Pros and cons of a 70 K frame in a 65 B body

The main reason is to get 70-72 in frame sway bar, original is not an issue.

One of the pros is you can front hang disc brake calipers on the front of the disc without sway bar interference and safely routing your brake hoses without the hassles.

The cons, going through the trouble and expense of finding a good one.

BTW, although a 71-72 B-Body K-member will bolt to the frame rails, the 1970 B-Body K-member has the correct steering box angle that will work on your 65. There are many different K-member part numbers and a few variations among them.

Was looking at buying one from a 72 charger, do you know if that would be a problem

Moves the motor back gets more rad clearance.But also moves the trans back so cross member has to be moed.You get to use newer motor mounts also.I have polys in my 65 so I dont rip them anymore.Just scraped a complete K from a Charger that would have fit.Rocky

The swap also does a nice job of making a mess of a 4spd clutch linkage.....

Ed

Putting the 68-70 style of B body K member into a 65 makes sense if you not running a cross ram. If it is a 4 speed you will have to reconfigure the clutch linkage and pivots. 4 speed or auto you have to rework the trans mount also, not to mention shorten the driveshaft. You will be able to use the 66 up style of big block oil pan and headers.

take a look at your firewall versus a 66 up----you have a peak sticking out toward the motor and the 66 up is flat----the peak means interference with the motor if it is moved back---the peak is part of heater intake area---when i fitted a V10 to a 64 i cut the peak out so i could move the motor back, which meant i could have a radiator---drag race guys do it all the time to move the center of gravity back a couple of inches and they dont want a heater in the car anyway....bob

Ive found that even the newer pans fit the 65 K.I ran a 67 C body then went to Moroso 8 qt for the 66 up.Fits just fine.Rocky

We did the swap a few years ago in our 64 Plymouth. Later B-body headers fit, better radiator/fan clearance, firewall clearance is OK with a single 4-bbl (but not with a cross ram), but you have to flatten the pinch weld in the trans tunnel and use a BFH ( ) where the band apply piston is near the tunnel.

Not sure if the later trans crossmember will work, but I sectioned the original one and moved the "box" back to correspond to the new location. Used a cheapie late 60's trans mount instead of the more expensive early B trans mount.

Bottom:

I never changed mine as I still use the original 383 K-frame in my 63 Sport Fury. Really dont have a good pic to tell how the eng is about 1-1/2 to 2 inches more to the front with the original K-frame. Dont know it the little bit of weight transfer would help it hook better. It has pulled a best 60 of 1.50 running 10.76 on 9" slicks. Its basically an all stock suspension car with SS springs and CE 90/10 shocks up front. Ron

It seems to hook ok for what it is and have ok weight transfer. But its basically a street car I like to race a couple times a year. Ron

Thanks for all the info

Forgot to mention it is much easier to get to the four upper bellhousing bolts. Ron