So, I found I have acquired a 440 out of a 77' pickup and was wondering if it can be stuffed into a 93 Dakota's Engine bay with room for a brake booster and PS?
I want to put a Tremec T-56 behind it, but also want to keep the stock 4wd.
Any suggestions?

Oh ya, will it be legal with that engine also, account of emmisions?

Thanks,
S.R.

 

Legal, hell no. It is against the law to swap in a motor older than the vehicle it is going into, however its not like it hasn't been done, just not legally. Could it be done, yes. It may take a LOT of modification though. Like, the transfer case will probably not take it so STOCK 4wd won't be doable, but with enough mods, it it possible.

 

I will move this to the 1st Generation Dakota Sub-Forum. In that section we have a good FAQ2 which there are several 440 builds on the Dakota platform.

 

That would be soooooooooooo cool!!!

 

Why not sell the 440 and get yourself a 5.9, the hp is almost the same and the swap would be a lot simpler.

 

The 440 will not be stock. It will have Edelbrock performer rpm heads, cam, and Airgap intake topped with a Model 4500 Dominator 1050 cfm carb.
Edelbrock rates the top end kit @ 496HP. With tweaking the power will probably be around 500-515hp.
That's around 113% VE, 6500 max rpm,so it gives a cfm of 943 for the carb. I'll give 100 for reserve.
The 360 is a 360, with 360 cubes of potential. The 440 is 440 cubes of potential.

Which brings me to my next question:
What's the idle like with the edelbrock performer cam?

 

True to a point, while I love big blocks there is a reason they don't really make them anymore for performance application. They have found they can get almost as much power out of small blocks but with a LOT faster revs and higher revs. If you want torque a big block can't be beat, IE: drag racing, if you want speed and endurance a small block will be better suited.

Going into a Dakota will be much more cost effective if you build a small block, heck, they make stroker kits for them. You can easily get 500-600HP but able to run higher RPM's and have a faster take off, plus a large weight savings. Dropping a 440 into a Dak would be fun but a pain in the wallet, also a there would have to be custom fabing done to the truck.

If you want pure power and don't care about efficiency, the 440 can't be beat. But for almost as much power plus better on the gas tank, and better power range the small block is the way to go.

A better way to go might be to find a D150 and drop a 440 into it, much larger engine bay and you won't have to lift the engine to change the spark plugs. It will also have the wider rearend so you won't have to go custom on that, the 8 3/4 is one of the best factory rears made, because there is no way a factory dakota rear will handle the torque of a built 440, and the front diff will just melt. Plus they are CHEAP right now.

I have ridden with a few of the BB that had the Edelbrock cams, about what you would expect, a little lumpy but not bad. Put a sparkplug on the tail pipe and you could start a fire when the throttle is hit.

Whatever you do, we love pics.