehicle level? I have had so many people say they will help, FABO is the only help I've gotten so far you guys rock! Dying to finish the Fab work on my transmission mounts
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Ok official disclaimer: I am not a mechanic, just a farmer building a hot rod! This is how I did mine, likely not correct way to do it. As I am old and fat I don’t like rolling around on floor. I installed engine with tranny bolted up snug, once installed I took a baseline dimension of tranny tail shaft, then jacked tranny up until I got a hard stop, trying to establish amount of play or droop I had in tranny travel. Then lowered tranny back down to unsupported position again, took another measurement to see if good base line was correct. Then I jacked tranny back up until it was relaxed and engine was not stressing motor mounts. Again shameless plug for Hemi Denny front ends, tranny was supported by jack at this point so that I could play with pitch. Everything felt and looked relaxed and unstressed. Make bracket to fit! Remember some spacer material so you can get bracket in and out. Feel free to PM me anytime and I can give you contact info if it helps you.
 
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So I've cut the whole brought up transmission mounted it pretty tough to do when you don't lift the car up but I found a way to seems work all right it should look familiar to everyone here hahaha I'm building the transmission mount I'm done taking measurements but not so many pictures I need to slow down it's coming out very well so far for the rfe transmission I have to build a bracket to bring the actual amount for the transmission about 4in back from the original crossmember doesn't seem hard to do it all at this point it's almost all done the measurement I went with is a wee bit large I hope that I did not make it to loose it seems I may have to put a washer on the inside against the original crossmember that I'm mounting to. the first template that I made for the transmission mount was too straight up and down if they have angle they come in towards the bottom and around the pan much nicer if you weld it in the subframe connectors the flex you will see when you make the cut for the transmission will be minimal to make the cut I used a grinder and a cutting wheel a marker and a straightedge however I did weld the subframe connectors prior to this and I definitely recommend that you do on another note how well is your guys's Steady Hand with plasma cutting because everyone I know keeps saying plasma cut apart or plasma cut the mounts out of the plate and as far as I know a band saw and the cutting wheel has been a lot more accurate and cleaner for me I rarely plasma cut.. again thanks to everyone here
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Vega73dart said:
View attachment 1715395606 View attachment 1715395606 So I've cut the whole brought up transmission mounted it pretty tough to do when you don't lift the car up but I found a way to seems work all right it should look familiar to everyone here hahaha I'm building the transmission mount I'm done taking measurements but not so many pictures I need to slow down it's coming out very well so far for the rfe transmission I have to build a bracket to bring the actual amount for the transmission about 4in back from the original crossmember doesn't seem hard to do it all at this point it's almost all done the measurement I went with is a wee bit large I hope that I did not make it to loose it seems I may have to put a washer on the inside against the original crossmember that I'm mounting to. the first template that I made for the transmission mount was too straight up and down if they have angle they come in towards the bottom and around the pan much nicer if you weld it in the subframe connectors the flex you will see when you make the cut for the transmission will be minimal to make the cut I used a grinder and a cutting wheel a marker and a straightedge however I did weld the subframe connectors prior to this and I definitely recommend that you do on another note how well is your guys's Steady Hand with plasma cutting because everyone I know keeps saying plasma cut apart or plasma cut the mounts out of the plate and as far as I know a band saw and the cutting wheel has been a lot more accurate and cleaner for me I rarely plasma cut.. again thanks to everyone here View attachment 1715395603

View attachment 1715395604

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The wood cribbing sure looks familiar! Hah! Looks like you are rocking it! Zip wheels on a 4 inch grinder are your friend! Great pix and cool build!
 
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The measurements I had came out good I'm using some bar to hold them open actually some exhaust hanger from work that I cut and hold them open at the perfect measurement while I weld them are they going to come out very nice I have a couple of Builders Dropout from by my side with this because they were supposed to come and help but now I can't even get a response from them so I'll be going in this one hundred percent just with you guys and it'll be trial in there till we get it right
 
Vega73dart said:
View attachment 1715399144 View attachment 1715399145
The measurements I had came out good I'm using some bar to hold them open actually some exhaust hanger from work that I cut and hold them open at the perfect measurement while I weld them are they going to come out very nice I have a couple of Builders Dropout from by my side with this because they were supposed to come and help but now I can't even get a response from them so I'll be going in this one hundred percent just with you guys and it'll be trial in there till we get it right
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Hah, no worries guy we got your back! We will mercilessly heckle you just like we were there, only advantage is we are not drinking all your beer. Remember rule number one when making custom do dads.... heat and beat, paint to match!
 
