would a 2012 ford mustang engine fit a 1974 dodge dart swinger?

I would rather pay the $4-$5 per gallon for gas than pay the cost of all of the parts and custom work to put a modern engine into that old of a car, and never have anything close to what I put into it in terms of value. If you got the Dodge Swinger with the inline 6 engine, it'll get you 20-24 MPG if you just kept it tuned properly.

If you drove the average 1000 miles per month, your fuel costs at an average of 20 MPG is only going to be $3000 per year at $5 per gallon. So why would you pay out a lot of money that you can NEVER recoup? Your net gain with a 3.5L HO engine is only going to be a gain of 3-6 MPG. The costs involved for a changeover are going to be in the thousands of dollars. I don't think you can drive that car long enough to recoup the cost in your lifetime.

If you drive those same amount of miles per year, at a 6 MPG gain, you would only save $400 per year at best! So if the cost of parts and labor ran you $4000 (we all know it'll be more), it would take you 10 years just to break even for the swap (that's if the car could make it another ten years driving 12000 miles per year too).

It would be a shoehorn fit even if ye had access to experts in the sort of one-off part fabrication necessary to pull off this swap. New-design engine mounts, accessory drives, radiator and air-conditioning condenser, and so forth. The second-generation Valiant/Dart was designed with a large enough engine compartment to handle a B-block V8- 373, including air-injection headers, so it is definitely possible to get the 5.0 Triton to fit the space. The V6-3.7 will definitely have enough room but also requires full-custom motor mounts and so forth; I'm not so sure about Ford's brand-new v6-3.5 EcoBoost.

Using a Ford engine will definitely force a change of gearbox. TREMEC already supports the Mustang with at least two manual gearboxes: a T-5 World Class for the V6-3.7, a T-56 for the V8-5.0. I wouldn't be too worried abot the stock 8.875" rear axle, excepting a U-joint change to accommodate the TREMEC gears (Ford and Chrysler use different output shaft interfaces on their respective gearboxes); if it can handle a 426 Hemi, it will definitely handle what a V8-5.0 or V6-3.5 EcoBoost can throw at it.

Budget? Since it's a full-custom job, it will probably cost more than the Dart is worth with the presumable A-block V8 and either New Process or TorqueFlite. Actual estimate of dollars is hard to say for the reasons previously stated.

Anything will fit with enough time and money. Since this is a TOTALLY custom job, probably nothing like it done before (at least with these specific engines) it's absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to say exactly what your costs would be. However, consider that you'd not only need an engine and transmission, but a fuel management system, possibly emissions controls (depending on where you live), and an engine management system (either a computer from the Mustang and a retrofitted wiring harness, or a standalone engine management system like a Megasquirt)

Because the engine is so new, I doubt you're honestly going to find one without going to Ford directly, so I'm not going to bother with that cost, you figure it out yourself. Let's talk just labor, are you considering having someone else install the engine for you, or do you want to tackle it yourself? Personally, if you were to do this all on your own, I'd say this is a $5-10,000 project, depending on what specific parts you go with, and where you get them.

Good luck, it's not going to be easy...

If gasoline price is the issue then it would be much easier and cheaper to do an electric car conversion. My only questions are

1 Dealer price for a brand new 2012 engine???????

2 Are you going to hack up a brand new car for this???????

3 WHY KILL A PONY FOR A DART ???????????

If you can afford the money involved in this mod, you need not worry about gasoline prices for sure

I was going to buy a modular 5.0 and upgrade my v6 3.8 1998 Mustang but at the last moment I decided that I prefer to build a 5.4 DOHC with Cobra R cylinder heads and forged internals and have the satisfaction of doing something different.People that don't have much money like me learn to be patient.

Ford modular motors are massive in size and the cost to get one and retrofit would be even more massive. I would suggest getting a GM LS motor from a truck, its much smaller externally, much cheaper and alot easier to make power out of. You can get the complete engine and overdrive trans for around 1000 bucks.

Who the **** puts a ford engine in a Dodge... Put at least a chev or a newer Dodge. If you have all the money to throw around.

Easier(not like it's easy) to swap the dodge 5.7 hemi. The Ford 5.0 coyote cylinder heads are very wide and maybe not fit in the engine bay.

Also no one swap motors to save gas because a swap(in your case) would cost like $12,000. For that amount you can buy an old civic to save gas.

Yea if they can fit a caddy motor in a chevette, then anything can be done.

If you have $50k laying around - go for it!