Projects Difficult Engines To Install...

A 1957 Dodge Hemi Into 1940 Ford Coupe And Used SBC Front Oil Pan Section To Fit Cross Member..(Trick Fit)...

 

Hole saw thru the inner fender was the trick of the month on it's sister Mustangs. Just get a plastic plug that fits before you bore the hole. My Boss 302 had a couple

 

You asked for stories so here is one I heard in high school. I did not see this car so I can not attest to the veracity of this story, but a guy I knew in high school told me that a couple of guys he knew put a 409 Chevy in the front of a Corvair. He said when they installed it there was not enough room between the trans tailshaft and the rearend for a driveshaft.
There......thats a story. Take with a grain of salt since it was high school kids talking.
I am waiting to read about someone putting an Allison into a Crosley....

 

Depends on the car

 

I tried getting an Allison in a Crosley once. She wasn't very cooperative, so I never tried again.

 

Looks Like Allison Finally Decided Too Cooperate..

 

Most OT crap will be a nightmare to R&R an engine. I haven’t had a HAMB friendly vehicle that was a bad install only because I would avoid to get something that would potentially be bad.
I always made sure all my projects weren’t going to cause me to throw tools.

 

How about a BMW 600 (stretched Isetta)? Over 30 inches shorter than a Crosley.

 

Worst automotive one was a 440 into a Barracuda... OT one would be a 3350 onto an AD4.

 

In the mid to late 1950s,when not knowing"You can't Do that"
There was no "Too difficult" ,only may take a little longer!
My buddy's n I would just try anything! Not every idea worked well !
With a doz. teenage car nuts* in a 6 block Sq.,we had some good thinkers,so with in a day or so,some type of idea would work!
We made some odd motor mounts an EX set ups,motor not always on dead center of car ether.
A lot of OHV -V8 into older car,came down to what could be found for free or close.
We'd put stuff together and it'd work= Happy time,no matter how goofy the EX; that could be redone if really needed later.
First test ride around the block,was often way too many guys,riding along. But at least if it broke,lots to help push home.

Bob got a Henry J,and a SBC in 68 when he was still in the Navy in Tex. ,no, was no kits too add SBC too a "J" even by then, just make our own stuff,like all the times before [wish I had pic's of the may others ,so enjoy this set]

 

Putting an FE in a 62-65 Fairlane. Cutting/ welding the towers and engine mounts is the easy part. The lower firewall and transmission tunnel aren't that hard to modify for clearance, the engine is a tight drop in however fitting tube headers is a PITA!. A size 10 foot in a size 8 shoe. These unibodies were originally designed for SBFs, not FEs.

 

About 25yrs ago I worked for a little hot rod shop that was tasked to put a blown BBC/PG/9" into a showroom clean Nash Metropolitan without disturbing the exterior paint.

 

That has to be the little yellow & white one I used to always see doing burnouts in the parking lot after LSRU. There cant be more than one mint condition blown bbc Nash Metro right...? @TexasHardcore

 

Hmmm, not sure. This one was black and silver, I remember it being owned by a doctor. It went out for upholstery after we got done with it and I never heard anything about it since then. That yellow & white one is pretty bitchin, but I've never seen it up close.

 

Most HAMB friendly rides are fairly easy the 1st time. You cut out everything that is in the way, install the motor & trans, then build it back around the motor. Any motor will fit anywhere if you're willing to build enough of it back to make it work. You might never do it again, but that is a different story.

Its after it has been done and you have to change the motor that becomes difficult. That is when you find out you should have done somethings differently then you did. Cutting up, then fixing an existing car can get very hard.

As far as factory stuff was concerned, those 60s & 70s performance cars could be really hard, or really easy, or anyplace between. Headers often made the easy jobs hard. All of the car companies built something that was just flat stupid, then we (the hot rod guys) just had to add headers that made things even more difficult.

 

Hot Rod Magazine Tried A Number Of Engines In the New Nova...

