Small BLock To Big Block Swap

[ChallengerHK]

Risko,

I see that you're in NC.  I'm in Fayetteville, and there's a salvage yard near me that has a 77 Chrysler with a 440 and 727.  I had checked on the price and if I remember correctly he was going to sell me the whole setup for $150.  If you're interested PM me and I'll send you his info.

[mikerallye]

I did the swap and remember having an issue with the power steering pump hose. Ended up cutting off the small block hose and brassing on the big block fitting. I had to change the trans yoke too. Machine shop shorten my drive shaft for 50.00. You will need a smaller high torque starter. the original won't last under the header's heat, that is, if you can get it in there. Small clockable starter is the way to go. I even fabbed a heat shield over mine. The headers will burn the plug wires, so route them well. Sorry, I never liked the big block once I saw how easy my 340 is to work on. You will probably have to remove the head studs to get the headers on. So go ahead and remove them before you put the engine in. Be sure to use thread sealant on the studs or you will have water leaks. Sorry, Sorry, I just had a bad time with my 440 until I got all of the bugs worked out. I wish someone would have told me these things before I learned the hard way. Actually after I got it all sorted out, it was very reliable and required very little maintenance. And lastly, don't let some Chey mechanic build it. The guy that built my ended up with compression in the 8s and the car felt no faster than my 340. javascript:void(0);
Hyper

[MyMopar]

I did the swap too.  Went from 318 to 440.  It was fairly simple and went rather quick.  If I were to do it again, I would have built up a 340 to perform as good as the 440.
Anyway, I had a clearance issue with a flat hood and my Edelbrock Performer intake, the Holley Street Dominator intake solved that problem.
I never had any problems with the power steering pump, I'm using the stock one that came on the 318, just big block brackets.
I'd take the advice and go with larger t-bars, the .96 ones. 

[covert]

One thing I learned when I did the 400 to 440 swap was that all of the brackets I had on my 400 did not work on the 440.

The 400 (and 383) are short deck motors, and the 440 is a tall deck.  So, when you go looking for brackets, ask for 383 or 400 brackets, not only "big block" brackets. 

I originally wanted to keep my AC, and wasn't able to.  Not having the AC meant I had to swap all of the other brackets, and even had to use a different power steering pump.  It was a cascading effect.  Try and get them all at once, from a 383 or 400, all from the same year.

Cheers,
Covert
 

[Challenger6pak]

I agree with covert, especially if you have not done this conversion before, get everything at once.  The easiest way to do that is get a complete set up like HK has mentioned.  You want it to be complete with hoses, belts etc.  Even though you will change the belts and hoses it is good to see what goes where.   The hoses are different for the Challenger than they are for a full size Chrysler.  The belts will be the same and you have the correct sizes to go by.  It is just so much easier to start off this way.  You can run the 318 torsion bars with the 440.  The car will oversteer if you push it too hard into a corner.  If the car had a 340 in it from the factory it will be a little better at handling the 440.  Either way you will need to tighten up the torsion bars to raise the car. It will sit lower with the added weight of the 440.  After messing with the torsion bars you will need to check your front end allignment.  The wires that go to the alternator and temperature guage will need to be spliced and made longer.  Once you do the swap you will say.  That was easy.