I have a problem

[WARLOCK]

The 318 in my truck is dying fast. I see I have 2 options.

1. rebuild the 318

2.Go buy a 440/tranny and all I would need to put it in for $400


The problem is, the 318 is the original motor. I really cant afford to have this truck down for more then a weekend. Its my daily driver.

The 440 is out of a 3/4 ton van that was hit in the right side rear. The motor runs great (about a 2 year old rebuild)

:dunno: :help:

[carguy2]

if you can get the 440, that's the way I'd go. You may need to get a different drive shaft, or have yours shortened. The 727 is a little longer than the 904 you probably have behind the 318. plus the exhaust system won't line up either. You could probably find a good 360 to put in, and only have to swap the motors.

[52 M37]

I may be wrong here(not like it's the first time) but I don't think they ever put a 904 behind a 360. So it's not just that easy to install a 360 in place of a 318 there are balancing problems.

Do you have the entire van that the 440 came out of? If the van is the same wheel base you might get lucky and be able to use the entire drivetrain out of the van into the truck. There might be a difference in the u-joints to the rear size wise.
Yes you will need a y-pipe for the exhaust but you can get things ready ahead of time to save time once you start the swap. Motor mounts and trans mounts will probably be different. Are the front springs heavy enough or do you need to make some suspension changes. Some slight wiring changes like the fact that the distributor is in the front on the RB and in the rear on the SB. These are of course minor changes but it is best that you look at all the differences and BE PREPARED.

A swap like this can be done in a weekend but would it be easier and faster to find a used engine at the bone yard and do a rebuild on the used engine and then just swap it out? This will cost you more money but save you quite alot of time. Then after you remove the old engine maybe you could recoup some of your money by selling the old 318.

If you had a second vehicle to use during the swap I would go with the 440 and take my time doing the swap.

My 2¢

Good luck with the project
Rich

[WARLOCK]

Ok, yea I knew the exhaust wouldn't hook up. Duals are alresdy setin in the garage.(really wanting to put 3" polished stainless stacks) as for the wiring, MSD is what I was planning on using.and yea the whole van is here. Its a long wheelbase, the tranny I have is a 727 the one in the van is also a 727. As for the springs, I was wondering if the ones out of the van would work? I'm going to measuer the rear and see if I would just swap it too. I know the gas tank is going where the spare tire was (45 gal.)

Anything else?

Thanks for all the points on this.

[WARLOCK]

Ok, I haven't looked, but would the oil pan work too?

[speeddragon190]

the springs themselves may work, but i'm pretty sure the rear end won't, i think the spring pads are farther apart. i remember looking this up in the Hollander interchange manual. the oil pan & everything else should work, though.

[WARLOCK]

The rear from a 3/4 or 1 ton truck should work,, right?

[speeddragon190]

yeah, any truck rear should right in, at least from 63-93. all single wheel trucks of these years had the same spring pad width. i've also seen a car rear work. i had a 68 p/u that had a 68-70 Charger rear under it. how did i know it was a car rear? it had left hand. trucks didn't use this.

[Ronzilla]

I would use the drive shaft out of the van so you save the stock and the 318. If look to resell it sould help, but once you drop in that 440 you will never look back. :cool:

[WARLOCK]

yea, the van was a long wheel base, it wouldn't work with my short bed