 

Lou
For any real Chevy II fan that is the big bang!

 

I'll preface my comments with this. There is a lot more to an effective engine swap than just physically sticking the engine in the car. I've seen plenty of people who will say that an engine swap is easy, then see the car that barely runs, runs hot, has fitment issues, butchered exhaust, etc., just to make it sort-of work. A proper engine swap (meaning engine from a engine family that did not come in a given chassis from the factory), is one that works as well or better than the factory equipment, is serviceable, reliable, and does not need to be constantly messed with.

I've participated in a couple very difficult engine swaps, albeit ones that would be easier now with more knowledge, more aftermarket support, and more monetary resources.

The 383 Chrysler in my 57 Ford was a tough engine swap, especially since I was 19 and didn't know what the hell I was doing. There were numerous issues with this swap:
-the width of the engine caused clearance concerns with the exhaust and the upper control arms
-the center sump oil pan was in direct conflict with the chassis crossmember that cuts through the engine compartment
-the massive 727 transmission would not fit under the factory trans tunnel
-the length of the engine would not permit the use of the factory radiator and mechanical fan.

I fabricated motor mounts off the cast ears of the block where the factory mounts went and made a sort of Hurst mount on either side of the chassis. I was able to modify the factory transmission crossmember to work with the 727. I cut and raised the trans tunnel to accommodate the 727. I also made the oil pan, which I needed a front sump, by taking the flange of the B/RB and grafting in the sump of the Y block, and filling the middle of the two. Then I TIG welded it all together. The pickup in the 383 is a 3/8 NPT thread from the factory. So to get the appropriate pattern, I used black pipe fittings with a 45 degree female to female coupler, and made a 2 piece pickup tube that was clearance for the crank. It has worked flawlessly all of these years. However, if I were to do it again, I'd either modify the chassis to fit a different oil pan, or run a very rear sump pan now available through Milodon. I could then run an external oil pickup. That's probably $800 of aftermarket parts, but would have made for a cleaner installation with a lot less work.

BTW, that car is currently For Sale!!!!
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...-300-2-door-sedan-the-pearl-necklace.1300990/

Also, the SBC in my 61 Super 88 was an extremely difficult engine swap, because of how radically different the engine mounting is from the Olds to the Chevy. Several other factors added to the complexity of that swap, including the car being on air and having little/no ground clearance, having a complete belt drive with AC compressor, PS pump, etc. The transmission crossmember was almost 6 feet long, and the engine mounts were a combination of modified 57 Chevy mounts, and a Howe mid-mount. I documented a lot of the build here. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-consolation-prize-61-olds-super-88.1267254/

People crack me up when they say that I took the easy way out by putting a SBC in that car. The easy way out would have been to use the 394 since GM already did all of the engineering for me. Anyone that can put an engine in a car and make it look factory has my respect. Its not as easy as it often looks, and a lot of work goes into making it look like it was easy.

 

Billy
In the early seventies I hung with a group of Ford drag racers and they often took leftover engine pieces from Dennys' race cars, also worked at a machine shop that did work for Aldridge Automotive, always liked it when his wife came to get parts!
I seem to recall a Sunbeam Tiger that had a Boss ?351? in it that they put together for a customer, couldn't use the hood on it, it came with a 260 originally.
I also worked at a local Ford dealership, the owner had a Boss 351 mu$!@n& with a 2x4/ 427 in it, son had a new Boss 429 car, those two running side/side was a trip.

 

Had mine out a couple times over the years and it’s not really a big deal. Headers go on afterwards and they slip together. I’ve only ever worked on Fords so I really don’t know anything else as far as easy installs.

 

quick-put 3 -2's on that before the chorus starts!

 

OOOF!

 

I don't want to offend the powers that be so scroll down the page to the lime green Either Honda 600 or mini that runs in the Maryhill Hillclimb every october about 5o miles from my house.
2017 Concours de Maryhill - Robert Davison (smugmug.com)

Then down this page to the picture of the red mini that is between photos of a Chevy Coe truck.
Way down past the boring stuff. 2022 Old Steel car show - Robert Davison (smugmug.com) The guy who owns the red one drives it all over the place .

