Dodge Small Block Swap

[Tonka Toy]

IT LIVES!!! Well,.. sorta.

Over the past couple of weeks I've taken what little time I've had to triple check my wiring job and clean up little things. This was mainly due to the fact that it got moved out of the garage temporarily. And the weather wasn't so friendly during that time. So tonight I got it pushed back inside and I got to work.

To start with, I need for it to move under it's own power before going to get new pipes on it. Without much trouble I was able to use the exhaust that's currently in place. I only had to add an 18" long flex pipe on the driver's side to get the pipe to clear the starter. It's rather leaky, but I've often wondered what a 360 would sound like through 40 series Flowmasters. I'll soon know.

I had to replace the lower radiator hose, mainly because I shortened the original too much. Wasn't sealing. Then I added fluids, buttoned up a couple of loose ends, and got to cranking. She fires right off once she gets fuel. But so far, I haven't had much luck with the stock pump. It ran fine a few months ago, but it may have gone south. Doesn't seem to draw well enough, even when we went from a fresh can of gas in front of the truck. (I tried both lines, the white and black, since I couldn't remember which one was vent and which was fuel feed, and found it may be too low to draw any fuel. So we switched to a fresh can, and no luck. )

So I'll probably replace that tomorrow. Thought of going electric, but it depends upon price I guess. I'd like to go GM TBI eventually, but for now, simple is good and functional is better. My only other problem was with one wire. I had a wire going from the S terminal on the Ford solenoid, as the full power jumper wire to bypass the ballast resistor during cranking. Well, it didn't like that. Accessory was crank and it wouldn't stop cranking. After removing that, it seemed to work fine. I won't know yet if I'm charging properly or not. Got to get it to stay running. Some timing tweaks will also be in order. The PO's were appearantly trying to get it to "run right", not knowing the timing chain was causing the problem.

Tomorrow,... the battle continues.

[Tonka Toy]

She's a driver now! Well, at least I moves under it's own power.

I posted an update the other day, but I have yet to see it since. So I'll try again. After sitting outside a couple of weeks due to needed garage space for a furniture project, I got it back inside this last weekend. During it's outside time I did get the exhaust rigged up. Good enough to get to the muffler shop without a ticket.

She didn't want to run due to a lack of good fuel pressure. Once I got the new mechanical fuel pump on, she took right off. It still runs a little uneven, but I'll keep plugging away at that. Found my carb wasn't terribly tight, that helped. I think my plugs may be a little fouled now too, with all of the raw fuel we poured down the carb, it wouldn't surprise me. Timing is set to ear until I find my timing light.

Then, once the transmission was full of oil, I backed it out of the garage. Shift kit is a little stiff I think. Really jumps into gear. Once I have the new pipes on it. I'll take it by the transmission shop that built it for some adjusting to the pressure rod and such. I added an aftermarket gauge cluster with a mechanical water temperature, oil pressure and voltmeter. Still have to wire up the volt meter, but the other two are in. Temp hovered around 180 to 190 sitting in the driveway. I installed the oil pressure gauge late sunday night, so I didn't get to test it out. I'll see what it has when I start it again.

Now for a question; I have to figure out if I need to connect a certain wire, and if it's negative or positive. The said wire is found in the firewall connector that had the ammeter wires in it. The wire in question looks like it went to the coil, but I don't know which side (assuming positive). The circuit number is faded and illegible. Here's a couple of pictures:

This first one shows you some of the circuits. The ammeter gauge went through here. The white wire is the starter activation wire from the ignition switch.


The circuit in question is the one wire that comes from the space with two wires in it, in the upper left of the block. One of which was cut out already.


Here's the ends. One for the oil pressure, one for the water temperature, and the one to the coil,.. or so I believe.


The major component left for me is the throttle linkage assembly. The van set-up was designed for forward pull. The truck is opposite. I could have rigged the throttle cable, but the bellcrank assembly for the pressure rod to the transmission wouldn't work. so for now, I'm only idling in and out of the garage. Later this week I hope to see if it barks the tires when it shifts.
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[Tonka Toy]

She's roadworthy!

After my last post, I got the throttle linkage installed and rigged up a throttle cable. Not pretty, but it works. I found my timing light and tried to get things set, but it's running too badly. Figured out it has a vacuum leak at the base of the carb, even with the new base gasket. All surfaces are perfectly clean and flat. So then I thought it would be the gasket between the baseplate and the main body of the carb. I decided to get a carb kit and tackle that later. I was also having an issue with the ballast resistor getting hot, so I bypassed it and used the good coil from the 345. Runs much better now. I may have to make this a permanent retrofit.

