hey guys, i got a little prob. i own an 84 ramcharger with 83,000 miles on the stock 360. it never gave me any problems till a week ago. all of a sudden, i'm losing spark in every other cylinder. basically a dead cylinder. but it seems to jump from one to another. i've gone thru and gutted all the smog on it, dont need in az. i also put a new cap and rotor, new plugs w/wiresand still the same thing. i think it might be the timingchain,but i have a 79 power wagon i bought from my auto teacher for 700.00. it has a built up 440 in it and i want to swap the two motors and trannies. how much of a problem am i looking at? my buddy,( real big chevy freak), thinks that it wont work. i've researched a little and i know that the 440 is an inch bigger than the 360. so i would have to use the tranny that came with the 440. basically i want to know if this is going to be simple or a pain in my..... i dont mind the 360, but hey i have the 440 for a reason you know? any help appreciated.

 

as for the 360, i would check the ignition module and the ballast resistor and make sure these things are ok, also i would check the coil, the weak spark is making me think coil, but anyways as for the 440, it is totally possible, Schumaker makes some conversion mounts to make it bolt up to the existing mounts on the frame, there is a detailed how-to on this on ramchargercentral.com in the how-to section, i have not done it yet, but i have seen some guys on the track with their little red express with a 440 swap and they seemed less than pleased with the new mill, the 360 weighed less and for its power level, it ran faster than the 440! i think it was somewhere in the mid to low 12's with the 360, but with tuning im sure they got the 440 down into the high 11's and low 12's, i mean come on its a 440, thats 80 more ci's! anyways, you can get some power out of that 360, but for a truck i think you will like the 440 more, the simple fact is it wil make more torque regardless. i have a hopped up 318 in my RC, you know the regular stuff edl intake, carb, cam, pocket ported heads, stock bottom end save a set of speedpros, basically a near stock rebuild, but it makes about 320 horses and 360 lbft, and with that i am still nto satisfied, it needs more low end torque! and thats where the 440 comes in, but i know you can get some pretty mean low end torque out of the 360 with some work, but if you are willing to make the swap over to the 440, you should need the transmission, new conversion mounts, engine accessories, you should get by with the wiring harness, makes sure the rear is in good shape, is this a 4x4 or 2by, dana 60's are alot stronger than 8.25's; all in all i cant see it being that hard to make the conversion, but you still ahve to deal with the suspension as the 440 is much heavier, just my 2cents....

 

this is a 4x4 version. the suspension is brand new, except for the drag link. i put the 4" rough country lift with the full spring lift on it. the motor was in a 79 power wagon i bought for 700.00 bucks from a teacher of mine. the wiring was all wired together wrong and it got hot and started burning up my wires. i ripped out the wiring and was going to buy the painless wiring kit but ran short of money. as for the 360, i was happy with it but around where i live it just wasn't cutting it. when i would tow, it would just lag down really bad. another thing though is would the transfer case from the 360 work with the 440, or just take it all out and swap?just trying to cut down some time from work.

 

from what i know on 4x4's, which isnt that much, i think the tcase should bolt up, the only thing different between the two 727s is bolt pattern, o and maybe tailshaft length but i dont think that is an issue with 4bys in fact, i have 2 bb 727s in the garage but they are from 383 cudas, anyways, the wiring needs to be done, i think the wiring harnesses should be pretty much identical, but you DO NOT want a fire so i would make sure that is in order, that 360 must be a little tired, my 318 can run down pretty much all new trucks and gives the hopped up diesels a run for their money, for me, i love big blocks! nothing beats raw power, but yes, the 440 will definitely go in with new conversion mounts but im not too sure on the tcase issue i would assume so because i dont think they have tailshafts, i believe the tcase bolts to the end of the tranny case whre the tailshaft would go, if i were you go with the 440!!! make a nice torque monster!

 

okay, i've been online looking for the schumaker motor mounts and for some stupid reason cant find anything on it. the closest i got was the mounts from mancini, and they were 132.00. i dont mind that but i want to look around for some better prices. i keep finding ones for 2wd but rarely anything for 4bys. the wiring in the ramcharger is still good, the guy i bought it from barely drove it and took real good care of it. i've looked over that part already.

 

i think the ones in mancini are it, but schumaker sells them they are listed on their site, www.engine-swaps.com, yes they are expensive but they require NO welding and no fabrication they are a basic bolt on, i got some conversion mounts for my 72 Duster and they fit beautifully, they are powdercoated and included all the harware, also, im not sure on this but if the big block is in a truck, i wouldnt be surprised if the mounts on it worked!!! check em before you buy anything im thinkin they will drop right in, not much difference in dodge trucks through out the years

 

ok, another thing to rack your brain charginram. on the 360, you think that the dist. would be out of whack and causing my cylinders to be dead in the order that its going.? i only have one constant dead cylinder all the time, the rest seem to jump all around the motor. its driving me nuts. i'm selling the motor so i want it to run normal so i get what i want for it. the reason i asked is i talked to my brother over in iraq, and he's working on the 7 tons and gun trucks, and he seems to think its the distibutor. i just dont know if its the single or dual distributor. again its a 360 (5.9L ) with the therma quad carb, in an 84 4x4. thanx man. i,ve been working on the 440 in the meantime. its almost ready to go in its new home. i'll post some pics for you.

 

ok so you prob got the same distrib. as i do on my 83, they are pretty easy to rebuild, but i would check and make sure the reluctor and the pickup in the distibutor are gapped properly, i believe you can fold a piece of paper in 2 and that dhould be the correct gapping, also i would chekc and make sure the coil is good, it could be sending out a weak spark and causing some cylinders to misfire, or, maybe you have an ecu problem, if it is not a stock one i woul check it, these things that come over form china are pieces.... by the way, i think it should sell for what you want, its not a motor problem its an electrical or carb probelm, more likely electrical, i would try a coil and maybe throw some different plugs in.... also, i ahve seen the distributor hold down on distributors come loose and allow the timing to become way off, i would def check that, i worked on a little red express 440 at the track one time and the thing was shaking like no other, misssing every which way, turns out the distributor came loose and time was way off, id do some timing adjustment before i bought a coil tho, keep me posted on how it turns out!

 

hey charginram, nother question for you. i'm selling the tranny and motor as you remember,. the question is that the tranny line was pinched on my ram charger so i leak fluid on my exhaust, can i change the tranny line from my powerwagon over to my ramcharger? would they be compatible? the powerwagon is a 79 with the 440, 904 combo. the r/c is 360,727 combo. i bought the compression fitting for it to fix the line, but have never had to put one on before. which would be easier? i would think that the fitting would be easiest. the reason for asking is that there is a guy who wants to buy my tranny and he wants to see if it slips or not. i would drive him in it, but it leaks all over my exhaust and looks like its about to blow up, and i dont want to run it out of fluid. thanx man.

 

that tranny behind the 440 has to be a 727, no big block 904 transmissions, im guessing they will prob fit, if not im sure you can cut it down or bend it to make it fit