I have a 66 Dart that has a slant six, and three on the tree. I have done everything to this car including disc brakes, aluminum radiator, bigger torsion bars, 8-3/4 posi rear..blah blah.
Bottom line is this: I had listed it for sale, but nobody wants to pay my outragious price . So, I want to put a v-8 in it, with an auto trans. What is the easiest swap for me to do. I would like over 318ci and possibly a overdrive trans. The cheaper the better, taking into account headers, motor mounts... Basically, how would you do it?? And why.
Decent gas milage is a must.
Thanks for your time

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Hellbent Rods & Custom fabs

cheapist...easist....KEEP THE SLANT

Sorry, thats no longer an option. I know this is a slant six board, but try not to be biased. The slant just doesnt have the grunt I'm lookin for. And with the three on the tree, It sounds like its rappin out at freeway speeds.

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Hellbent Rods & Custom fabs

I had a 68 dart and wanted to replace my 170 with a SB. Let's see if I can remember all the stuff I would have needed - larger radiator, custom adapter engine mounts (or v8 k member and mounts), v8 center link, stiffer torsion bars, dual exhaust, better rear end if you have the 7-1/4.
And of course an engine and trans - maybe a drive shaft.

When I added it all up my budget said NO! - I just waited and found a good deal on a 340 duster fixer car - all the parts were already there
and with an engine rebuild I had the car I wanted. Sold the dart for
peanuts and took the loss - Still came out ahead in the long run.

Now I am back to slants again - they don't break as often, so I have
a chance of keeping them on the road.

Oh one more thing - 66 is a narrow body - headers were fairly tight in
the SB 70 duster. I can't picture how they would fit in the 66 narrow
body. Good Luck and Have Fun !!

I thought I read somewhere that your pre 67 a body K member can be used for a SB without any swapping (2 sets of holes drilled in it) all you need is the mounts. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on the year, I'm going from memory here. Anyway... sounds like you've done alot, why do you want to go cheap now?

If I'm wrong about your K member then Schumachers, http://www.engine-swaps.com/ has lots of combos for swaps ($150-$200). I've got a set of SB headers for sale (old but never used) but don't know what car there for ($??). Find yourself an engine/trans for a couple hundred bucks and you should be off to the races for less then a G.

Personally, I'd keep the slant and toss the 3 speed. Spend the G on an auto trans and some engine work. But that's what you get for asking this question on a slant six board.

Good luck

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Grip it and rip it

im not being biased you asked the cheapist and easist way to go with better milliage,i gave you a answer

I actually did do a swap in a '69 Dart.
/6 to a 360.
It is quite involved if you're going to do a thorough job.
You'll spend a TON of money on incidental parts, some of them being stuff I can't even remember, but it's obvious you'll need them when you run across the situation.
The car being a '66 makes finding headers that fit properly even tougher.

I was able to do it fairly cheaply because I had owned a couple of V8 Darts, so I was able to scavenge lots of those " I forgot about that!" parts, plus a couple years of fruitful boneyard picking.

Sell the '66 for what you can get and start over with something already set up with a smallblock.

Either way, good luck

12? 15? 18? 20? 26?

If you go with a 318 and a 1989-1992 A-500/A-518 Auto Overdrive tranny....

You will be into the package for this:

1966 Dart
Motor Mounts $50+/-
V-8 $350 for a good runner unless a buddy has one he'll dump on you (Then add $300 to replace all the worn out parts that might go bad in a high miler since your engine bay isn't so nice to replace parts in)....
Correct Oil Pan $25
Torsion Bars not your 665's, like 70's era 891's or HD 892's...$50 +/-
New rear end...$200-500 depending on 8 1/4" or 8 3/4"
New front brake setup (9" drums won't stop you with a V-8....so 1973-1976 disc brakes to go with the large bolt pattern rear end....) $200
A-518 AOD tranny $750...
Body work to make the tranny with your tranny hump...$50 if you're cheap. (screws, sheet metal, putty...minor welding)
Shorten the driveline $75 (depends on where you live)
New speedo since your cluster uses the 'old' style gears (pre-67).
Headers $200
New exhaust $200

So the total if you want to do it right and not have to worry about either dying or pulling the engine out of the bay every month to replace something is: $2050....

If your drivetrain is what you say it is...I'd run a 4.11 rear gear and plug in an A-833 OD floor shift tranny, change your stock cam to a slightly larger bumpstick and even just a two barrel will make everything night and day...and if you can tune it, you might even see 24 mpg or more...

We get ragged on the other boards because we 'don't have a V-8' so you'll be ragged here for tossing in a V-8...

-D.Idiot

The three on the tree is the problem, not the Slant.
Swap-in a 833 4-speed and you will have a lot more fun with the car.
DD

When I set up my '65, I made sure it would be easy to replace the \6 with a V8. All I would need to do is install a larger radiator and drop the 318 in with the proper bellhousing and motor mounts (and I already have the motor mounts). Everything else is all ready to go.

That everything else, is heavier T-bars, disk brakes, 4 speed, V8 center link, 8.25 axle, 5 leaf springs and sub-frame connectors.

After all of that stuff, this '65 is the best handling A-body that I have ever owned. Now I hesitate to wreck that balance with a larger engine.

I never noticed that !! The Petersons "Complete book of Engine swapping No. 4" calls out the same PN 2260609 for the K member on sixes and small block v8s.

Welly saved you a little bit of work and money on the conversion.

Ok OK wait wait wait,

So your telling me that the /6 is reliable, AND can house some power?? What should I do first?? The thing is absolutely GUTLESS!!
And about that 833 o-drive trans. Will it bolt right up, or will I have to change the trans mount? Will it bolt to the back of the /6??
Wow, this is cool!!

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Hellbent Rods & Custom fabs

I noticed that above you did not mention that you have upgraded the carb,if your looking for v-8 power and is reliable look into clifford performance,get a 4 bbl set up and dutra duals bigger cam and do some head work,of if thats not enough do a turbo.if you want something fast and reliable upgrade the slant you wont be dissapointed!

I think I need to find a 225 /6. Right now I'm running the smaller 170.

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Hellbent Rods & Custom fabs

170 in stock form are "gutless"
They don't have enough stroke and cubes to have good low speed power and the cam and carb limits the top RPM to 4000 or or so.

I have run 170s with a mild cam and 2bbl Super Six and they would really rev. Put that in front of a 4-speed and some 3.55 rear gears and it's pretty slick.