LS Swap '65 Valiant

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I don't understand all the hate either. If somebody wants to put an LS in a Mopar, it's their car, I wish them well. At least it'll still be a Mopar on the road. I notice the guy hasn't responded back either. Too bad.
 
Well, a few years back, someone had a nice looking 59 Dodge for sale on ebay that had a 305 Chevy motor under the hood in place of the original 326 poly. Don't know that I hated it, but I did think that was a really stupid swap.
 
65 Cuda 340 said:
Well, a few years back, someone had a nice looking 59 Dodge for sale on ebay that had a 305 Chevy motor under the hood in place of the original 326 poly. Don't know that I hated it, but I did think that was a really stupid swap.
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As cool and obscure as those old Poly motors are, I don't think anyone would disagree......I would still stop short of criticizing someone's build though. It was someone's dream. At least the old truck wasn't rottin away in a junk yard.
 
RustyRatRod said:
As cool and obscure as those old Poly motors are, I don't think anyone would disagree......I would still stop short of criticizing someone's build though. It was someone's dream. At least the old truck wasn't rottin away in a junk yard.
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Wasn't a truck; was a car - a 2dr hardtop. Anyway, if you're gonna go to all the trouble to swap in a Chevy, at least pick one with some stones. Like, say, an LS. :lol:

By the way, do you ever sleep?
 
65 Cuda 340 said:
Wasn't a truck; was a car - a 2dr hardtop. Anyway, if you're gonna go to all the trouble to swap in a Chevy, at least pick one with some stones. Like, say, an LS. :lol:

By the way, do you ever sleep?
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Not much. I get an hour or two here and there.
 
So that SA 60 kit came out around 1961 at point in time the Valiant and Lancer were only offered with the slant 6 .
Besides Motor Trend was stuffing a Y block v8 into the Falcon at that time . And it took a bunch of mods to get it in that small engine compartment.

So hot rodding being what it is , it made sense to stuff a v8 into an a body and what was available and small enough to fit ? You guessed it the 265 or 283 Chevy straight out of the wreaking yard . Not much else would fit at the time .

This is hot rodding biggest engine smallest car on a budget .

But the LS is not budget friendly neither is a late Hemi . Today if you want a v8 in an a body that is budget friendly , then a 318 or a 360 with a 904 is the way to go . The spendy part is the exhaust .
 
Now if one was determined to put an LS in an a body one would want to change out the complete front suspension, k member , steering and brakes to something like the Altercation set up to get the space to fit that LS and run the exhaust and oil pan .
Oh and so one doesn’t have to make mods to the tunnel use a GM 200R4 trans it’s small enough and can be built to handle the torque .
Of course one would want to gain the benefit of EFI so there’s the fuel system to be dealt with .
Not to mention the cooling system and of course the computer and new wiring .

Gee this is not a budget friendly project !
 
Kern Dog said:
I'll state the same thing here that I state everywhere....
IF Ma Mopar made shitty engines or IF they were hard to find, I'd understand ideas like these.
That is not the case though. Not even close.
People see these cheap junkyard LS engines and think they can swap them in an old car and go fast for minimal bucks.
IF you are a master fabricator, it can be done on a tight budget but you're looking at custom oil pans, headers, engine mounts. wiring and possible computer electronics. These early A body cars are cramped so power steering is out. The transmission tunnels are tiny so you're looking at modifications to fit a modern transmission.
This is like buying a hat that is too small, then going to a surgeon to have your head surgically reduced to fit the hat.
A stroked 360 will make more power than you can hook up on the street and those engines fit easily. There are headers available that fit the stock chassis.
This isn't Cuba, man...Cross breeding is not necessary here.
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Right On Brother!!!!!!!
 
GGs66GT said:
So that SA 60 kit came out around 1961 at point in time the Valiant and Lancer were only offered with the slant 6 .
Besides Motor Trend was stuffing a Y block v8 into the Falcon at that time . And it took a bunch of mods to get it in that small engine compartment.

