I was thinking of going big block, replacing a 318 ram 1500 with a 383 original out of a 1969 super bee but removed from a 1984 custom 4x4 , Will the gears hold up until I upgrade?? How hard to change motor mounts??? Will I have problems with the linkage for the four wheel drive??? Will the tranny mounts be different???? The motor only has 25,000 miles since rebuild but I'm going to disassemble and rebuild with upgrades if needed. Would like some input from someone who changed over to big block. Still looking at all options. Will send pics soon but still not at that stage.

 

Everything is completely different, and nobody has changed over to a big block for just that reason. Build your existing motor, or better yet start with a better platform.

 

My 318 is blown. Need to find out exactly if block is cracked or salvageable. It is still in the truck. I know I want more HP. Not happy with stock performance. I do have another vehicle to drive so I,m thinking why not build my dream truck

 

Love that pic though!!!!

 

Thanks. Seriously, these trucks are a terrible performance platform. Unless you plan on spending mad ducks i'd just get a salvaged motor. They're a dime a dozen.

 

Would take some serious effort to get a big block in there. Have to fab mounts for everything... not to mention you would end up ditching the electronic controls. Depending on where you live, may not be able to get away with that....

 

You'd end up ditching literally everything. Electronics, Mounts, Tranny, driveshaft, yap yap yap. The whole show would be different. You'd be prolly well past 10k, and thats only for a budget build in my mind.

 

Yeah, but, your budgets are from a different flavor of thinkin' than what the OP probably has in mind. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you weren't correct in this case though. Friend of mine and I built a 440..... back when parts were still plentiful, and reasonably priced, and we had over 4 grand just in parts. And we didn't replace ANY of the 'hard parts' in the engine, aside from rods..... (and pistons, of course.) Reused the crank, and heads..... That does not include any of the machine work.... we did all the assembly work in my shop that I had at the time.

 

Lol you missed my meaning there. I'm saying the cheapest you prolly could get away with that swap in any incarnation is 10k. And there's a reason I have so much $$ to throw at projects, I live in a 800sqft house for just that very reason.

 

LOLOLOLOL. That works. I always find it amusing when the garage is orders of magnitude larger than the house. Been there, done that.

By the time all was said and done, and everything worked right.... (engine ran, trans shifted, gauges worked......), yeah, ten grand might be a bit conservative.