Thread: 318 in 1949 Plymouth

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Hello my name is Sam Agena I'm 20 and I new to the Hot Rod picture. I recently got a 1949 Plymouth custom deluxe out of a barn and it was a roller and I have a 318 LA and I'm wanting to slid that in the car. Have any of y'all done this before if so can I get some pictures of what you guys did for engine mounts and exhaust manifolds.

Welcome to CHR, Sam! Hopefully Mike P will see your post and reply with some direction. Mike's a great vintage MOPAR source, and has done a ton of power train swaps, both his own stuff and helping others. I'm looking forward to following your build when you get into it, and we enjoy pictures of your starting point, too!

Welcome to the site Sam. The closest I’ve come to a swap like that was a 354 Spitfire (Poly) in a 49 Business coupe and that was over 50 years ago…….. details are a bit foggy.

As Roger mentioned I’ve done a few swaps over the years and every one was different. While I can’t really give you specifics for your engine/drivetrain swap maybe a few general things will help.

First is research, which sounds like where you’re at now. If you haven’t already, start with a google search. I just did one using the term 49 Plymouth 318 swap and there appears the path your on is fairly well trodden. Read everything you can lay your hands on and especially pay attention to the issues other builders have run into and see how they solved them. Chances are you will find different solutions to the same problem, just figure out what works best for you.

The next thing you need to do is figure out what you want the car to do, be a cruiser, be a drag car, something to go to cruise nights in or something to drive cross country with.

On an engine swap it generally not just an engine swap. Besides the engine you will also need to look at what transmission you’ll want to use. For the 318 there are a LOT of options but probably the easiest would a be a 904 Automatic, if you want to play with clutch linkage an A833 4 speed is a good option but there are a bunch of choices. Of course after those decisions you will likely need to also look at a rearend and gears.

Then there are the other systems you’ll need to look at like cooling, brakes, electrical etc.

Once you’ve done you’re research, you will need to honestly assess your capabilities of actually doing the work.

It’s not rocket science but it does take patience, knowledge and equipment.

There are some great builders on this site, and everyone started with their first build.

Like most here I would love to see some pictures of your project.



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