So hot rodding being what it is , it made sense to stuff a v8 into an a body and what was available and small enough to fit ? You guessed it the 265 or 283 Chevy straight out of the wreaking yard . Not much else would fit at the time .

This is hot rodding biggest engine smallest car on a budget .

But the LS is not budget friendly neither is a late Hemi . Today if you want a v8 in an a body that is budget friendly , then a 318 or a 360 with a 904 is the way to go . The spendy part is the exhaust .
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A low deck big block will bolt right in. I almost did it to Vixen, but the slant 6 has turned out to be fantastic, so I ain't screwin up a good thing.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Because of the LS, everybody wants 600 plus HP......problem is, more than HALF those people have never even felt HALF that. They don't know WHAT they'd be happy with, or WHAT they can and can't handle. They get this car where it can halfass drive and wrap it around a tree.

Not to mention, if they put it in something that's NOT GM, now we have the whole "gotta fab stuff" goin on. Some of THOSE will end up neglected in the back yard, because they THOUGHT they had fab skills and they did not, so now the project gets sold on the cheap.

I'm not talking about the OP in any of this, as we don't know what fab skills he may or may not have. I'm just throwing out some scenarios that we all know have happened.

I think maybe if most guys would just start with something like an old Dodge truck with a 318, hone their skills on getting it running as good as can be and getting everything on it road worthy, they'd have a lot more fun and experience on their next project. Over half their questions would already be answered and just think of all the experience they'd have from that first old truck.
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I Really MISS THOSE old 70s and 80s Trucks for a few Hundred, running and Driving. Heck, the 90s ones Too!
 
The new LS motors are so fugly and lack so much character, that they cover them up with crappy plastic covers.
LS7:
LS7.jpg


Here's a REAL engine. The original LS-7. Friends, there's just no comparison.
LS-7.jpg
 
RustyRatRod said:
A low deck big block will bolt right in. I almost did it to Vixen, but the slant 6 has turned out to be fantastic, so I ain't screwin up a good thing.
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Except that in 1960 (and 61) a big block Mopar would have been the old extended crank version, and the only available automatic would have been the old cast iron Torqueflite. Three speed manual, too, but . . . .

Anyway, I know that in 1962 the Dragmaster team built an A/FX max wedge 62 Dodge Lancer with the new style (modern) big block. I'm not aware of anyone putting a big block Mopar in a first generation Valiant or Lancer before then. But I also doubt that very many SBC's were ever swapped into the earlier Valiants or Lancers, either, or that Hurst ever sold many kits to do so.

Hey - I'm up at 4 am. My dog had to go out, so I figured I would check in here while I was up. . . .

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JGizmo said:
Has anyone LS swapped an early Valiant? Is there even a chance that there's a swap kit available? Any major issues I'd run into if I were to throw a 5.3 in?
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Nobody knows what an "LS" is and nobody understands what "throw a 5.3" means either.
 
65 Cuda 340 said:
Except that in 1960 (and 61) a big block Mopar would have been the old extended crank version, and the only available automatic would have been the old cast iron Torqueflite. Three speed manual, too, but . . . .

Anyway, I know that in 1962 the Dragmaster team built an A/FX max wedge 62 Dodge Lancer with the new style (modern) big block. I'm not aware of anyone putting a big block Mopar in a first generation Valiant or Lancer before then. But I also doubt that very many SBC's were ever swapped into the earlier Valiants or Lancers, either, or that Hurst ever sold many kits to do so.

Hey - I'm up at 4 am. My dog had to go out, so I figured I would check in here while I was up. . . .

View attachment 1715936740

View attachment 1715936741 .
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Dig that daddio ignition coil!
 
If anyone is interested, the 270 horse dual quad 283 powered 60 Valiant ran 14.80's at 95 with street tires and the original open 3.54 rear.

The 413 powered 62 Lancer ran 12.60's at 113.
 
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