At that point I put it outside for the week while at work. Saturday morning I went out and got her going without much trouble, all things considered. With tools in hand, my son and I ventured out on the town. We stopped to get the carb kit (Have I mentioned lately how much I'm loving my local NAPA? They have yet to not have a part in stock.), then down the main boulevard to a tire store to score a couple of used tires. After that, drove home with no other issues. Probably 15 miles in town with stop and go, and a couple of runs up to about 45 mph. It runs about 175 degrees steady (45 ambient), and 40-50 pounds of oil pressure. Now if I could only get rid of the vacuum leaks. I'll check the brake booster tomorrow, though I don't think it's bad. It's starting to wear on my though.

Then after I got home, is where things went a little awry. After I kitted the carb (Holley 2210) and got it back on, it started pouring gas out the bowl vent. I debated on adjusting the float,.. next time I'll leave it alone. After an adjustment, the starter just locked up. Funny, didn't sound bad. There was no coaxing it with a hammer either. It was done. At the parts store, it started puking a nice stream of sparks on the test bench. With the replacement in, it cranks a bit faster now. Who'd a thunk it? What's really odd about this also, is that for as long as I can recall, my Dodge products have only died in my driveway or at the parts store. The pattern continues.

Anyway, the fuel problem persisted, so I resorted to plan B. The other 360 that I have has a nearly identical carb, and it ran smooth as a Swiss watch, so I stole it. Not sure it runs much better though. Didn't get to dig into it, since it was getting late. I even got a nice backfire through the carb, so I'm going to look at the ECM magnetic pick-up in the distributor. Maybe my air gap is off or something? Still sorting through it. One thing that driving a Mercedes diesel car for nearly 5 years will do for a guy is, pile lots of dust on the brain files regarding tuning an engine. Man, my books are getting a workout!

I also took a chance and hooked that wire I mentioned earlier to the positive side of the coil. No ill effects. In high range the transmission shifts great. I'll need to be cautious of the firm shifts in low range only, for now. And the biggest surprise of all: After nearly nine years of ownership, my gas gauge seems to now be working. That in and of itself may have made all of this work worth it.

[Kickerofasses]

Nice work, I'm very jealoous. In my opinion the 360 was the best truck (gas) motors ever made. Just for reference, I've built a lot of these while restoring Ramchargers and the best fuel/air/exhaust combo I've done was a Carter AFB w/mopar orange box ignition, flame thrower coil, pretty much any decent distributor and 3" exhaust w/flowmaster 40 dumped. It got solid 15mpg, sounded like a big block and could hold it's own w/most 440's without the weight. If you come across any of this stuff it is worth the swap. A nice towing/RV cam is also a noticable difference combined w/a dual plane manifold......Jealous-

[Tonka Toy]

Well, the first week of commuting went well, but not as trouble free as anticipated. Although it never left me stranded, and I didn't have to work on it at work or on the roadside, it struggled a bit. The though I had was of a human body trying to reject a transplanted organ. But I'm tenacious, and I won't stop until this thing runs like a Swiss watch.

The "better" carb seems to have an accelerator pump issue, having a big flat spot just off idle. I tried to just run it this week in the hopes that the carb just needed some fuel ran through it. Several times of adjusting the timing and idle speed didn't net me much gain. Then I had the idea to move the accelerator pump actuation rod to the only other available slot, to change the amount of travel it has. This seemed to help with the flat spot the most. I couldn't tell you if it has more or less travel, but I believe that it helped. Time will tell. Though I have to say that I miss having the punch of those secondaries. So I may have to get either my TQ or my AFB on there soon. After I kit them first of course.

It's also backfiring up through the intake occasionally when I just rev it up in neutral, so I decided to check out the ignition. The air gap between the reluctor wheel and the pick-up was a bit tight, so I adjusted it. That seemed to help some, so I got a new pick-up and replaced it. (Might as well establish the starting point now for repairs later!) That helped even more, but it hasn't completely gone away yet. The cap, rotor and wires are all new from the PO, and show no signs of cracking or terminal corrosion. All of this is leading me to wonder if this drivability issue is what caused him to part out the motorhome in the first place. But after finding the bad timing chain, I thought that I'd found the culprit. Probably more than one problem though. But to be safe, and to get a look at them, I'll be changing out the plugs sunday afternoon. Then we will see if it gets better.

I've also noticed that it seems to start out ok, but by the time my 15 mile trip to work is over, it's struggling to idle correctly in gear, accellerate cleanly, etc. And during my 6 mile trip down the freeway, it seems as if the timing is jumping around. So I'm also wondering about the coil. Now, I'm using the IH coil without the ballast resistor. But even though it's been a good coil, it might be giving up. The outside gets warmer than I remember them being, but not so hot that you can't grab ahold of it for 10-15 seconds or so. I'll also review my wiring, in the event I've wired something wrong.

