400 in a 64 barracuda?

Has anyone put a 383/400 into a 1964 Barracuda,how well will it fit ,what all is involved?

I bought an ex drag car years ago that was set up with a 440 in it...
It had brackets on the frame to use elephant ear mounts...
Not sure if there are any "factory" brackets available that work on the early A body K frame...but I don't think there are any...

Know a guy that has a 66 Valiant he raced with a 273. He was given a 440 smog motor so he installed it to race after he overhauled it. Could not find headers so he made stacks through the hood. Slowed the car down 2 secs. A big waste of time and money to go slower.

Can't imagine the exhaust system fitting in there very easily.

Honestly if you wanted a large cube engine it would be easier to build a 4" crank 360 instead.

There's an "Early A Body" forum here:

https://www.bigblockdart.com/

Schumacher makes engine mounts for that swap. However, as far as headers are concerned you're on your own. A custom set will probably be your only option.

There's a member here ("Gregs Dart" I think) that has a '65 Dart with a 440. I don't think it's street legal though... A long time ago one of the Mopar magazines published a good write-up on it.

EDIT: Oh, what's involved...I'd imagine that's a long list.

You want a set of the good 68-70 B body BB HP exhaust manifolds. Streetmaster used to (maybe still do) offer swap mts for this. problem area is the trans tunnell. with the 727 you MAY get by with flattening or grinding down (which is better) the pinch weld in the slope of the trans tunnel & you might even have to cut & lower it for trans fitment. Best would be to cut down a 904 & use a JB ultrabell (my plan for my upcoming 63 valiant convert/451). Alum heads/intake/radiator to reduce the front end weight. cut the sheetmetal for more side radiator exposure along with a bigger (wider) radiator. use a 67 up gas pedal/throttle cable (drill 2 new holes for it in the firewall, piece of cake) & for sure subframe connectors

If you have to ask how to do it then it probably isn't a good project for you to take on. That is a swap that most experts won't tackle unless it is a drag race car only.

???? really? i pulled the swap off in my 64 valiant using a 440 in my early 20's.. all the old timers said it wouldn't fit. i learned on the fly... it was a pure street car that i took to the track once in a while...


have to roll the lip where the firewall meets the floor pan in order to fit a 727 ... had a friend help with custom motor mounts (couldn't buy them back then) and custom headers made for it. other then that it was an easy swap. actually thought the 440 was easier to work in in that car then the 360 was...

your biggest problem will be exhaust.. no one makes headers for them. custom headers or certain manifolds milled on an angle will fit...

ofcourse if you are making it a street car you'll want to convert to disc brakes and run larger torsion bars.. at the time (early to mid 90's) there weren't a ton of choices like there are today. i went with a 383 bar figuring it was light enough to transfer weight at the track and hevy enough to make it stable on the street.. they worked well.. today i'd want a better handling car and sacrifice the track performance some and run 1 + inch bars.

www.forabodiesonly.com is a good source for info...


not hooked up in these pics but i even ran the stock heater..

never did ever get around to running it with slicks. always had to baby the hell out of it off the line with those little street radial tires..lol


https://youtu.be/DF-I09-oYO0

I rebuilt a 1961 383 motor withthe stock cast iron torqoeflyte that my customer had installed in his 1963 dart, it had a set of Hooker chassis headers in it made for that swap, they where not race headers I change the crankshaft so he could use a 1963 model aluminum push button 727 and stock converter.
I didn't make the engine mounts but we may have had to make changes to the tranny mount but that was back in the real early 1970s and I don't remember those details now.
I am building a 1965 Dart 270 back half car now that is certified to 7.50 ET with a BB in it for drag racing only, I'm waiting on a local shop to finish the fibreglass molds for the front end and doors so I can mount the motor and get headers made for it
I'm going to use a front motor plate and probably a mid plate to help stabilize the motor movement front to rear BTW, it will have a 555 C.I. B1 motor in it so it has to be done correctly and safely
On your deal if you don't have good fab skills it would be wise to find a really good shop for help on this project

I have no doubt or hesitation with my fab skills. The more information and experiences available just makes the job quicker and easier to prepare and plan for.

I had my front end converted to a coil over A arm suspension to get rid of the torsion bars for header clearances, it also has a four link coil over rear suspension for traction.
The rear wheel wells in the quarter panels had been stretch some before I bought this car, I will have to have them stretch some more to clear the 16x33x15 inch slick I want to run on this car, same thing will need to be done to the front fenders so I can put some taller front tires and rims on the car instead of the little bitty ones that they came with stock I tried to use some early V.W. bug type front tires 165x15R on some 3.5 wide front drag race rims but they hit both the front and rear of those fenders wells I may end up using some smaller, less than 26 inches tall, front drag race tires instead of the 26 inch taller ones
Lots of issues to be resolved

Love the fenderwell headers Nice little valiant too

Decades ago Herb McCandless told me that the later A body Hooker fenderwell headers (the 1&7/8 ones, #5205 iirc) will fit if you mod one tube on the pass side. Speedway mtrs has a nice kit of 1&7/8 16 ga ex pipe bends to deal with that or your local muffler shop. I'll post a pic of the streetmaster mts. Problem areas: (A) trans tunnel (b) headers (if going that route) (C) small dia front tires required with fenderwells. (D) stiffen the chassis. No issues anywhere else & lastly you would use a "center sump" pan with the idler arm indentation. I even saw a pic of one with Max Wedge manifolds & it was a RB with the higher (3/4" at at 45 angle) deck heights so I would assume those manis would fit fine on a B. They would be heavy & are $1200 at Mancini (iirc) but would flow very nice with their shape & 3" outlets & as we know headers are a pain. EDIT pic added