What have I got myself in to? Denver here we come!!

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Hey guys, its crazy trying to find this swap info, and great somebody was willing enough to post this information. Thank you so much for doing so, you have inspired me!

So this is my first build and I was thinking about this for a while.

Vehicle 1973 Plymouth Scamp 318/904, 7 1/4 rear, ps, pb, no sway bar

Donor 2001 Dodge Ram Sport
5.9 163,000 miles (a.c., ps pump everything there)
46re plus crossmember
Wiring Harness (lol not sure how much of it I was supposed to take)
Everything was mostly unplugged
PCM
Steering column (tilt, cruise control, hey I'm a fat kid that baby needs to tilt)
Gauge cluster
Fuse box
big *** connecter that ties everything in
Relay box from engine compartment
fuel line
fuel tank with pump (I missed the pigtail)

My first question is how did you plan for your game plan for parts?

If you had to do it again what would you have done different?

Motor mount recommendations? You went from 440 and was your k member stock or bigger k member error from 440? Torsion bar changes or reccomendations?

Suspension upgrades or changes?

Would the stock ac control switches from the Scamp behind dash work with the Ram or would I have been better off trying to snag the Ram ac/heater (lol I thought about grabbing it)?

I'm like you I want a cruiser, but at same time if I get on it I can rock and roll.

Thanks guys for any tips or questions to consider.
 
This thread inspired me also! Did mine a few months ago.
Sounds like you're wanting to do exactly what's in this post. I opted to install only the "required" items to make the engine/trans work and tie it into the original car gauges, a/c controls and power.

how did you plan for your game plan for parts?

My plan was to setup the engine on the stand with ALL of the accys bolted on, wiring run to ALL sensors. Once all the connectors had a home it was time to unbolt everything and install the engine. I did have to do 2 test fits of the engine.

If you had to do it again what would you have done different?
I'd have done it sooner!!!!!!!! oh, and plan wire layout a bit better. I thought it would sort itself out, but not so much. Some wires will have to be

The easy stuff:
1. Engine mounts are easy, engine-swaps.com BUT, your 318 mounts will work if I'm not mistaken
2. Suspension upgrades... at least stock v8 torsion bars, bigger is better though. Sway bars are a plus but not a necessity.
3. The 7.25 rear will explode... it's not IF, it's when and how bad. Think about 8.8 with discs in the rear...My 5.9L Duster will cook both tires when downshifting at 40-45mph
4. The stock Scamp A/C controls are easy to keep. All they need is vacuum to operate. Plumb them into the manifold,wire the scamp compressor wire to the new compressor + wire and ground the other one coming from the new compressor, have some new lines made to mate everything up and you're good to go.
5. Wiring the PCM is SUPER easy, it's like a stereo. One constant power, one switched power and one ground and it'll fire up. I spent weeks looking over the diagrams thinking it HAD to be more to it than that. There isn't, provided you have the right wires hooked up and didn't butcher the donor harness.

This is the "hard" section:
The hard stuff is keeping all of the electronics to go with the cruise control ( and anything else you want to bring over ) and grafting them into the scamp harness.
Get a FSM for the donor, this is a MUST. You should be able to find it out on the internet in PDF format.
Some things are easier than others to graft in. The cruise control uses speed sensors on the wheels or rear end and ABS computer....starting to see why it's not in the "easy" section? :lol:
I removed ALL of the extra wire from the Dakota harness including abs, lights, cruise control etc. Once that was done, it's plug and play.
*****KEEP THE ODBII connector*** I removed mine by mistake :banghead:

The cross member isn't really hard to do, but takes some time fitting a heavy transmission, cutting and welding, thus in the hard section. There is a nice sticky on how to install the fat a-518 trans.

The exhaust manifolds are also a sticky point. You'll need to use the 340 manifold on the drivers side, high $$ headers or restrictive smogger manifolds due to the power steering.

If you don't want to mod the battery tray, find a power steering pump bracket from a van, it moves the pump low enough to clear the tray.

Wiring the engine bay power distribution box is pretty straight forward as long as you can read a wiring diagram. I put this in the hard section because even if you can read and understand the diagrams, there are TONS of wires that you have to deal with. I removed more wire from the truck harness than was in the whole car to begin with.

Tips:
1. Keep as many of the harness connectors as possible. Even if you are going to completely remove that function. You might be able to reuse them for other things if you're careful with un-pinning them.
2. Bypass the ammeter now if you haven't done so already.
3. Be careful with the crank position sensor and dizzy when installing.
4. If you are removing functionality from the power distribution block, use the relay slots for headlights, cooling fans and other cool things.

Good to know:
The PCM switches ground to turn stuff on. Meaning, the device, sensor or relay will always have power and when the PCM wants to turn something on, it provides a ground. This keeps power away from the PCM and keeps the power distribution centralized....thus the power distribution block.
The PDC ( power distribution center ) is also has a portion that provides a central ground.

I love the car after the swap. I should have done it years ago. I'm still not driving my car on a daily basis, but only because I decided that the engine swap was more fun than the bodywork and it's 12 shades of primer.
 
BadAss71 said:
No I love the challenger styled one! Just get bored and have to change things up every once in a while lol. The challenger hood is in the process of having fiberglass versions of it made.
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Did you get a fiberglass hood made then?
 
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Wiring the PCM is SUPER easy, it's like a stereo. One constant power, one switched power and one ground and it'll fire up. I spent weeks looking over the diagrams thinking it HAD to be more to it than that. There isn't, provided you have the right wires hooked up and didn't butcher the donor harness."
WHAT WIRES? i've been reading everything and NO ONE has said what wire is +12V all the time and what is Key On +12V!!! I have only the under hood wires, and can't find what to plug hot and switched!
 
