Magnum engine in an A-body?

[yossarian19]

I know, I know - it has probably been covered a million times. I searched a bit and didn't find what I was looking for.
Basically, I'm 26 and have grown up with fuel injection. I like it, I get it, I want to keep it. On the other hand, my old man always had muscle cars and I want one of those, too.
I understand the wiring issues involved.
What else would need to be done to fit a Magnum series 5.2 or 5.9 into a 72 Dart? Engine mounts? Bellhousing patterns? Anything else?

And what kind of performance can you get while keeping the EFI, anyone know where to go for that kind of tech?
Thanks for any help guys.

 

[caferacerx]

both magnum's will require a 360 car oil pan, the 5.9 magnum has it's own unique balance factor, not the same as a 360 but still external, 5.2 is still neutral like a 318, any smallblock transmission or bellhousing will bolt up

 

[dustoff440]

I know, I know - it has probably been covered a million times. I searched a bit and didn't find what I was looking for.
Basically, I'm 26 and have grown up with fuel injection. I like it, I get it, I want to keep it. On the other hand, my old man always had muscle cars and I want one of those, too.
I understand the wiring issues involved.
What else would need to be done to fit a Magnum series 5.2 or 5.9 into a 72 Dart? Engine mounts? Bellhousing patterns? Anything else?

And what kind of performance can you get while keeping the EFI, anyone know where to go for that kind of tech?
Thanks for any help guys.

I don't know jack about the injection I saw a dyno test comparison between a stock injected 360 Magnum compared to a carburated 360 Magnum that had a dual plane M1 intake, a 750 Holley, headers and a stock camshaft. The injected 360 had slightly more horsepower but the carbed 360 had more torque by 40 ft lbs. I am installing a 92 360 Mag with an 850 Thermoquad in my 70 Dart. Trans-Dapt engine swap mounts at Summit 65 bucks, inexpensive headers 120 bucks at Summit, If you use the flexplate,balancer, and converter that came with the Magnum engine you should have no balance issues.My situation is a tci converter neutral balance with no weights, professional products balancer, the factory magnum flexplate which I had to elongate one of the holes in as some magnum flexplate /converter combos had one hole on the flexplate slightly offset... all this is mated to a 904 with a reverse manual valve body.. You should be able to bolt up a 727/A518 or a 904/A500. An 80's 904 will have a lower first gear 2.45versus 2.76 and will be lighter and take less parasitic horsepower to run. If youre already have a car equipped with a v8 and a 904 tranny and and 8 3/4 rearend you will not have to cut the driveshaft to shorten it. If you have a 7 1/4 and are going to and 8 1/4 , 8 3/4 or something like a mustang or explorer rearend you will be shortening it..Camshaft choice with the factory injection can be tricky . If the cam is too lumpy you will constantly be throwing codes. I would keep the original serpentine belt arrangement as the original pump is reverse flow and that way you could avoid hunting down pulleys, a balancer, flex, LA timing cover etc etc etc. If I was doing my swap again I would buy a wrecked vehicle that has the original drive train which would keep you from having to hunt down a lot of parts.Look at Hughes Engines or KRC Performance for cams and technical knowledge.

 

[fenderman33]

I'm running a stock 5.2 in my Dart, but the fuel injection is megasquirt. The install wasn't any different than putting an LA motor in it. I used a 360 car pan, Doug's headers, and all of the factory Grand Cherokee accessories.
I've never had it on the dyno or track, but we put about 500 miles on it last summer.
-Jon

 

[DionR]

For performance, I would look at what the Dakota R/T guys are doing. If you put a 96 or 97 and later setup in your car, you should be able to duplicate what they are doing and get plenty of performance.

I would recommend you run an auto, if you hadn't already planned to. The problem with swapping one of these motors in a car and retrofitting the OEM injection is it needs to see a crank position signal, and Mopar did that with a tone wheel in the bell housing. If you run an auto, you can just notch the bellhousing for the sensor, and run the factory flexplate (after slotting one hole). With a manual, it becomes really difficult to find a way to provide that signal as you have to swap to a truck 143T flywheel. I've been working on building a pickup that mounts to the end of the cam, but it's a long ways from even trying it.

If you have some change in your pocket, the best way might be to pick up Mopar Performance's kit that swaps the 390hp 360 crate motor to EFI (google "P5153590"). Take a look at the Mopar Action Savvy Savoy for how that all works. It would still require you to duplicate the 390hp crate motor, though as I don't think you can buy them anymore. Not even sure if the kits are available, I know the pushrods for the magnum head conversion are discontinued.

 

[caferacerx]

you could also run one of the many available aftermarket fuel injection conversions on an LA motor

 

[yossarian19]

Hmm, all good info.
The crank position sensor at the bellhousing I'd forgotten about, older trannies would of course need to be modified.
I think a full drivetrain swap might be in order, though my impression is that I'd have to cut up the floor to drive a center stick shift. If I haven't mentioned -this is all in my head so far. I'm deciding if this project is attainable and thus worth selling my current project to do. No Dart on hand yet.
Ok, so, I'm either looking at a bit of sheet metal work and a cross member to mount up a full Dakota drivetrain or modifying an older bellhousing for the crank pickup. Otherwise it is an oil pan swap and a bunch of wiring, motor mounts available through Summit.
Cool.