Scott,
When I installed my 62 TF, the Imperial Services mount lined up great,
except the holes were off about 1/4 inch rearward on the crossmember. This
is due to the 1/4 inch thicker 727 adapter between the trans and engine. I
just drilled upward through the mount, using the crossmember holes as a
guide. I don't know the relative differences in location from the motor
mounts to the back of the block on your LA block compared to my Hemi. I
suspect this is not large, since the A block was used in the 56 Plymouth in
the same year as the last Hemi/Poly block in a Plymouth. The 56 Dodge (and
Plymouth with A engine) used a 3/4 inch thick adapter between the engine and
trans. Since the LA/TF will not have this spacer, you might expect a small
shift forward on the trans. If I had this problem, my plan was to bolt a 1/4
inch thick plate to the cross member to relocate holes for the tranny mount.
Anything up to 1 inch should be no problem.
Some people have said they have adapted the "Park" lever mechanism from some
62 - 65 Mopars to actuate the separate park cable on the early cable shifted
TFs. Some cars had a horizontally actuated lever. Only concern is in the
factory pushbutton set up, the trans could not be shifted out of neutral
until the park was disengaged. Since there is no link in a 56, you could put
the trans in Drive and apply power with park still engaged.
Hopefully, the distributor/firewall clearance should not be an issue, since
it worked in the 56 Plymouth with A block.
You can buy a cheap "Inclination angle" gage at a building supply place like
Menards or Home Depot for about 10 bucks. It is square with a round dial
with pointer. Once the engine/trans combination is in, you can measure the
angle. I wouldn't use the intake since it may not be level with anything.
Try using the bare block at the head surface, the head between the intake
and valve cover, or just the top of the valve cover. That will measure the
engine angle relative to the ground. After the drive shaft is in, measure
it. The pinion flange location may be a different height on your new 8 3/4
rear, also impacting the drive shaft angle. I measured the centerline of the
trans shafts to the mount surface on the tail housing and found the PF is
about 3/4 inch more than the 727TF, meaning the TF could be low at the tail.
I don't know what is acceptable for the angle difference between engine and
drive shaft, but the closer to zero is best for the U-joint. The tail of the
trans can be raised as required with a spacer block under the trans mount.
Don't forget to measure the pinion angle of the 8 3/4 (angle between the
spring perches and the pinion). If it is different from the original rear,
the whole assembly should have the angle corrected with tapered shims
designed for that purpose.
Dave Homstad
56 Dodge D500
-----Original Message-----
From: Forward Look Mopar Discussion List
[mailto:L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Scott H
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2004 12:29 PM
To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [FWDLK] 56 Dodge 360/727 Engine Swap
I have FINALLY decided to force myself to get back to work on my Dodge
project. First on the list is to mock up the engine and transmission mounts
and placement.
I had planned all along to use a set of factory spool mounts (from a later
model A/F body) and make brackets to hold them but this will not work. The
spool mounts drop too low and keep the engine way too high in the front.
Pictures of how it is starting fit together are at:
http://community.webshots.com/user/finadk
I am going to try a set of motor mounts from www.chassisengineeringinc.com.
They do not make and exact swap for this application and the dimensions of
the frame tabs do not match the dimensions called for on the web site (but I
have to go back and re-measure) but even it it is off a little it can be
resolved by re-drilling the mounting hole in the engine mount.
The good news is that I dont think I have to move the transmission
crossmember at all. Imperial Services makes a transmission mount that will
allow you mount a 727 TF to the existing crossmember.This mount is basically
a 56 mount with the holes re-spaced to bolt up to the 727 TF. They also told
me that they have a custom cable setup that will allow you to use the
original push buttons with a 727TF! (no park feature but the car survived
this long without it)
The placement of the engine is still a bit of a concern. As far as front to
back if looks like I have plenty of clearance but once he heater box is put
back on the firewall it may be a close fit for the distributor. I'd rather
move it forard a little because radiator clearance wont be an issue for me
as I will run an electric fan. (I saw one swap of a 318 into a 56 Plym at
Carlisile and the spacing between the fan an the radiator looked really
really close)
It does not look like the original engine was offset left to right at all
and I don't plan to offset this one unless I discover that I need clearance
for headers later on. Again I can re-drill the mount if I have to shift it a
little.
Does anyone know how much of an angle the engine should be at regarding to
how far it drops down in the back? Can I calculate the correct angle by
placing the intake manifold on a level bench and checking the angle of the
carberator base, then drop the engine to the same angle? The carb should
then be level OR am I missing something? (this way I do not have to unpack
the heads and intake and assemble them on the bare block).
Scott
1956 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer
2002 Dodge Ram Quad Cab
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