Project Joe Dirt Dart. Aka, the Slinging Swinger.

[stimpy]

I have had my 75 Dart Swinger rusting away in my driveway for a couple of years now. It is time that I start making some money and get it back on the road. It is a 318 with factory air, with 104k miles from a Washington grandmother. A bit crusty from being stored under pine needles, and I need to replace ignition switch and install new guages. The motor is leaky and has a weak two barrel carb. I've begun investigating what direction would be the best pit to throw my money into, performance wise. I could:::pull the motor and do a quick and dirty rebuild with a generic Jeg's style cam and intake kit. Probably least likely to stretch my mechanical talents, and have the benefit of being relatively inexpensive compared to other options. The car would remain otherwise as Dodge put it out in 1975, a carbed inefficient old school V8, albeit with a little more guts then stock. Or,,, I could get a Megasquirt set up and use more modern fuel injection and heads. The cost is not prohibitive to do a complete motor swap with a modern 318 or 360 Magnum motor. The computer stuff is what most perplexes me as a swap novice. The benefits of fi are obvious, with the potential for turbocharging being key. A turbo V8 would be easy to dial in ample horsepower. Or... I have found an adapter plate that is being used to match up a 904 auto trans like mine to a 2.4l engine. With a NA 2.4l dohc engine, it will match or beat the smog motor performance of the original 318 and trounce it on economy. With a turbo 2.4l and SRT-4 aftermarket, 350 hp is an easy goal. Again, computer stuff frightens me a bit. Or should I carb a 2.4l? The vintage of my car gives me a lot of leeway to do whatever I want under the hood, smog wise.

So, what to do...

[CincinnatiFiero]

2.4L Turbo SRT-4 motor would be the coolest, but probably the most complicated and expensive.


My vote is carb'ed magnum 360. Someone on ebay sells a 6.8L stroker kit for like $1,500. That, intake, cam, headers, and 2x4bbl would make some wild power. If you are going old school. Same 400ci motor with FI would also be cool, you could jack a wiring harness from a dodge truck or jeep grandcherokee to ease up on the wiring.

[Boscolingus]

Get a truck 318 EFI setup from www.car-part.com . The entire drivetrain is reletiviely inexpensive and it's been done before. My buddy actually has a Duster of the same vintage with an EFI 318.

OR>>>

wrecked 6.1 HEMI

mmmmm

I would then be proud of you young Padawan

[The Dark Side of Will]

Don't be afraid of computers and wiring.

Wiring is easy... one wire at a time.

EFI has a somewhat high cost of entry and a steep learning curve, but the results are worth it.

Narrow it down to two or three options and we can help you.

The 904 used behind 318's is probably a 904-LA, which is the equivalent of the 998/999 transmissions used in AMC Eagles. These have a number of beef-up parts compared to the run of the mill 904, such as was used with a slant 6. These include 4 pinion planetaries, double wrap band, etc.

You'd probably have to build the trans to handle a 2.4 at 350 HP, but that's not hard. You could also convert to a 727, which is an almost indestructible transmission, on par with GM's TH-400. The 727 is also very close to being a bolt-in swap for a 904.

[Atilla the Fun]

318s are solid appliances, but put your money into a 360. First get the long block, then we'll go from there. If you want EFI, it's MegaSquirt or Edelbrock or Holley or Accel. Forget the factory EFI, it's near impossible to get it to work with any non-stock cam.
A magnum 5.9 is a great starting point, and I can get you to 25 mpg carbureted, at a steady 65 mph, unless you go hog-wild with the cam.
The main thing is getting an overdrive transmission. For a mopar automatic, the Dakota's A518 has better ratios than the Ram's A500.
If you're inclined to a manual, you can pick up new Tremec TR3650s for just $700, they're alot like the TKO500, but with a cast-in bellhousing for the Ford 4.6, so you'd need an adapter plate, and use a hydraulic clutch release setup. The stick will eat 50 horses less than an automatic.
The earlier A518s don't need a computer.

[CincinnatiFiero]

I think I have the later A518 with the electronic overdrive. Nice trans, gets 20mpg on the highway in a truck.

[Atilla the Fun]

Why are you only getting 20? I've had fullsize Chevy gasoline pickups as high as 26. Notice I typed pickups as plural.

[BigRedDeckSpoiler]

Been a long time since I fooled with a Mopar. Used to have a couple of early 70s Barracudas.

Back then, the hot ticket was a 340, or at least a pair of 340 (or 360) heads and intake. The 318 heads are supposed to be very restrictive.

Probably now, I'd just do the 5.9 (360) Magnum.
Personally, I like EFI, but on something like the Swinger I might be tempted to do an Edelbrock carb. There the same as the old Carter AFB, anyway. (I fucking hate Holley carbs.)
Be aware that even the older 340s had different motor mounts (just the left side, I think) than the 318. The new 5.9 is probably different, still. It likely won't be a straight bolt-in.

The 904 that came behind the 318 in my 73 Barracuda was barely adequate. I was amazed that it didn't have a 727.
Of course, I didn't know anything about beefing it up, back then. I was just doing bolt-ons.

[Atilla the Fun]

where's the updates on this?

[Nashco]

Used junkyard/craigslist 5.9 + Megasquirt, you'll be on the road for under a grand, $1500 if you want to get snazzy. Sounds like you've got the 904 stock, use it until it fails. Someday if/when it fails, you can opt to do a rebuild with better parts or go to a 727. 727s are very tough, but heavy and inefficient, and there are enough good parts for a 904 to make it reliable with a mild engine. If you wanted to really keep it stockish, you could get a whole 5.9 and auto trans with wiring and such to take advantage of the newer overdrive, electronic trans. As mentioned, you wouldn't be able to do much tuning with the ECM if you start modding the engine (cam, exhaust, etc.) but if you think you'd like a stock (modern, injected) engine and the fuel economy, simplicity, etc. of using the stock trans along with it...worth considering.

Really, Megasquirt is cake. If you are afraid of that kind of stuff, this is the perfect project to break yourself into it with. There's nothing to it, really. Get yourself a wideband oxygen sensor and the things practically tune themselves. Even with a narrow band they're very simple and straight forward.

Bryce