64 polara BB swap

[Tang1964]

Has any one used Schumacher mounts to put a later model 440 and 727 in an earlier b-body ? Or know of another brand of mounts that will work ? Also if driveline needs shortened lengthened modified.
The quad cab is currently sporting a poly 318 with I don’t know what auto.
I hope to be yanking a 440 and 727 from a motor home soon.

 

[Dave6T4]

You should be able to bolt 318 rubber isolators to the big block steel engine brackets, and the whole thing will drop right in.

 

[Tang1964]

I guess that would have been a better question. Is what would be the simplest way to drop a big block in it ?

 

[peabodyracin]

Big block brackets and insulators are readily available on line for this. As long as you have a V8 K member in the car it's a bolt in.

Your car will have the ball and trunion style drive shaft if the drivetrain is original. That won't be compatible with a later transmission. You'll require a drive shaft with the slip yoke setup on it.

 

[Big Bad Dad]

Oil pan from the truck chassis probably won't work in the car frame.

 

[Darter6]

At one time Schumacher had a special/conversion trans mount when installing a late model 727 with a slip yoke in a 65 and older B body.
The may still be available from Mancini/Kramer/Joe Suchy.

 

[Dan64]

Brewer's should have a conversion mount to make a newer style 727 trans work with your 64' trans cross member

 

[Tang1964]

So I save the motor home drive shaft because it’s a slip yoke and have it shortened ?
Are the torsion bars the same as a big block ?
That poly looks pretty beefy compared to an la. I’ve read that the weight of a poly is just a little bit lighter.

 

[Darter6]

T bars ,you should be fine unless you want it to handle like a slot car.
Is the driveshaft 1 piece ? if so it may be able to be shortened.

 

[Tang1964]

I eventually want to make it handle and run a 13. Is my goal anyway. I don’t know anything about those early trans. But ultimately drive shaft would depend on if the motor home is a long tail or a short tail. Right ?

 

[ckessel]

Since the donor is an RV, there were three different tail shaft lengths for them. As long as it used a slip yoke to the trans and not one fastened down with a big nut on the end of the shaft, you should be fine. This will give you needed pieces for the driveshaft change/mods. Keep all of the pullies, accessories and brackets since they all match for fit, offset etc. Not sure if they'll all fit into the 64 but at least you can start with them. Like others mentioned, you'll need bb engine to k brackets and a different oil pan/pickup unit plus most likely engine/trans dipsticks and tubes. The trans will have a different shift mechanism setup, not push button or console unit with the twin cables, but thats easily dealt with. Aftermarket shifter time? The donor may also have a water pump housing pointing on the wrong side, inlet wise, for you. Again an easy switch. Since you are doing all of this and you may not of thought about it, upgrade the suspension for the extra weight and for sure without hesitation, put some disc brakes on. You're going to need more whoa to go the the new power. Swap meet/wrecking yard finds, using the "disc o tech" method from Mopar Actions archives or call Dr. Diff up in Montana.

 

[ckessel]

On the trans lengths, I believe the distance between the main case to the mount boss is the same but after that mount boss they are different. Pass cars used 18" length, measurement of the ext housing length, extension housing units mostly but there might be some oddballs.

 

[matthon]

I swapped a 318 poly to a bb in a 62 Dart.
Stock T bars are fine, but I went with QA1 uca/lca/struts and Dr Diff discs. I just did the same on another car and it drives so much better.

Trans mount is an easy modification, extremely easy, and you don't need the twice the $ trans mount, the single bolt $50 poly mount is fine. I have it in 2 bb 4 speed cars.

Imo, the driveshaft from Dr Diff is a deal, comes with u-joints and yokes, check it out.

I had the 318 mounts and the bb mounts on the engine, but ended up just buying the Schumacher mount kit with rubber isolators for a 62 as they were on sale and the 62 K is a V8 K, not a bb or sb K. It just has extra factory brackets on the K. Probably too much info on that.

Whatever engine mounts you get, rubber or poly, drill a hole through them and put a bolt with a lock nut on it, tighten to almost all the way. Better than any torque strap, chain, etc.
Do it on both sides, because the passenger side will slide down, especially if it's a poly mount.
Imo, don't bother with poly engine mounts at all, poor design, will always fail, and most of the time you never know.