5.7l into 69 RR - short block or full assembly

[fowens]

I have decided that I'm going to do the swap with a 5.7l into the 69 RR that I have, replacing a 383/727.

I have planned on trying to get as much as possible, with your suggestions, from the original engine i.e. wiring harness, computer, etc.

But, when reading through another thread, the original poster asked a good questions about just getting a short block 5.7 and building it up from there and the cost of that vs getting as much as possible.

My situation is where I can get the parts at cost (family discount) from the parts store as they're a distributor in town. Which would be a better/cheaper route to go?

-Floyd

 

[kb67mopar]

That is probably a hard question to answer without doing the home work and digging up parts prices. I would venture a guess that building a used long block with machine work and parts is probably going to cost similar to buying a used running engine. The difference will be that one will be all new and the other with miles on it. It depends on why the long block was decommissioned in the first place. Will it need a crank, rods, pistons? Will you just do a hone job and re-ring the stock pistons? Will you be putting a different cam in, doing a head rebuild with new springs and seals?

I haven't looked at a complete rebuild kit lately but I recall them being around 1g+ for a stock style kit. So is you pay 500 for the block/heads etc and 1k for the rebuild kit plus a few hundred in machine time that would bring you up to around 1700 if I am right on pricing. You should be able to get a running engine for $1500. So its all in what you want, what you want it to do, and how you plan to use it.

Also getting one with the wiring harness and all the accessories isn't that valuable. Chances are you are going to buy a stand alone harness or other form of running it and will end up listing that for sale anyway. Accessories...well an alternator is about a $100 new maybe a touch more plus a core. So getting a core is good but you will probably end up buying a new one anyway and just saving the core charge. I'd say the most valuable components are the block, heads, timing cover...rest is pretty much going to get played with.