JefftheComputerMan said:
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Wiring the PCM is SUPER easy, it's like a stereo. One constant power, one switched power and one ground and it'll fire up. I spent weeks looking over the diagrams thinking it HAD to be more to it than that. There isn't, provided you have the right wires hooked up and didn't butcher the donor harness."
WHAT WIRES? i've been reading everything and NO ONE has said what wire is +12V all the time and what is Key On +12V!!! I have only the under hood wires, and can't find what to plug hot and switched!
Click to expand...

Jeff, you'll have a PM shortly
 
Well guys I have decided to sell the Swinger. It is on ebay and in the cars for sale forum. I have had a lot of fun with the car, and have invested lots of money and time, but its time for her to go to a new home.
 
I'm a new member and I noticed you changed your Dart over I'm doing the same to a 73 Power Wagon. I'm curious if you have any notes or schematics I could purchase from you or copy that would help me determine what I need to eliminate from the harness because I'm doing a switch over using everything from a 96 Dodge Ram 2500.
BadAss71 said:
I am pretty sure I have lost my mind. Well, atleast what was left. So some of you may be familiar with my swinger. If not here is a little history. It "had" a pretty healthy 440 in it until about two weeks ago. I decided that I wanted to turn the car in to something that I could really enjoy. You know, putting some real miles on the car. At the same time, having all of the reliability and conveniences of a modern car. Well, here is whats currently going on. I bought an 01 ram two wheel drive with a 360 and overdrive. I got the truck for a steal considering the low mileage and maintenance records. So what I am doing is taking everything from the ram and putting it into my swinger. I mean everything. I have my best friend and amazing fabricator helping me out here also. We have mocked up the heater/air conditioning box under the dash of the dart and you wouldnt believe how well it actually fits lol. With a little trimming on the firewall and a few holes for the mounting studs its in. Still working on the ducting but otherwise shes in. We are also going to be able to use all of the factory a/c lines, dryer, and condensor from the ram. ALL of the wiring from the ram is going into the dart aswell as the gauge cluster. I already have a 20 gallon fuel cell in the trunk that we are going to install the ram fuel pump/sending unit. Basically what we will have here is a dodge ram inside of a dart swinger. The engine is in, my tti headers showed up today, and I also picked up my power steering gear box this afternoon and got it bolted in. We have lots of wiring to lay in the engine bay and dash but its looking like it shouldnt be to brutal of a job. Still need to figure out where to mount the rams a/c control panel and figure out the gauge cluster mounting. Once all of that is in, hopefully by the weekend, we will get the car over to tims shop and on the lift to modify the floor to fit the new overdrive transmission. Plan is to have the car done and on the road to Denver for the Mopars at Thunder Mountain. Wait! Thats less than a month away! Yep I have lost it. But damn I love a challenge. Here are just a couple of pictures to show the progress. I will be adding more pics to the thread as it comes along.

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BadAss71 said:
I am pretty sure I have lost my mind. Well, atleast what was left. So some of you may be familiar with my swinger. If not here is a little history. It "had" a pretty healthy 440 in it until about two weeks ago. I decided that I wanted to turn the car in to something that I could really enjoy. You know, putting some real miles on the car. At the same time, having all of the reliability and conveniences of a modern car. Well, here is whats currently going on. I bought an 01 ram two wheel drive with a 360 and overdrive. I got the truck for a steal considering the low mileage and maintenance records. So what I am doing is taking everything from the ram and putting it into my swinger. I mean everything. I have my best friend and amazing fabricator helping me out here also. We have mocked up the heater/air conditioning box under the dash of the dart and you wouldnt believe how well it actually fits lol. With a little trimming on the firewall and a few holes for the mounting studs its in. Still working on the ducting but otherwise shes in. We are also going to be able to use all of the factory a/c lines, dryer, and condensor from the ram. ALL of the wiring from the ram is going into the dart aswell as the gauge cluster. I already have a 20 gallon fuel cell in the trunk that we are going to install the ram fuel pump/sending unit. Basically what we will have here is a dodge ram inside of a dart swinger. The engine is in, my tti headers showed up today, and I also picked up my power steering gear box this afternoon and got it bolted in. We have lots of wiring to lay in the engine bay and dash but its looking like it shouldnt be to brutal of a job. Still need to figure out where to mount the rams a/c control panel and figure out the gauge cluster mounting. Once all of that is in, hopefully by the weekend, we will get the car over to tims shop and on the lift to modify the floor to fit the new overdrive transmission. Plan is to have the car done and on the road to Denver for the Mopars at Thunder Mountain. Wait! Thats less than a month away! Yep I have lost it. But damn I love a challenge. Here are just a couple of pictures to show the progress. I will be adding more pics to the thread as it comes along.

View attachment 1714504027

View attachment 1714504028

View attachment 1714504029

View attachment 1714504030
Click to expand...
 
MileHighDart said:
BadAss71's old dart is for sale right now on Sacramento Craigslist, if anyone's interested.
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naah, not really

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They’re asking a pretty penny (actually, make that a pretty GOLD DOLLAR) for the car!! Still looks amazing though!
 
MileHighDart said:
This is a very old thread, and I don't think BadAss71 is really hanging out here anymore. At least I haven't seen posts from him in a long time.
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It says he was last on here in April. I’m hoping by tagging him he’ll get an email notification. If not, if I end up doing a similar build like this, I might just have to use an 8.25” rear from a Cherokee like he’d mentioned earlier in the thread. That was I can use the speed sensor in the rearend to get the speedometer functioning. Don’t really see the point of keeping the ram cluster if the speedometer doesn’t work.
 
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