Thanks for the info Kicker! That's in the neighborhood of where I want to go. If I had the funds to do so, a rebuild with full balance job would be in order, with an Edelbrock Performer cam and intake package. (And the 406 stroker kit would be hard to avoid at that point! ) Topped by a tweaked Thermoquad, and lit with an MSD system. I'm debating about going to GM TBI on it, but I really want to stay simple with it. In fact, the MoPar ECU might go bye bye soon too. I'm leaning towards a simple points distributor with a Pertronics unit and maybe a flamethrower coil. The ability to switch to a cheap set of points to get home on is appealing to me, if I ever have an issue in the outback. I'm going with stock exhaust manifolds for now, with shorty headers later. Running them into a 3" single with a Flowmaster 70 series is the plan right now. I want flow but want to run quiet 90% of the time. The 40's I've run on the truck for years now are great fun, but too obnoxious at times. And with me working nights, I'm sure my neighbors will appreciate it too.

[Tonka Toy]

WOW!!! Has it been a while since I updated, or what? Ok then, let's get to it.

When I last updated, the truck was going through some drivability issues. First, the carb was acting as if it was in need of a rebuild. Initially I swapped one for another that I had that I thought was good, but it wasn't much different. Turns out they both needed to be rebuilt. I put a kit into one and just sprayed out passages with the carb cleaner. It was slightly better, but not "cured". So I took the other one and soaked it a while in the bucket of carb cleaner after I took it apart. That one worked even better, but I still had issues.

Then I started watching timing, and it was always off after I'd set it and drive a few days. The distributor seemed in great shape, but I'd find my air gap on the pick-up would be off. So I first tried a new pick-up, and verified to myself that it couldn't move somehow. But it still would. I began to suspect that my vacuum advance was causing the issue. Local parts stored had a replacement, but at nearly half of the price of a complete rebuilt distributor. So, I just replaced the whole thing, $65 out the door! Couldn't pass that up. It even came with a new pick-up! Cool, now I have a "known good spare" for the glove box. Then it was much better! Ah,.. good progress!

Then it started to settle down and run right, but occasionally I would have a day that it just ran like crap the whole day. It was as if I didn't let it warm up enough or whatever, it protested all day. It made running errands a pain at times. About then, my uncle, a 40 year expert mechanic, came up from Vegas for a visit. After we went over my experiences and he listened to it, he said "I have one word for this problem,... grounds". I hadn't added any grounds, and was just going from what the Scout already had. I've added ground wires to most all of my old Dodges over the years, but hadn't thought of it for the Scout. SO off to the store I went.

I added a ground wire from the mounting posts of the voltage regulator and the ignition module, over to the back of the block where the body ground ties in. This alone did wonders! I have a much larger ground strap to replace the stock ground wire there, but I haven't gotten to it yet. I'm also going to ground the battery to the core support, and go from the front of the block (where the battery cable grounds), down to the frame. Triangulate, you might say. Then I should be in good shape. And soon I hope to have a new wiring harness kit to install. And I think I'm going with the Kwiikwire kit, and adding the built in ground circuit they offer. Instead of having several grounds to worry about, run them all back to a central grounding location.

Anyway, now it has settled down and been behaving. Well enough that last week I took it to the muffler shop and got new pipes put on. (I wasn't about to leave it at a shop unless I knew it would behave for them. Didn't want them to doubt my work. LOL!) I went with a 3" single and a Magnaflow "knock off" muffler. Much quieter! I've had the Scout nearly 10 years now, (that's an amazing revelation, as I write it I can hardly believe it), and it's always had the dual Flowmaster 40 series on it, with the mufflers right under the seats (outside the framerails), and the exhaust pointing right out the side just ahead of the rear tire. Sounded good, but often not the greatest for daily driving. Now I can actually hear other things going on around me as I go down the road. I should have done that a while ago.

So that's where we are at. The 360 seems to push it down the road just fine. I can feel a loss in torque, but I expected that. But it will get up and run real well. So far I'm quite impressed! The next small expense project is the GM TBI. Going to see how a mix of GM and Dodge parts goes. LOL! Next big expense is either tires or springs. The fronts are so stiff that it hardly flexes. Losing 250 or so pounds of engine weight helped that out. And the rears are acting a bit soft now. I'll probably go with a shackle reversal, spring over, turn the knuckles, etc., when I do it. For now, it's summer time. Time to drive and enjoy.

[Tonka Toy]

Well things have gone pretty smoothly so far. I've been driving it daily with no serious problems since my last write-up. I keep playing with the carb and it gets better slowly, but I'm not concerned about perfection with it. There's a GM TBI in it's future. So as long as it's not too much of a pain to drive, I can live with it. I did drop the fuel tank and replace all of my lines and hoses when one of the vent lines started to pee onto the tailpipe. Can't have that! I also installed a new sending unit while it was out, and for the first time in ten years of ownership, the gauge works! I'm averaging about 9.5 - 10 MPG, but I do have a hard time not having my foot in it. Installing an electric fan (and removing the solid mounted one), will help too. It's on the to-do list. But my good luck ran short the other day, and now I'm puzzled and a bit pissed, to be honest. So I once again come to the panel for a consult. It's either a really bad run of replacement electronic components, or I lost a wire/wire connection somewhere. And before you ask, YES,.. I checked the green wire, AND the fuses. LOL!

