Is it possible without a ton of work or whats it take? Any pics? My Brother in law has a 62 Valiant and he was told you have to do a bunch of cutting and get rid of the heater just to install an LA motor. I have a friend that said the early A's were made to fit a Wideblock 318. Did they only come with slants? Is any of what they say true? Id like to help him put a BB in it. I know itll have to have fenderwell headers. Any help would be Greatly Appriciated

I know they made the LA motor specifically to fit the 64ish Valiant. That included a very tight steering box clearanced driver side issue. Cant help you on the EARLY lancers.

I had a couple of them way back and iirc a BB will fit from my initial measurements. Hooker 5205/5215 fenderwells. the manual steering box mounts sideways to the frame rail. I'd say measure the heater assy & see if looks like it would be a prob. The trans tunnel MAY need a degree of modifying same as the 63-66 A's ranging from hammering and or removing the pinch weld to raising a portion of the firewall toward the top where it would hit the 727 as the firewall angles down. I think some of the front suspension parts cant hardly be found anymore.

Well Shumaker has this kit. Whats the diff between 63 and 63? What did they change?
'63-66 A-Body B/RB Conversion. Put a B/RB engine in your early A-Body! High Performance, High Strength Polyurethane spool mounts fit in place of your S6 or small block V8 biscuit mounts. Requires custom exhaust.
$195+$20 S&H.

not sure on the diff between 62 down and 63 up but I am pretty sure mt wise they're the same but I'd want to eyeball one to confirm/deny. I have a set of "streetmaster" BB to early A mtr mts but I am putting a 451 into a 65 Dart not an early(ier) one.

The kit claim 63-66. Got any pics of an empty engine bay and measurements? Thanks and goodluck with yours

My bro-in-law had a '62 Valiant back in the 60's. It was originally a 170 slant 6 with manual 3-speed, and he swapped a 318/904 into it without much effort at all. Let me know if you'd like details and I'll give him a call.

Roger

Yes please. My brother in law is 17 . He got the car for Free with title. Id like to help him get the ball rolling weather he goes big or smallblock. He said guy on the forum has a 62 Lancer and say to put a 318 in the valiant he would have to cut up engine bay and lose heater.

A BB is a lot of weight for an A, especially an early one. It would drive like a pig on the street with a heavy front and light rear. Unless its a dedicated drag car I'd stick with SB. Even as a drag car it would take lots of time and $ to get it set up to hook.

Ok, I talked to my bro-in-law. He said the part number on a '62 K-member is the same as for a '64 with a 273, so an LA engine (which his 318 was) is a bolt-in. He used 273 mounts. And I was mistaken about the trans - he used a 727, not a 904. He did have to cut the floor hump to clear that transmission. Sorry, I can't help with any BB info, but I would also lean toward a SB in that car. Good luck.

Roger

Here's my 61 Lancer with RB block in it. Things are partially apart because I'm installing roller rockers and painting the fenderwell headers. You can see the heater housing is completely gone as are the inner fenders. I'm running an econoline front axle with parallel leaf springs, still using the stock steering box. The big block fenderwell headers made for later A bodies will give you fit problems in a few areas: 1) They crowd the front wheels bad 2) They get awfully close to the outer fender 3) The turn of the collector to point back will interfere with the floor pan.

You can see the radiator is moved to the front of the radiator support, but it still allows the hood to close, although this requires hood pins because the normal hood latch mechanism and supporting steel had to be eliminated.

My car originally had a set of headers that dated back to Hayden Proffit and when they finally could be repaired no more from being so thin I tried the headers made for later A Bodies, that's how I can tell you the above fit issues. I ended up making a set for myself.

Someone already mentioned trans tunnel fit issues and they're correct. Mine is cut and enlarged to clear the torquefight, although it's not as bad a fit as the scattershield I used to run was, when the car was a 4 speed.

My car has an early Imperial rear end in it (8 3/4) with big brakes and huge axles. The rear end has lift bars attached to the top of the axle tubes and they attach to plates in the floor pan just under the rear seat cushion. This setup works well and best for me is idiot proof. The car weights 3450 pds, so it's not a lightweight.

Years (many) ago I saw a 61 Valiant near Elizabeth City, N.C. that had a 413 in it. It had been installed without cutting the inner fenders and used stock front suspension and max wedge style exhaust manifolds. The heater was eliminated as seen on mine. The car was a nightmare to drive and it was virtually impossible to change plugs. Owner kept breaking one on the driver's side because of interference with the steering box. He seldom drove it. I often wondered what became of the car.

Anyway, hope this helps with your decision.

IIRC, for a SB in a '61-63, you need to clearance the firewall to make room for the distributor.