Hey experts, I plan on getting rid of my leaky cast iron powerglide and replacing it with a 700R4. I don't have a lift. What is the best way to do the swap? 1. Jack up the car and put it up on blocks and drop the ******. 2. Pull the engine and ****** out of the front of the car. Kelvin
A pro would just come up under the car, for me it would depend on how hard it was to get the sheet metal off.
I'd drop it from underneath the car but make sure you have a good ****** jack, a cast iron PG is a heavy SOB. Harbor Freight sells a nice ****** jack for around $300. I used it to swap out the 4L60E in my Silverado. Very sterdy and easy to manuever/adjust.
It depends on what you define as difficult. I have never had a lift, or even for that matter, for most of my life, concrete to work on. I have done swaps from the bottom, and even pulled the engine to do them. Anymore, I would just pull the front end sheetmetal off. It makes things easier in a lot of ways. A little more work, but well worth it.
Up on blocks? A buddy of mine had crashed 5 transmissions and we were getting good at replacing them. We had always used concrete blocks to get the car up high enough to work. The 6th time, we had her up and he sat on the bumper when pop, a block broke. I can only think of what would have happened if we were under it. I know that you would never use concrete blocks but had to add this post so that others might be aware.
Thanks for the replies all. Looks like I will just go in from the bottom, I can always remove a little sheet metal if I need to, as I am not in a big hurry. As far as cinder blocks are concerned -hell no! Jack stands make me nervous
The last one I pulled was on a '61 Belair. I dropped the PG out the bottom first, what a nut buster! I was parting the car out and pulled the engine after the PG was out. It just looked like a huge ordeal to yank them as one unit. You could do the same and pretty up the engine and compartment while the car is down. Bob
Just a hair off topic(?), but make sure, if you're keeping the original motor that there's bolt holes in the block to bolt up a starter. Pretty sure your current starter mounts to the bellhousing of the iron PG with 3 bolts aimed towards the back of the car. Also, Bow Tie Overdrives makes a nice bolt-in crossmember for that swap
not sure about the starter isuue for you cause my 59 has a later sbc .definately out from the bottom . 2 bolts in the center of the xframe let you remove the driveshaft once you remove the straps from the rear . i originally had the tabs on the frame lowered to where i thought it should be but recently rewelded the tabs back to the stock position and bought a ****** swap crossmember ,under a hundred from ecklers . bowtie overdrives seems to be pretty good . installed their overdrive kit and the trans shifts way better
No, I understood. I need to crawl under the car this afternoon and see, but I am 95% sure it is the original 283, so it sounds like I am going to have to mix in an engine swap when I do this. I had plans of building a 327, but I had budgeted that for a later date.
your block is drilled for a starter. Most mini sarters have dual bolt patterns, and can be adjusted for different flywheel sizes if necessary. A 700 r into an early chevy is a common swap, so with all the options, there is no need to replace the stock engine if you don't want to. You will need a 700 r crossmember. Rod and custom did an install into a 59/60 chevy within the last 2 years. If you can find that mag it might be usefull. The cover wording is "overdrive for a vintage chevy" or something to that effect.
All 283's have the block mounted starter bolt holes! 1957 was the first year of the 283, and guess what, the first year of the TURBOGLIDE. That transmission required the block mounted starter, as it was aluminum and resembled the Aluminum glide.
The Jalopy Journal