On the way home the other day, it started running a bit funny. I dismissed it, mainly because with the sudden cold temps, I had the air cleaner off to do some easy tuning to the choke. It acted like I sucked in a piece of dirt into a passage, or something. I just dismissed it for the most part. The next morning, no fire. No spark at all. I took the ECM to NAPA and their machine said it was fine after 5 back-to-back tests. Ok, no prob, I know what it is, or so I thought. Replacing the pick-up in the distributor didn't help. I immediately returned it for an exchange, and the replacement for that one didn't give me spark either. I found the neutral safety relay and jumped past it with a wire, still nothing. Swapped out the coil with a known good one,.. naaahh. Tried a new ECM today and breifly got a weak spark. All of the ignition components are only a few months old, and I don't recall having much trouble with Mopar ignitions before.

So what say you? I should also add that the original wiring was hacked by the PO to install a dash mounted ignition switch. It could be something in that area, but I wouldn't think so. First of all it's been fine for a long time, and I really don't want to spend a lot of time combing through it. But it looks like that is what I will end up doing. Ultimately I'd like to gut it and install a whole new harness from Kwikwire, but I was hoping to save that for when I get the bodywork done and a nice cage built. Anyway,... thoughts?

Thanks everyone!

[ruderunner]

So you have the Mopar electronic ign? Do you have a ballast resistor? Did you bypass the IH resistor wire?

Running a ground from the engine block to the module case won't hurt

[2dafloor]

Hello

This is my first post here been trying for 2 years!

I too have a 440 in my Scout and I use the Chrysler ignition system. I have been following your build for a few years now I like small blocks as well. I think the sb/bb Chrysler's are the easiest swap in a Scout II.

SOme stuff you already done and some had been mentioned but here my take.

1. Mopar (ecu) orange box needs its own ground. I solder a wire to the case near the bolt hole and run it DIRECTLY to the battery. The insures there no off set grounding problems.

2. Mopar ignition system needs a specific TOTAL resistance. Changing or removing one part can alter this. in your case not running a ballast resistor or equal resistance wire can make the coil/ecu or pickup coil over heat and fail. Usually in that order. Other or aftermarket coils can as well.

Now that being said one other area you mention is the distributor it self could be worn. The shaft is bushed and it does wear over time. I would check this for side to side play and also for testing plug the vacuum advance so the plate does not move. If its loose it will mess up the pick up coil setting. The pick up coil is set at .008 to the reluctor tip with a brass on non metallic feeler gauge. The pick up coil should OHM out at about 800 ohms. You can google the correct specs.

Running motor the coil pos. + side should see about 6-7 volts NOT 12 volts.

The motor will run with 12 volts to the coil. It will run well but not for long the coil will over heat and performance will degrade as it gets hotter.

One really long long shot is at some point the pick up coil plug(rubber 2 prong) or aftermarket wire harness had the pick up coil wires switched so the timing will be either way way advanced or way way retarded. There is a post on www.moparts.com someplace.

Anything else I will add as I can think of it. I just redid my whole setup if you need part numbers I can whip up a list.

[Tonka Toy]

Ok, here's a summary of where I am with it. The distributor is a reman unit that came with a new pick-up in it. It's built so the pick-up can't be removed, so replacing it means pulling the whole thing. Anyway, I verified the air gap on the pick-up before installing it. I didn't notice if there is excessive play in it, but I wouldn't expect any. I haven't checked the resistance in it, but I will probably do that when I get a chance to work on it again.

As far as the ground goes, I have a ground wire from it to the engine, and from the same point it also goes to a frame ground. I wouldn't think it's a ground issue, but I can try taking it straight back to the battery and see. I learned the other day that the flat, woven wire cables make the best ground straps. I will probably replace my round shielded cables for those soon as well.

The coil is a new 12v for a non-MoPar car. I was having trouble with getting it to run right with the ballast resistor. If memory serves, the ballast was also getting hot quickly. So I bypassed it and got the higher voltage coil. Then it would run, so I left it alone. I have tried another known to be good coil with no change.

There is a fusible link that I installed. It was a part of Doug Shailor's write-up, if I remember correctly. I didn't want to put it in, because I personally hate them, but I did. By all appearances, it's not damaged, but I may just eliminate it anyway. Like I said, not a fan of them.

Anyway, I think that about covers it. I'll get a chance (hopefully) to tackle it again this weekend. Thanks guys!