How about a NOS Mopar crate engine from 1983?

The converter has the "High stall" tag on it like you would see used on police car converters. Also, why is the coil wire orange and all the rest black? Strange engine.
 
Leeinri said:
The converter has the "High stall" tag on it like you would see used on police car converters. Also, why is the coil wire orange and all the rest black? Strange engine.
Click to expand...

The paperwork seems to suggest it was a military spec replacement engine.
 
It is a military surplus engine.

I would bet it has a pickup oil pan on it.
I would also bet the carburetor and distributor is not for an ’83 model vehicle – but more likely a mid to late ‘70’s calibration.

$5,500! Sounds like he will be holding onto this for a while.
Drop a zero and it might sell.
BudW
 
I offered $1500.00 and they countered with 5K. I was told its the best they could do.
 
Didn't sell. Here's another body buying stuff they don't know and thinking someone will pay their price.
 
Some guys can get a bit excited at auctions. In Texas they serve booze to the bidders. Auctioneer has no money or not enough. Runs the $$ up off the bid fishing for a sucker and yep yep! Some poor guy lifts his hand not knowing he has bid against the wall and its looking like crate Hemi long block territory. I bet his stomach turned the second the auctioneer hammered sold! Now he wants someone to pay for his mistake.
 
I’ve been to a bunch of military surplus auctions.
Most of the time, all you see is a sealed crate with a bunch of numbers on it.
It will say “engine assembly”, date of manufacture, who made it (Chrysler in this case) and military part numbers (not Chrysler part numbers) – so in many cases you know what it is (an engine, in this case) but no clue as to anything else.
It might be MI Abrams tank engine for all you know (which are built by Chrysler).

I suspect he bid hoping it was something a lot different than a 318 engine.

That said, I have seen some brand new Cummins engines and International diesel engines sell for less than $1000 each. You would expect they both would be big truck engines – but in some cases – it could be an engine for a refrigerator trailer A/C unit.

If you have access to the military numbers (not easy to do) or can use the shipping weight/size of crate, you can have some idea on what you’re getting.

In this case – I don’t see there being any chance he will get $5,000 for this engine.
Might be better to bite the bullet and sell it at a more reasonable price (ie: less than he paid for it) so it can move.
BudW
 
Well it is getting closer to what someone might pay.... would look pretty cool in the engine bay of a Volare or Aspen lol. It is really cool that this thing was foam sealed in a crate all those years....
 
It would be nice to know what the reserve is.

After looking at the pictures, this engine is for a full size B-van. It will fit into any car if using a car 318 oil pan alonge with Left hand valve cover (this one has an extra port for oil fill).

The spark plug wires were made in ’83.

I’m fairly sure the carburetor and distributer are for an earlier calibration (’77 maybe?).

There is no A.I.R. ports on back side of exhaust manifolds.

Blue engine paint was last used on ’82 engines. For a production engine, made in ’83, this one should be painted black.
 
In one pic of the exhaust manifold I saw a block off plate for the air tube. I was wondering why the plug wires were black except the coil. I thought they were orange after 72 or so? Or maybe a better question is did they go back to black plug wires in the 80`s?
 
I thought I saw that cap/plug for A.I.R. when I first saw the listing. I just now went back and found it.
A.I.R. cap.jpg

I have a write up to talk about the A.I.R. ports as well as caps (once I get a chance to finish it).
I “had” a handful of that same part – but they have all disappeared. I have what I need to make some and gaskets – but hadn’t gotten that far yet.

Note: if anyone sees one of these plugs in auto salvage or online, get it! Chrysler quit selling them in ’89 or ’90. They are found more in pickups than in cars.
The gaskets for them are also hard to find – so was thinking of also making some replacement gaskets, as well (just another thing to put in my “to do” list).


I don’t know why but pretty much every Chrysler made until the mid ‘90’s, including Front Wheel Drive cars, had black plug wires and a orange coil wire.
The exception was a few performance models had all orange wires.
I do not know why.

The coil wire on my ’77 wagon is still orange.
BudW
 
I had some of those gaskets at one time. Who knows anymore. If I find them I`ll let you know.
 
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