wayfarer

Dan's swap is an excellent reference for anyone wanting to put a V8 in a B series.

Resurfacing is a time honored tradition but....if the new wheels are even remotely close in overall costs the new ring gear should cinch the deal.

Yup. Put them side by side on the bench and the difference in the 'hat' is obvious. I agree that it is odd, but then MaMopar did some funky stuff over the years.

Correct. 230 wheel on 230 crank. No changes to the bell If you 'cut' the center of the flywheel to make it align you will make the center very thin...have you ever seen how much damage a flywheel can do??

No. Only the flywheel is different. The Ply wheel has a deeper offset to account for the different amount of the crank flange extension. 1" for the 201-208-218 and 1.185" for everything else. This is the 3/16" cut that is required on the bell if you use the 218 wheel on a 230... The combination of deeper offset and shorter flange extension puts the ring gear back where it belongs.

All of the L6 bells interchange BUT, the flywheels are different between the 'little Plymouths' and all else. You must use a 230 flywheel on a 230engine. Good news is that 'all else' includes 25" L6 as well as the v-8.

The overall width of either B or RB, measured at the outside of the exhaust manifolds, is actually wider than a 392 Hemi at its extreme width measured at the edge of the valve covers...but yes, the LA series is usually an easy swap. The A series, like Andy's, is a close second as are the poly head Hemi engines.

You completely miss the point of buying, or even making, an adapter. If the adapter is registered to the bell then you don't have to try and juggle the 40lb iron bell over your head while you adjust the offset dowels and then the dial indicator, over and over again. Is the average guy going to get it right the first time? while lying on his back? I seriously doubt it. Maybe you're better than average. Maybe you will pull the engine and do the work on a rolling engine stand. If someone is marketing a trans adapter they really should be doing the whole job; anyone can drill holes in a drill press.

Not exactly.....bolts are never to be used for alignment because every time it is disassembled you will be re-doing your hours of work with the offset dowels. It appears that you have never tried to do this insitu. The adapter needs to have some form of registration to the bell just like the front bearing retainer registers in the bell that the trans comes from.

The trans is adapted using a steel copy of the adapter Tim Kingsbury and AOK racing made. While I have not physically inspected one of 'those' adapters, most of the 'copies' that I have seen referenced in projects do not have any means to properly register the input shaft to the crank but simply rely on the attaching bolts to get-r-done.... Although the adapter is not likely to be part of your clutch issues you should check all of the parts to see exactly what you have. Swaps are not a bad thing but when you stray from the oem engineered packages there are often unintended consequences that will dog you. As for the adapter, if the trans input is more than 0.003" (0.007"TIR) off center from the crank it will damage the front bearing.

Can you get someone to crawl under and view the workings as you manually move the clutch pedal? It sorta sounds like the PP fingers have travelled past 'center' so they won't push back.

$4500 is a pile-o-money. We don't spend that much on a Hemi build. Forged pistons should be in the $100 each range and aftermarket rods not much more so the remainder would appear to be labour. I'd like to get that shop rate.....

As noted, there are advances in material sciences since the day your engine was built and although you could mix-n-match various brands of pistons it would be foolish to do so as the actual piston weight can and will vary from source to source due to variations in the initial piston blank and subsequent machine operations. Perhaps, if you don't mind some minor imbalance, mixing would work out but, any imbalance in a rotating assembly will add odd stresses to the parts. I am reminded of a customer who had bought a 350 crate engine from his gm dealer; upon disassembly, for the purpose of verifying what he had, the off-balance was measured in ounces...not grams. So, apparently, gm didn't think an out-of-balance condition was an issue. YRMV

Looks like some real fuzzy math to me...2008 to 2021 somehow equals 1 year...? Obviously, well to me anyhow, is that the IT folks just don't bother to look at the totality of the changes they make. At least they didn't wipe our history....

....words have meaning...... but with the advent of text messaging and the decline in quality of a public education 'we' are left to guess at a lot of communications these days.

Andy, 4-bolts was standard on the smaller Plymouth engines.

The cast iron in the block hasn't changed a huge amount over the years except for what folks call hi-nickle but is/was it really some 'special formulae'? Forged pistons with low tension metric sized moly rings should go a long way to making a 150k plus mile engine. Modern oil is a major factor as would be a 'premium' filter system. Recall that some of the new light weight oil needs corresponding very tight clearances. As noted, long strokes and long rods are not adding much side loading at the piston. What are you planning to use for bearings?

The bolts 'should' go into the flywheel and then through the flange with nuts on the back side. Apparently yours have been changed to something else. Does your flywheel have a shoulder machined into the recess that hits the edge of the bolt hole? If so, this shoulder is there to engage the oem clipped head bolt to keep it from turning when the nuts are tightened. If the shoulder is there and you have a nut sitting partly on the shoulder you have a real safety concern. It might be possible to cut your bolts off so that the wheel can drop and then replace them with oem parts...assuming that the holes haven't been messed with which would then require another 'fix'.

Yeah, first thing I'd do is a Dak clip then figure out the rest. Check this thread...318 into my '50 Coronet - P15-D24 Forum - P15-D24.com and Pilot-house.com

...who says that you can't drill and tap the flange for screws? And a sleeve/spacer could be made to hold the wheel whilst inserting bolts. ...or you could buy the Suburban than I have for sale and......

Keep us posted and ask lots of questions.

A hp per inch is easy if you are doing a full rebuild. I can supply parts for that. As to weight, the 331 is not much heavier than your 25" L6.

That particular 331 is not a torque monster.......the rear should be just fine.

...and the reason for not looking at a 'newer, axle assembly? Plenty of variations to consider.

Looks like a simple swap to me. Plenty of minor details: exhaust, engine mounts, radiator hoses, electrical. None serious.