The time has come, and Im going to do the EFI swap in my 78 Fury. The local Ecology has half price day every Tuesday and Thursday, so I can get a complete 5.9 Magnum and A500/518 trans out the door for under $200, complete with wiring harness and computer. I am no stranger to the wiring involved. My question is the trans. I heard somewhere that the floor doesnt have to be cut to fit the OD on a late-B. I know the trans crossmember has to be modified, but what about the torsion bar crossmember? I am planning on grabbing the whole setup out of a 94 or 95 to stay OBD1. Will the A518 fit, or am I stuck with the A500? Whats everyone runing for a fuel pump. I did a search, but only came up with rather vauge (generic) information. Any Magnum swappers out there?

I did the 98 and up swap but did not change out the trans.
the people had some hammering to do but they also cut off the webbing on the trans is my understanding.
Don't think the torson bar mounts were touched.

The fuel pump can go two ways I guess.
One guy cut out the one in the tank of the donor truck and mounted that in his tank.

I chose to run the summit msd pump and the areomotive regulator. This requires a return line whereas the stock does not.

What kind of car did you swap yours into? Did you have any issues running the 3 speed trans with an OBD2 setup? Im going OBD1 in mine. Now that you mention it, I do recall reading somewhere that the casting ribs had to be ground off in a few places

We did an OBDII swap (96 318) and 518 into an 84 Ramcharger. We had lots of room. It runs great except for some noise out of the alternator bearings.

I dropped it in a 65 coronet.
Didn't use the stock computer or wiring.
Got a one off painless harness and computer running mine.

wrote up about the swap here, and the odd things I had to do, as well as the different ps pumps etc.
It has fallen off the board, but is still on the coronet registry.
http://www.dodgecoronet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9664

Not to hijack your thread, but how many of those 5.9/518 setups does ecology have? That sounds like a killer price.

518 and 500 are about the same in size externally, so you can use either one. The issue with the late b-bodies is the isolated torsion bar crossmember. I talked to one guy who did a 518 on a 73 charger, he got it to fit without modding the isolated torsion bar crossmember, but chopped the stock frame/ upper torsion bar crossmember. However since the 518 can be fit under a 71-72 B body torsion bar crossmember with some trimming of the ribs on the transmission, it's possible you may be able to get the 518 to squeeze between the upper torsion bar crossmember and the lower isolated torsion bar crossmember. On mine I am very much considering relocating the torsion bar hex sockets to the upper torsion bar crossmember and junking that isolated torsion bar crossmember. This will require going to teh 72 and prior t-bars but will get that pesky isolated t-bar crossmember out of the way and will allow me to install frame connectors.

By the way, thanks for the replies. I figured people would call me crazy for wanting to do this swap to an old 78 Fury Anyway, I guess Ill know for sure when its all mocked up

yup... youre crazy; K.I.S.S. (and carbureted)

Is the swap really not worth it? Im just looking for a little extra reliability, driveability, and maybe a hair better economy

The local Ecology has half price day every Tuesday and Thursday, so I can get a complete 5.9 Magnum and A500/518 trans out the door for under $200, complete with wiring harness and computer.

Seriously? Half price days are few and far between around here, and even with it, by the time you add core charges and environmental fees, you'd be lucky to get 'out the door' for less than $1000.

I've been wanting to do this kind of swap to my '73 4dr. If you go ahead with your swap, please be sure to document it well and post it here.

If the car is a true daily driver, I think the swap would be worth it just in the improvement in driveability. Yeah, carbs can be super tuned, but, they can't quickly adjust to environment changes. There always seems to be a compromise somewhere with a carb. The thought of being able to get in, turn the key, and GO with no fuss or muss regardless just seems so appealing.

When I eventually get to the swap, I'll probably end up buying the whole truck and stripping just what I need. I've been seeing complete trucks for less than $1500 recently.

Good luck if you decide to go for it.

Thats a good lookin wagon ya got there! But yeah, Im gonna do the swap. I just want to get as much as I can more or less figured out, and just have an idea of what mods will be required to complete it. I helped a friend of mine do a 5.9 EFI swap in his 78 LeBaron, but he kept the 904. The wiring itself wasnt bad, and we adapted a stock truck harness to the LeBaron. My only main concern is clearing the trans in the tunnel. I dont really want to do too much cutting to the floor/body.

The swap is absolutely worth it, but only all the way with the FI and overdrive. When all is said and done our swap didn't cost us anything but time as we had enough left over from the Dakota to make back what we spent. If I had any intentions of running a small block in my Barracuda convertible I'd put a Magnum/A518 in it.

if you can do it that cheap, I agree it is totally worth it.

I have spent too much on it, but I have driven more since I got it running in one month then I used to drive all year while it was carbed.

always wondered it if would start, stall or whatever when it was carbed, and only took it on short runs, and only once in a while.

With the efi, I don't even think about it. Except that I am still working out bugs. But again, mine is an aftermarket computer, not the stock one.

I was all ready to do this to my Volare; but with teh advent of La manifolds on Magnum engines I am not so sure; my 83 D 250 starts on the coldest days with less cranking than either of my 4.0L Jeeps; and that was with the old style Mopar "whiney" starter! though I have everything here I need to run factory 94 EFI on my car I like the idea of a carb, too. I have til I finish the bodywork on the Volare to decide.

Due to California smog laws I really didn't have any choice, either. It was go all the way or not at all. Now I have a chirpy alternator to deal with.......... Oh well.

I did this swap in my 67 Barracuda last year, as far as reliability, you can't beat that! quick starts and nice cruising.
I got an A-999 lock up trans wich is stronger than the usual 904 and keeping the floor shifter and linkage, so no hammering the tunnel..

THe OBDI is very easy to use with only 5 wires to connect to the computer...

Dan

sorry for the dumb question guys, but..... Can you getr a efi magnum to work with the old 4 spds. Are there years of magnum computers that dont interface with the trans? I really want a 5.9 in front of my od in the duster. Thanks

A 92-95 magnum computer will work in front of a stick, even if it's an auto trans computer.