I just dropped my engine off at the builders everything has been a pain in the *** because I was burglarized and all my tools are gone I mean completely clear it out so took my block to the Builder I said let's throw some money at it but immediately he showed me that the crank is out of spec and I'll need a new crank and possibly a rod or two the bill seems to be about $1,600 for the short block with a new crank and some new rods all the machine work new pistons and rings and bearings
 
That sucks! Chin up, things will come around. Any ideas on the burglars?
 
408 swinger said:
That sucks! Chin up, things will come around. Any ideas on the burglars?
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Yeah seems kind of obvious that it was my neighbors as they broke the joining fence to our two houses and are the only ones who could have had a reasonable understanding of what I had but like you said chin up I'll get through it just a lot of projects around here on hold luckily I still have my TIG welder and a couple small items that were in my truck
 
I have cameras now but almost no point because I have no tools left I'm going to start Gathering everything for reassembly going to call in some backup from Friends for tools can someone please send me a link to the perchese for the end conversion the 8.8
 
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As long as you have an 8.8, oh wait a minute. You're talking rears, I was thinking a 9. 9mm.
 
Engine builder gave me a call today added about $675 to the bill apparently when spun a bearing 4 rods are bad and the entire crank is bad so all that needs to be replaced and he added tax so now instead of 1200 I'm at 18 something ouch
 
Vega73dart said:
Engine builder gave me a call today added about $675 to the bill apparently when spun a bearing 4 rods are bad and the entire crank is bad so all that needs to be replaced and he added tax so now instead of 1200 I'm at 18 something ouch
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And so it begins, we promised to heckle you from afar. Pretend we are all sitting in your shop adult beverage in hand, tunes playing in back ground, shop dog at our feet, all of us looking at that empty hole in your car where engine goes. You tell us of your woes with jacked up engine bid and we all start reminiscing about ours. Yep you are getting off cheap! Have another shot shake your head and figure we’ll i will need to work some OT to cover it. We all swear we will help you when day comes to stick motor in. We have all done it Vega!
 
I actually have a second job now just so I can throw some money at it. I forgot to mention to the Builder that there's a dowel on the front of the cam that is broken not sure if I'm a need a cam as well kind of hoping he'll give me a good deal on getting a Comp Cam if so. My second job I build cages for side by sides going from that thick metal 2 thin gauge welding headers and y pipes really throws my groove off but after the build all I need is a wiring harness couple other things and I'll be wrapping up this chapter of having two jobs
 
Small update I have my engine block now cost me about $2,000 to get everything looks clean looks good time to polish all of the accessories and covers while I drink some whiskey today and think about final things like whether to switch this Ford 8.8 rear end or not and just get a custom driveshaft made already I'll be buying a stand-alone wiring harness just to ease my headache and working these two jobs for a little bit longer but it's seriously starting to drive me insane I'm a Welderr not a magic man and the guys doing my FIT up man I prefer to just do it all myself even if it takes me to three times as long anyways the final sheet metal work patching up that hole I cover the transmission doesn't seem to be hard at all I have access to a break at my neighbor's house you just going to do it all from home and tag take my time file 2 fit
 
Okay so I've been getting a lot of help from G50 lately on the sidelines I've got my steering hook back up upper transmission crossmembers fabricated reinforced and welded to the frame lower transmission mounts will work out nicely it seems like so far and yes I did use the stock bushing for the transmission I ordered a 05 wiring harness will be looking to collab with Blake from DIY Hemi on getting that wiring modified for getting his Quick Connect conversion also looking to purchase a 05 computer from him but what really brings me to this long-overdue update is the header situation... so the TTI headers do not fit the a body Dodge with the stock power steering box you have to buy a Borgeson unit and change out I think it's the pitman arm and a couple other things I am not going to do that so I will not be able to use the TTI headers right now it seems like I'm going to make them myself however I remember someone mentioning from way out in the nosebleeds that the SRT8 Jeep headers will work does anyone know if this is true if so I see these Hooker Headers for not a bad price or also an easy design to build
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