 

A Ford in a Ford... how novel...

 

I'm hoping a big Oldsmobile will fit in the 57 without too much trouble

 

It’s like it was made for it!

 

283 SBC that grew to a 292 c.i. 671 supercharged blower spec motor parts in a 1940 Willys Coupe with 6 Strombergs on top and a LaSalle 3 speed transmission leading to a 56 Chevy Positraction rear axle.

Hello,

In late 1959, my brother and I started our drag racing build journey. We found a pristine 1940 Willys Coupe, stocker and towed it home. We already had modified a backyard “Rumpus Room” into a full size garage door opening in the place of a row of windows and a small door. But the new garage was sideways and we could not drive the Willys Coupe directly into the space inside.

It took several times of moving it forward and back, like parallel parking to make it fit, so we could close the garage door. Originally, we thought the overhead rafters of the newly created backyard garage was going to work with some modifications. This way, everything would be taking place in our own garage space. But, one thing we failed to notice, other than the myriad of 2x4 exposed rafters... they were not going to work even with some modifications to lift and install any motor or parts...

The closed door and the lock provided security. When we were ready to work on the Willys Coupe, we had to roll it outside onto the concrete patio portion. But, when we were getting our 283 modified motor ready for install, we had to modify our small family two car garage rafters to hold the hoist and chain pulley. But that was not the problem, we had to support the rafters so, we could lift and move the motor into place while we made everything fit. This was in one side of the small regular, direct access garage, where our dad parked his big Buick sedans.

Then, if and when we were finished, all of the supporting wooden beams had to be taken out so our dad could roll his big Buick sedans into his side of the garage, with ease and simplicity after work. So, the whole garage had to be spic and span by the time he got home. If memory serves me correctly, it was the time we started to drop in the completed 283 motor and transmission into the prepared Willys Coupe that we ran into trouble. It was in the late afternoon and close to our dad coming home from work.

The regular small two car garage had heavier duty wooden supports running all sorts of angles to support the peaked roofline. That gave us plenty of beams to select and support for extra weight with a chain pulley and what ever we were installing or removing.

In the first try at the 283 SBC motor install, we kept at it several times to make sure everything fit and would work as planned before the final bolt down. Well, we got it all installed and then our dad rolled up into the concrete patio area and was surprised we were still in “his” garage space. So, we started to clean up everything and moved his Buick in place for the next early morning drive away.

Jnaki

That first installation was the most difficult as it was a long process. But, by the time we got our new rebuild of our 283 SBC up to 292 c.i. blower spec motor and our 671 supercharger, we were old hands at it. My brother and I got it (292 671 SBC motor) installed with a minimal amount of fuss and bother. Plus, we timed it so our dad did not know our new 671 motor was installed during that day, from after school until he rolled up to an empty garage space for his special Buick sedan parking space, after work.
similar install in our 40 Willys Coupe

Note:
The removal of the old motors and installing the new ones were not difficult. It was the secure preparation and adjusting them for the safe supporting beams for the job, then removing them to be able to park two cars in a narrow garage.
purchased in 1953… as previously mentioned the car in the garage was not our dad’s 41 Buick, but looks as if it is my brother’s 51 Oldsmobile sedan. So, the timeline had to be in 1956 to late 57 before a black 58 Impala arrived to park in the left side of the small two car garage.
See the chrome roof vent of the 58 Impala squeezed into the narrow space on the left of the dark garage.

 

Welcome to my world.

 

Helped a student stuff a 440 in a 6 cyl. Dart. Fenderwell headers and 2 1/2" exhaust, welded out of bends, all the way to the rear bumper. Tight past one side of the slightly offset gas tank. Had to shim the MC to clear the headers. Sitting at an idle the car would blow smoke rings.