Swapping a stroker Hemi into a Superbird: step by step with pictures!

[70Sbird]

Well... I began discussing this swap with the car's owner over a year ago now; the swap was done last fall so I finally should get off my arse and put some pictures up. I see Troy is getting pretty close to throwing wrenches around on his Daytona Hemi swap, they are predicting more cold and snow for this weekend which will likely keep me out of the garage, so here we go.....
I suppose the story actually starts a couple of years ago when I rebuilt the 440 in my Superbird and posted the progress pictures here on DC.com. The shop that built the Hemi was the same one that I got my stroker parts from (Hughes Engines) and kept a few of those pictures and showed them to the Limelight Superbird's owner. He wanted the swap done the same way (from the bottom) so he called me and asked if I would be interested in taking on the project. Somewhat hesitantly I accepted the challenge. I had never installed a Hemi into anything before, and this was a nice, painted, complete car that I also had to keep from denting or scratching in the process! I was a little nervous about the whole thing, but how hard could it really be? He had been buying parts for over a year, he wasn't in a hurry, wasn't afraid to buy the parts he needed and ended up being a great guy to work with!
Those of you that are my Facebook friends have already seen some of these, but if anyone has any questions or wants to see specific parts or pictures of the swap process just let me know, I have a TON of pictures
The first pic is of the car taken at Talladega in 2009. I took this pic out of my windshield on our parade lap. I knew the owner at that time, the car was local to me and another friend of mine put the car together after it was painted. This is exactly how the car looked when I started the swap. The next pic is of the original 440 before I started unhooking anything
The next two pictures are of the engine as I received it. One at the shop just as it was assembled, and the last one buttoned up, broken in on a run-in stand and sealed up. The carbs were on, the pan was full of oil and it was ready to final assemble and "drop in"....yeah right!

[70Sbird]

These next four pictures are of all of the parts he had accumulated for the swap, then  a big box from A&A transmission that contained a built up 727, convertor, flexplate, kickdown, linkage and all the necessary fasteners. I build my own engine "dolly" from some heavy duty casters and some scrap lumber, here the Hemi K frame is being trial fit, and finally the engine mocked up on it for the first time.

[BigBlockSam]

 

[hemi68charger]

    

[JB400]

 

[Daytona R/T SE]

 

[Mopar Nut]

Awesome!   

[FJ5WING]

Hey Scott,

Id love to see how you lifted the Birds with the noses still on. Do you have pictures you can post or forward?

I need to get this figured out before I have to decide whether or not to pull the nose or the hood.

[hemi68charger]

Hey Scott,

Id love to see how you lifted the Birds with the noses still on. Do you have pictures you can post or forward?

I need to get this figured out before I have to decide whether or not to pull the nose or the hood.

Me too.......... With my Buddy Dave and I, will think of something...... I am NOT going to take the nose off...   

[Ghoste]

Troy you must be close to that phase too.

[1974dodgecharger]

Sweet.....

[ACUDANUT]

You did not have to change K-Frames.  Very sweet looking engine. Can I have the 440 ? 

[hemi68charger]

Troy you must be close to that phase too.

Getting there. Next benchmark is getting the 727 rebuilt...... I want everything new......

[70Sbird]

Guys, Yes this was done with the nose and hood in place. and Troy I agree with everything new. This project went from an engine swap, then included the trans, full exhaust front suspension, rear springs, brakes...and the list grew and grew...
I'l put some pics up of the lifting setup I used. If it worked on a Superbird and a Hemi it will work on anything!
Ok, so I got the engine an transmission, plus a ton of parts. I began by fitting up the new steering box and mounts to the K frame. and trial fitting the accessories to the engine. Here are a couple more pics of that. The biggest problem with this whole swap was parts, wrong parts, bad parts, missing parts, and the fact that we wanted to have everything pretty much ready to swap once I got the car over here. It literally took months to get everything ready to do a couple days of work.
These pictures are trial fitting the intake heat tubes, coating the new trans with clear, fitting up the first (of 2)steering boxes and the Sector Shaft Support bearing from Firm Feel. more on that later....

[hemi68charger]

..., fitting up the first (of 2)steering boxes and the Sector Shaft Support bearing from Firm Feel. more on that later....

What is that bracket? Not familiar with that and its purpose....

