Engine Swap

[wbhall4423]

Greeting,
I just purchased a 1966 Charger that has been sitting under a tree for over 40 years last tagged in 1975. It has a 318 that is locked up. I found a 1975 Winnebago that had a 440 engine with only 31k original miles. I would like to put that engine in the 66 charger can this be done with out any modifications or will the engine and transmission fit in the 66 Charger at all. I would appreciate any feed back thanks and happy holidays to you all.

 

[pnora]

It is going to require a lot of additional parts depending on what is coming out of the motor home. You for sure will need a car oil pan, pickup, manifolds, dipstick and tube, motor mounts,. Might also need everything on the front side of the motor , wp housing and pump, all pulleys and brackets. Transmission will most likely need the long car style output shaft and housing. You would be better off to find a car doner for everything.

 

[Don Frelier]

You can still use the long block but yes you're going to need a whole bunch of other parts.

 

[R413]

It will fit on the same K frame (crossmember) and will fit in the car without cutting.

you can use the same engine wiring harness, trans crossmember, trans linkage, driveshaft speedo cable.
BUT, a Motor home trans is short and you need it long. So trans case is fine, need output shaft and housing from a car, and simular year to the MH trans, 1966 parts won’t swap in the mid 70’s trans.

Also, the engine will have 8:1 compression so no thumping cam or it will have 180 horsepower like the 318.

all the engine bolts on‘s need changed As outlined above.

 

[Cranky]

It will fit on the same K frame (crossmember) and will fit in the car without cutting.

you can use the same engine wiring harness, trans crossmember, trans linkage, driveshaft speedo cable.
BUT, a Motor home trans is short and you need it long. So trans case is fine, need output shaft and housing from a car, and simular year to the MH trans, 1966 parts won’t swap in the mid 70’s trans.

Also, the engine will have 8:1 compression so no thumping cam or it will have 180 horsepower like the 318.

all the engine bolts on‘s need changed As outlined above.

The V8 K-frame will accept any V8 except for the 426 Hemi....just have to have the right brackets from the block. Small block brackets are different that what the big block uses. Your small block wiring for the temp sender is shorter iirc and same way with a couple of other things like the alternator but not much different. May have to swap the radiator too since iirc the in and out connections are different. Yeah, finding a big block in a car is better but good luck doing that....MH's seem to still be out there more.

 

[R413]

318 poly temp sender is on the front and it will fit a BB engine just fine.

The alternator is way off to the left on a poly 318, so all those wires will fit a BB also.

The coil wire comes out of the harness in the middle of the valve cover area and can be routed front or rear without modification depending on the engine.

 

[wbhall4423]

Greetings,

Thanks for all the replies you expertise is greatly appreciated. The next question I have is can swap the tail shafts from the 66 charger with the housing from the 75 RV transmission. I have attached pictures of both.

Best Regards,

Walter Hall

 

[pnora]

Should work. If its a 76 or newer the splines that go into the planetaries were made with a different pitch on the splines.

 

[RemCharger]

I can't imagine swapping guts from transmissions without a rebuild at the same time( unless one likes changing transmissions frequently.)
I would find a 71+ bb trans core.

 

[wbhall4423]

I will defiantly have the transmission rebuilt. I was just making sure I could swap the tail shafts.
Thanks for the response.

Walter

 

[Dave6T4]

Make sure you use all the guts from your '66 trans in the BB case. The spline count changed on the input shaft in 1967. Using the '66 input shaft will let you keep same torque converter. The longer tailshaft housing will bolt into BB case. You should likely upgrade the 3-clutch drums to 4-clutch at this time.
As others have said, it might be easier to find a donor car engine and transmission. There really is not much you can use from the motorhome stuff, even if it is free.