Technical 51 chevy v8 swap issues

Hey guys.
Some of you know that Im doing a v8 swap in my 51 styleline. Everything has been easy so far, but now i have come up to a bit of an issue.
I knew of the manifold issues. Its a tight fit but now i have a issue with the gear shifter(automatic, colum shift)
When in drive and reverse, theres no chance in hell any manifold will fit. Way to tight.

So Im thinkin the only way is to move up the gear bracket on the steering colum tube, and shorten the gear rod.

Anybody had this problem?

 

I don't know if you have the ability but maybe building a header for that side might be worth it I had to do that on a 48 Chevy a while ago. Well not the same exact situation maybe it'll give you an idea

 

Do you have any 265 manifolds as they are pretty thin

 

The pic over is when its in drive. You see its tight. Theres no chance without moving the gear longer up towards the firewall. That should be easy enough.

 

Scoot the engine/trans an inch to the right.

 

^^^^^ This

 

Chevy made a exhaust manifold about 74-85-ish that was rear dump,and fit under the spark plugs.Common on pick ups.Might offer some clearance.

 

Maybe a center dump header/ manifold like the ram horns from speedway would work

 

Hope this helps…mid 80’s gm (not sure exactly which model) manifold. Shifter housing (3speed column) was rigged internally to only activate rear shifter arm. Trans arm ( turbo 350) was modified to fit after arm was in place. I will look to see if I have any other photos that might help. My car is a Canadian Pontiac Fleetleader which has a Chev frame and body shell so should be similar to yours…cheers!

 

Some pics of my 50 Fleetline V8 swap. I have a Th350 trans and modified it just like @51pontiac did and only use the rear shifterlink. This car was a 3 speed manual from the beginning so I also made an indexplate to get the park and reverse at the right place.

 

Looks like your shifter is closer to the firewall also. Mine is further down on the steering tube.

 

Yeah maybe so. This is a 3-speed column shift. I use the stock
manual gear shifter for the autotrans.

 

I think i can move mine up, and shorten the rod. The shifter is just bolted to the steering tube. So that must work.

 

Its crowded there, and then there's the brake pedal too! My 41 chevy w sbc has the exhaust dumping in the center and then going forward and around to the passenger side for a 2 into 1. All in 2 1/2".

Chris

 

Here is my new setup. It may give you ideas as well regarding shortening the shaft and adapting. I did some off topic stuff to the front end and brakes so had to change from the previous setup. It uses the one shifter arm only mounted to a shortened shaft. Still need to add the index plate like Orn. Hope this gives you some ideas.

 

You will probably need to clean everything up (which I’m guessing you don’t want to do) and make a different lever closer to the firewall. You can bend a new one or weld on to what you have. The under exhaust manifold will help too, not the 55-56.

 

Oh, i will clean up everything. Just have to think a bit on this.

what i dont know a lot about is manifolds, and witch year have different types.

 

Take a look at a Dorman Products 674-537. Summit Racing sells them as do many others.It puts much of the manifold below the spark plug.Most manifolds will stand a little clearance grinding if they are close to what you need.

 

one thing to know when using a rear dump exhaust manifold as suggested above is that there are rear dump manifolds where the stock brake pedal hits the manifold before the pedal is fully compressed. 1970 or so Chevrolet truck as I recall. my old V8 49 sedan was like this, the guy I bought it from was a mechanic at a dealership, and told me the brakes "did not work well after the swap"... he just drove it anyway. I fixed it with Sanderson headers made for these cars.

in your particular case I think you have the best idea of just moving the shifter to where it works. are you running a turbo 350? powerglide shifter may not work.

 

im doing a alu powerglide.
this was a orginal powerglide car.
I think the best way as of now is move up the shifter assy and use manifolds that have a offset dump, not center and not rear but in the middle of those two. Probably 265 manifolds

 

265 manifolds exit near the front of the engine kind of between the front two exhaust ports. The other manifolds talked about exit between the two rear ports. The 265 are popular since they allow more clearance where it is already tight with the steering box.

But I think just cutting and shortening your shift rod and mounting it higher up the column should provide the clearance you need. Then just find some manifolds like discussed with exit in front of the rear port.

 

The manifold shown on my car cleared everything nicely, original steering, brake pedal etc. I did a lot of trial and error fitting to find one that worked way back in 1991. I will see if I can get any numbers of of it to better identify it. I seem to recall it was a mid eighties 305 manifold out of a Monte Carlo or similar but my memory is fuzzy on that detail.

 

I’m with alchemy,,,,move the engine over .
Mopar did that for years,,,,at least in the muscle car era ,,,it gave clearance for the steering box .

Tommy

 

Ok…found the info. Part number is 471539 LH from 1979 Monte Carlo, Cutlass etc. with a 305. Hope this helps…Cheers

 

Moving the motor over isn’t necessary. Depending on the heater style of his car he may not have room to move it unless he removes the heater. The manifold I posted above clears everything nicely and is readily available.

 

That looks right. Is the dip stick in the way of the outlet?

 

Moving the engine over is not going to happen. No need to open that can of worms. Its way easyer to modify the shifter and find the right exhaust.

 

I have the dipstick running up between the manifold and head. It is a tight opening but does fit. It does not interfere with the outlet at all.

 

Thanks a bunch!
This will fit.