My Gen 3 Transplant experiance (UPDATE)9/15/19

Last year I started asking a bunch of questions here and over on "A-Bodies only", regarding the swap I planed to do. My son started to get me thinking about it when he decided to put a 5.7 in his belvedere(still in the works)

My swap started because I was tired of running strictly race fuel in my 415sb motor, I started selling off as much of my running small block to a few members here on Moparts. once all the parts were sold I then stared to buy the gen 3 parts and pieces.

what I first started with was a 2004 Durango 5.7 with a large amount of internal issues. I paid $50 dollars for the core. then I started to piece it together and one small learning issue at a time. I decided to put that motor aside and purchase a 2007 running motor(as I was told from Carolina exchange I will never due business with him again) that ended up being just a little better than the Durango core I bought. I was able to get away with a Hone job two new pistons, new bearings, oil pump, timing chain and gears and found a set of 09 heads, new Head gaskets, Prefix intake, MSD hemi 6, TTI headers, TTI motor mounts, oil filter relocation kit hoses etc..

The motor is now in the car all bolted up and almost ready to fire up. It has taken me from January till today to be with in a few days of firing up. I could have taken a week off work and completed the entire swap in one week but I have many other things going on in my life besides my car hobby.(Wife, adult children, house, job(travel) and the most important is the honey due list) so at a snails pace I am getting there.

I cant say that during this swap it has all been troublesome but there are challenges as you go. I have really read and studied the guys blogs that have already completed there swaps and believe it or not, all the different swaps in all the different cars, its all worth reading about. all the way down to radiator hose selection and thermos stat temp.

I do have some pictures of the motor on the stand and in the car that I will post so hopefully I can help someone else down the road. if I have the pictures I will post them. I have had a lot of fun with this and it was just to prove you can get a junk yard pull out motor to run good and fun doing it.

Stay tuned for some pictures

If you were to do it over again would you start with a later model? say 09 and up.
Post some pics when you can

Thank you for sharing your experiences. I would love to see some pictures if you are able.

I have a few photos on a flash drive that I need to put on a hosting site. I will get them up later this week. I was in the garage last night taking care of all the small things that have been adding up. my list is down to a few wish items and a few need to do items

UPDATE

I was able to finally fire this motor up!!

But let me tell you how important is to pack the oil pump with Assembly lube or with petroleum Jelly at oil pump install!!!!

I hand cranked this motor backwards for about two hours sucking oil in the pump to prime and then forward with no luck of priming the motor. We finally decided to force the oil in from the oil pressure gage to get oil in the top of the motor. At no point did I feel comfortable that the motor was primed enough because I could not get oil to travel thru motor by hand cranking it.

At this point I was tired, hot, and cranky(pardon the pun) so I said the hell with it. I put the plugs in it and turned the power on to the MSD6 and let it eat.

The first turn of the key it fired for about 3 seconds then stopped

The second turn of the key she fired up and ran I shut off at about 10 seconds or less with no oil pressure

The third start it fired right off and the oil pressure came on like crazy, slowly climbing to 40psi then shot to 75 psi instantly!! what a relief!!!
(I felt if I burn up the bearings it was coming out to pack the pump anyways)

I let the motor run for a little bit and it started to surge the efi was starting to learn the motor so I thought.
* the reason for surging was I had the Map sensor for the MSD6 on the back of the throttle body and the two(Fast EFI/MSD6 were fighting for dominance. I unplugged the MSD6 map sensor plug and the idle flattened right out at 850rpm

It smelled like it was fat but really it was lean due to my eyes were burning a little, I have 110 octane in the car now that is old and cant wait to get 93 in it. So I have to sort that out and that's easy with the Fast EFI.

I think my starter is getting hung up on the converter so I may need to shim it back. While I was hand cranking I also unplugged the computers and cranked by the key then back to manual and heard what sounded like the starter hanging up on the convertor and then disengage, has anyone else noticed this? not a big deal but I have never had to shim a starter on a Mopar.

I have uploaded a video to You Tube and have the link. I am so far super happy with the what I see so far and hear, the 6.1 cam is invisible to super smooth idle. Enjoy the link and I now can't wait to hook up the exhaust tie up so loose ends with wiring and take it for a ride.

I am taking a few days off to spend time with my wife as I have been in garage since Thursday night. I will also add some still pictures to this as well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FO5j4ET7Y4

Congrats on the start up, when we 1st fired up my 408G3 , we primed it thru the NPT plug above the oil filter. used a small electric pump .
Looking forward to some photos

Congrats, it sounds good. What cam do you have in it?

Ray408, thanks and that's what I did last before firing it up, some say they self prime but I was uneasy with that.

Hudson, I am running a 6.1 cam, with eagle heads, nothing fancy that's for sure and thank you

I purchased a pre-oiler and pressurized the system twice. The first time without the filter, which I won't recommend. Cost me $75 in fresh oil. It worked great and I have found other uses for it like replacing trans fluid, antifreeze and oil when they have to be removed to service a component.

What idler set up do you have there?

Looks like the Dorman AC Bypass

the Dorman AC bypass. I really think that you could do with out the bypass. looking at everything together. but its there and it works just fine.

What are the options for running just an alt and waterpump then with a truck or car acc mount?

could have not used the ac bypass and just ran the belt from alt, under water pump to crank. it can be done I have seen a picture over on the lx forum. I am not sure what other options you are referring to. you just have to have preload on the pull tensioner to keep the belt in contact with all pulleys.
did that answer your question.

that photo would be helpful. Without one sitting in my shop I don't can't mess around with belt routes to see what interferes as you remove accessories.

to mess with Belt routing all you need is a long piece of string. keep in mind the crank rotates clockwise and the water pump is counter clockwise, the alternator is clockwise. I found all this on Google. find the belt routing for the year and make the motor came out of and go from there. I tried at least 5 different belts until I found the correct length. It helps to have a second person to move the tensioner to half way position while messing with the rope or string.

09 car routing

05 Ram

UPDATE!!!!!

A video around the neighborhood from Sunday 9/15/19. I got into it a few times but never to the floor or into third gear under load. it sure is fun to drive and my gas gauge never moved(well very little). ran at the highest of 203 but steady at 190-193. I feel its a little hot but normal for a hemi. great oil pressure very good idle and street manors for sure. I have only run the startup tune that was in the MSD profile so I don't have the rev limit set(its low) and we were playing with the fuel tables while driving around yesterday. I hope the google link works.




Did I say it was fun to drive it?? oh and it rotates the 28x10.5w slicks very easy from a dig.




https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Yw43PrjyU_1-w8jNXWykMq_ptMbXtcVe




I would do this over and over again. what a fun time, I am actually enjoying looking at the car again.

Will this see any track time
if you had to guess what kinda power you think it’s making

Very nice. I bet it’s a fantastic feeling to get it out and drive it!

03Heavy, I am not sure if this will ever get back to the track. I am really thinking about selling it in the spring or maybe sooner. I would guess its making 400hp and I would hope to think its runs mid 11's I will be happy with what ever it runs if it gets back to the track.
I am waiting for my brother to get his car back together and see if he will do a run on the street. his car runs 11.30 every day all day. so if I keep up with him or beat him I know where I am at. It feels like it should run at least that.

sycboi, Yes it does feel awesome to drive it on the street again and not see $9 fly out the exhaust every mile or so!!!

Now to start building the short block in the garage for my next step, BOOST!!!!!

what are you going to replace it with if you sell it?

I will replace with a Challenger 1320 or a 392 scat pact

We have a scat pak. Love the car
Only complaint are the glass pistons dodge used
Not much room for power improvements