I have finally gotten back to my gl*** "T-Tub" on a home built frame. I had a '50 Ford parts car that had a good engine, transmission, and rear-end. I have mounted the rear end and the 8BA and transmission onto the frame, and everything looks pretty good. I built a 270" Dodge powered "T-bucket" 50 years ago, and while it was a pretty good car, I found it was real cramped. So with this one, I am using a gl*** '23 Tub body, and have made sure that I will have lots of room. I took my flathead crankshafts to the machine shop last week, and am waiting on the results. I was talking to a buddy, and he asked me what I was going to do if the cranks both came back bad. I had never considered this, but it got me thinking. I have a good running 331" hemi out of a '56 truck, as well as a good 303" Olds Rocket. So we started talking about building the car so we could use any of these engines. I remember back in the '60's when Hurst offered their combination of frame adapters for different cars, paired with their front mounts for various engines. We are going to set the frame up with Speedway "Model A" frame adapters, so we can easily change engines. A little work with a tape measure showed us we will have to make the frame mounts moveable to accomodate the different engines. We are going to do this by welding 1/4" plates to the inside of the frame rails, with holes drilled and tapped in various places for each engine. The engine mounts for this are readily available for the Hemi and Olds, and I have a set of truck pumps for the flathead. The problem comes with the transmission. Although the 8BA bolts to the existing transmission, I have been looking for adapters for the Olds and Hemi. I thought they made them, but I don't think they are no longer available (at least commercially). For the Hemi, it looks like there is an adapter that will allow a SBC bellousing to be bolted to the back of the engine. Wilcap makes an adapter to put a '49-'64 Ford manual transmission to a Chevrolet small block bellhousing. I know there will be flywheel, and clutch problems, so I am asking "Has anybody done this?" If so, will it work? I can't find anything for the Olds, but I know they were once made. My other option is to try to find a '49 to early '51 Mercury transmission. I believe the rear mount is the same as the Ford transmision and I already have an adapter for the Olds, a '50 Merc bellhousing. and I know '54-'58 hemi adapters to the early Ford transmission are available. The Ford transmission I have is an overdrive, and I believe this was an option in Merc's as well, so I'd like to use one. I know the early '50's Ford stuff isn't the most robust around, but with basically stock engines and only 2000 pouds, I think they will be OK. OK, am I crazy or do you think this will work? I built the car with plenty of room for everything, so it should fit. I think it would be fun to show up at the local car show with a flathead one week, and Olds the next, and then a Hemi. Other than exhaust system, I think I can build the car with common electrical, gauge, and throttle hookups to accomodate this. Also, I am 73 years old and this will be my "Last hurrah", and I already have most of the parts I need, but not a lot of extra cash. Waddya' think? Pipe dream or a good idea?
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