engine swap

[1911a1forlife]

hello everyone! I have a 1980 W150 4x4 stepside powerwagon with a weak motor. It has a 318 with over 400,000 miles on it, which still runs real quiet however it neads a full rebuild to bring it back to decent power. My one friend knows a guy who has a 225 slant six that he is pulling out of a dart that he wants to get rid of. Im thinking about swaping out my v8 for this slant 6. Locally I priced engine rebuilds in my area and they want around $2500.00, where as this slant six is in the $300.00 range. The engine only has alittle over 43,000 miles on it as well. I cant find any 318's locally that I would trust to swap, I dont want to find out a month after the swap that I spun a bearing or something like that. I would like to know all that I would have to change to make the slant six work. My truck is a 4 speed truck so I know that I need a bell housing, were there different ones made for different gearboxes? I will probably need a different crossmember to for the motor mounts as well. Any suggestions would be much appreciated, thanks!

[Gordon Maney]

Someone else will be more qualified to comment on this, but I am thinking the 318 bellhousing also fits the slant six. We will see if someone comes along to comment on this.

That is a remarkable number of miles on that 318....

[1911a1forlife]

Thanks Gordon, i'm not sure, it could be possible that it would be interchangable, the only problem is the starter is mounted at a different spot. When the truck was purchased in 1993, it had alittle over 186,000 on it and i've put the other 250,000+ miles on it, with proper oil changes and tuneups.

[Fred_M]

There were a few bells that would interchange in the early 60's
but I don't think the newer ones will, also think truck and car bells are different in starter location.
/6 will give a noticable decrease in power from the 318.
I'd find another 318

[DODGEBOYS]

1972 to 1987 slant six bell will work / there are different sized BELL,s but that only hasta to do with clutch size / of caorse a car bell will have a smaller clutch / you will need the motor mount brackets for a truck and it,ll drop right in without problems / your power steering pump will bolt right up with the slant 6 brackets / you will need a longer slant 6 throttle cable from a truck / your original starter bolts right in the slant 6 bell

[1911a1forlife]

Thanks alot for the help guys, Fred your right about the power loss, however Im thinking since I have low gearing in my truck, i might not notice it too much. I have a friend who has a 1971 powerwagon with a slant six and it seems more peppy than mine right now. If I do persue this however, Im going to keep the 318 incase if the 6 is too weak, then I will save up money and get the motor rebuilt. The price quote for a rebuild for mine is $2500.00, as opposed to a few hundred dollars for the slant six intallation so that is why im trying to hold off as long as possible and be able to use the truck. Thanks Dodgeboys for that info on the bellhousings, that is a good starting point for me. I know of a junkyard that has some 1970's dodge pickups with slantsix's in them, i'll see if I can find one with a pulled motor to get its motor mounts. Thanks again Gordon Maney, Fred_M and Dodgeboys for the reply's.