[tan top]

..., fitting up the first (of 2)steering boxes and the Sector Shaft Support bearing from Firm Feel. more on that later....

What is that bracket? Not familiar with that and its purpose....

   

[70Sbird]

..., fitting up the first (of 2)steering boxes and the Sector Shaft Support bearing from Firm Feel. more on that later....

What is that bracket? Not familiar with that and its purpose....

Troy, that is a Sector Support Kit from Firm Feel Inc. Basically it attaches a bearing on a sleeve below the Pitman arm on the sector shaft of the steering box to prevent flex. The bearing is encased in a bracket that bolts through the lip of the K frame to prevent any movement in the steering from the K frame through the steering box and the Pitman arm.
Here is a link to the part:
http://www.firmfeel.com/ssk_b.html

Here is a link to a Mopar Action article on the kit:

http://www.firmfeel.com/img/Primesteer.pdf

On a Hemi K frame there is a gusset right where one of the holes for the support bracket needs to be drilled, so it can only be attached with one bolt. This K frame was perimeter welded and there are also plenty of gussets and supports around the steering box mounting pad due to design of the drivers side Hemi mount. IMO, the kit is overkill on this particular application, but on a 440 K frame it would mount better and likely provide some additional support as designed.
Here are some pics of the SSK, the last one is after everything was installed on the car and buttoned up

[70Sbird]

The Heat tubes....this was my first significant stumbling block with mixing Original (block, heads, intake) with reproduction parts – Manifolds, heat tubes, dipstick tube, choke hot air tubes, Exhaust "H" pipe etc....from at least 3 different suppliers.

I removed and blasted the manifolds then coated them with cast Iron heat paint, I  bolted them on and installed the Dipstick (another great PIA). I could then bolt up the two hot air tubes, neither one were even close to meeting their flange on the back of the intake , not to mention they interfered with the trans bell housing and a few other things...

So, out came the torch to carefully heat and twist/bend/tweak the tubes so that both flanges fit their mating surfaces and locations. All the while trying NOT to burn or overheat the back of the finished block, heads, valve covers and other pieces.

This took most of an afternoon "adjusting" a couple of parts that should have taken 15 minutes to install if the parts had been correct. Then add a few more hours to clean up the tubes,  paint and clear them appropriately and finally bolt them up.

[hemi68charger]

Here's my "fix" for the heat tubes......  

Great work there Scott............. 

[ACUDANUT]

Are heat tubes really necessary ?

[JB400]

Might help it warm up a little bit quicker, but I like a cooler intake.

[gymratt30]

Here's my "fix" for the heat tubes......  

Great work there Scott............. 

Troy, my Red Bird also has the blockoffs as you do. 

[TheAutoArchaeologist]

I've been watching this for a while.  And I talked to the owner at length up in Dubuque.  I can not wait for this to be out and about!

[Xenon]

Here's my "fix" for the heat tubes......  

Troy,
Why would you even bother to plug the holes in rear of intake if not using the tubes .....?

[70Sbird]

Here's my "fix" for the heat tubes......  

Great work there Scott.............  

Thanks Troy, the solution that you and Mike have certainly is one that I would choose. In fact on this car the heat riser is removed and I plugged the "return" hole in the exhaust pipe, so they are purely cosmetic.

The way they are designed to function is that when the engine is cold the heat riser diverts most of the exhaust from the passenger side manifold up through one of the tubes (the painted one in the pic above), it circulates through and warms the intake, then passes out the (unpainted) tube into the passenger exhaust pipe. When the heat riser warms up, the exhaust bypasses the tubes and manifold completely so the only time they are doing anything is shortly after start, even the choke is a separate circuit.
The choke is warmed via a separate pipe that passes through the same (passenger) exhaust manifold. there is a 1/4" stainless steel tube that connects the choke coil to the manifold, and another "inlet" tube connected to the other side of the internal Manifold "pipe". You can see these two smaller tubes in one of my pictures above, the "inlet" tube is open above the bellhousing, the air is sucked in there bu choke vacuum, is heated as is passes through the manifold, then is sucked past the bimodal spring in the choke housing that warm and then opens the choke.
The two sets of tubes and exhaust gasses/heat do work but IMO it would be simpler and MUCH better functioning to simply block off the intake ports and use an electric choke on a car that is not a concourse restoration. You would also eliminate a number of potential exhaust leaks.