Bruzilla
Well-Known Member
I finally got the 440/727 into my 74 Roadrunner this past weekend, and man... Mrs. Bruzilla's little boy is hurting today! That's definitely a job for the younger crowd and I'm glad my son was there to help me. 
The car was originally a 318/904 car, and I used the Schumacher Engineering A73B8 engine swap kit. I followed the instructions provided, and the modification of the small block K member is pretty straightforward and not very hard to do. The rest of the process does require some advance warning.
1. The Schumacher Engineering website mentions a lot of different oil pans. For 71-74 cars, the site "recommends" the use of the 971 oil pan. To me, "recommends" means we think this is best, but there are alternatives, like the 699 pan that was on the engine I was using. I wanted to verify if a 699 pan would work, so I checked with Schumacher and a guy named Mike told me a 971 pan is the only pan that will work without modifying it. Mike told me their website was pretty clear on this, and I told him "we recommend..." is a long ways from "this is the only pan that will work...". So bottom line, get yourself a 971 pan.
2. I had the engine fully mocked up before the install to see what needed to be removed prior to installation. We ended up having to remove the valve covers, driver's side header, and power steering pump. The passenger-side header and alternator were no issues.
3. Invest in a good engine lift. You need quite a bit of range to get the engine all the way in, and I was glad I had a very large lift to get it where it needed to go. I bought mine on Craigslist for $100, and I'm sure I'll be able to sell it to someone else once all this craziness is over.
4. I started this effort by myself, so I tied a length of rope to the end of the transmission. The rope went through the crossmember that holds the torsion bars and then back out to the front of the car, under the suspension and back to me. This rope allowed me to pull the end of the transmission upwards and get it into the crossmember without needing any second set of hands.
5. I went out and bought a new Grade 8 bolt for the passenger side mount. The one that comes with the kit fits, but when you're lowering the mount to the K member there isn't much room to fit the K member between the washers. Using a bolt that is an inch longer gave me a little wiggle room to get the mount into position correctly the first time.
All in all, this effort took about three hours to complete.
The car was originally a 318/904 car, and I used the Schumacher Engineering A73B8 engine swap kit. I followed the instructions provided, and the modification of the small block K member is pretty straightforward and not very hard to do. The rest of the process does require some advance warning.
1. The Schumacher Engineering website mentions a lot of different oil pans. For 71-74 cars, the site "recommends" the use of the 971 oil pan. To me, "recommends" means we think this is best, but there are alternatives, like the 699 pan that was on the engine I was using. I wanted to verify if a 699 pan would work, so I checked with Schumacher and a guy named Mike told me a 971 pan is the only pan that will work without modifying it. Mike told me their website was pretty clear on this, and I told him "we recommend..." is a long ways from "this is the only pan that will work...".
So bottom line, get yourself a 971 pan.2. I had the engine fully mocked up before the install to see what needed to be removed prior to installation. We ended up having to remove the valve covers, driver's side header, and power steering pump. The passenger-side header and alternator were no issues.
3. Invest in a good engine lift. You need quite a bit of range to get the engine all the way in, and I was glad I had a very large lift to get it where it needed to go. I bought mine on Craigslist for $100, and I'm sure I'll be able to sell it to someone else once all this craziness is over.
4. I started this effort by myself, so I tied a length of rope to the end of the transmission. The rope went through the crossmember that holds the torsion bars and then back out to the front of the car, under the suspension and back to me. This rope allowed me to pull the end of the transmission upwards and get it into the crossmember without needing any second set of hands.
5. I went out and bought a new Grade 8 bolt for the passenger side mount. The one that comes with the kit fits, but when you're lowering the mount to the K member there isn't much room to fit the K member between the washers. Using a bolt that is an inch longer gave me a little wiggle room to get the mount into position correctly the first time.
All in all, this effort took about three hours to complete.
Last edited:
