Technical Troubles putting a 350 SBC into a 1947 Chevrolet

You should already have your clutch & brake pedals in the car. Just add a dual master cylinder. If you're going to move your pedals from the floor to the firewall then that is a different story.
https://butchscoolstuff.com/eng-trans-mounting-kits/ Butch's can probably help you with your engine & trans. mounts. I used his engine mounts in my 39 Chevy because they just drop over your frame rail. You can then drill & bolt them in or weld them along the edges. I used a non-power master cylinder for my 39 that way I didn't have a big power booster taking up half my firewall. I used 57 Chevy ram horn exhaust manifolds that dumped straight down. I had to heat & dimple the firewall so my HEI distributor would fit. I used Borgenson U-joints on mine. I had a Mustang II rack on mine, but you can still figure out how you need to configure your steering. Have your steering column installed through the firewall & bolted in. I used a mustang II type rag-joint at the steering rack & a regular Borgenson splined joint attached to the end of the steering column. From there you need to measure the distance between the two joints. Depending on your angles you'll have to figure out what type of shafts or joints needed. A salesperson from Borgenson can help you. You do need to have your engine installed, your radiator installed, your spark plugs installed in the block, & your exhaust manifolds installed. Your exhaust manifolds & your steering joint connections are your two last few things you will need to do before you take your car back apart for paint & prep. If you're going to use the stock floor pedals you'll only need a a dual master cylinder like mustang II or a Corvette. Chassis Engineering has a kit I believe to mount the master cyl. to the stock pedals. If your going to use a firewall mounted set of pedals you need several things. 1. You will a 3/8" or so steel piece of metal to weld to your firewall on the inside under your dash to strengthen your firewall area from flexing. You can probably buy a set of dual pedals from a dozen dealers of hot rod parts or take a trip to a U-Pick Junk Yard & just check out what is out there. Make sure you take a tape measure. I was lucky enough to buy a junked 77 Mustang II for $100. Of course this was 30 years ago. I got the front rack, & cross member, the pedals, the master cyl., & the hand brake & cables off of it to use, then I scrapped the rest for $75 so my total cost was $25 for all the items I used. There are a lot of guys these days that just buy all the stuff from a catalog & have it shipped to them. It's your time, money & choice. I'd recommend going to a lot of cruises, car shows & any NSRA, or Goodguys events you can before you get serious. At the big events like the NSRA- Goodguys pick up all the free catalogs from vendors you might need supplies from. If you get there early in the morning before the crowds you can pick the reps. brains, but I'd only do that after you have been around looking at cars similar to yours. I'd say 40-48 Chevy cars would be the main ones to look at. Take a lot of pictures if their hoods are opened, see the placement of the engine, radiator, fan shroud, exhaust manifolds, steering column, u-joints, & master cylinder/ booster. Take a picture up under the front of the grill to see how the engine sets in the frame, move around to the side & take pictures there. You want to see how his transmission is supported & mounted. Then move to the back & see how his exhaust flows from the engine out to the back. Is it tucked up tight against the frame/ floorpan, or is it hanging way down. Remember you're looking for things you want to duplicate, & things you want to stay away from. If the owner is nearby after you have taken a dozen pictures or so, he is going to be wondering what you're doing. Ask him if he is the owner, and if he would mind answering some questions you have. Most hot rodders are very open to helping a novice out, because that keeps our sport alive. Take notes on a little pocket size notebook. Remember that each person that has a car that is in the age range of yours may have done his car differently. Once you get a couple dozen pictures of cars that you liked, lay them out (I used poster board) & used double-sided tape to mount them all together. I looked at each one & tried to figure out what was going to work for me. Then I used a red magic marker & circled the one I thought was best. I enlarged that picture so I could see everything better & started to work getting everything needed for the job. Keep all the picture you took of 46-48 Chevies like yours as you might find other things you like about their cars. Hidden hinges, or replacing hinge pins on your current hinges, antenna mounting placement, different taillights, etc. Good luck

 

Thank you xhotrodder for that very helpful text you wrote!

My car comes out of the bodyshop after 2.5 years... so I will now start with the engines final position.
I found a good set of tri-five headers and cleaned the engine inside & outside... painted with motor enamel and gave that oil-pan a fun-finish because the surface was so wavy that a uni-color let it look like sprayd over junk. So I decided to do that fun-painting - working like a came-foiling on that test-prototype cars you sometimes see on road-test.
I also got a be-cool radiator from a friend and a second set of bolt-on engine-brackets for backup and many other parts...

I will report how everything worked out.

Some pictures:

 

I know this is an old thread but here's what I did just recently. Had a customer with the 48 Chevy sedan with the 216 and I converted it to an automatic for him and open Drive. Well he blew up the six. So I just put a V8 in and since the transmission was already mounted I didn't want to move it around anywhere or lengthen or shorten the drive shaft. I used a Hurst style front mount and chopped the steering column tube off to gain some clearance. Had to make a header for the driver side and I used some accel short spark plugs for the middle 2 cylinders.

 

Yep, my '46 ran Patriot fenderwell headers with no fitment issues....did the side exhausts...very
simple and easy...

 

this is one in a 40-similar front end (narrow). Height of the motor is the big deal, most sit too low and that causes the clearance issue. This one used a stock tilt column with u joints to a mustang 2 rack/pinion. Note that the ujoints aren't straight, they curve to get more clearance, but there is a limit to just how far they can go. 2 1/2 rams.

 

Are you running auto or manual trans? How did you set up your brake pedal situation? I have a 48 fleetmaster?

 

Mine was an automatic in the '48 Stylemaster.

 

I built a 47 Aero Sedan back in the early 90's with a 350 and a turbo 400 tranny. Used a steering column out of a 80's Chevy Van and ran the stock rear dump exhaust manifolds with the master cylinder under the floor. I had the off topic M-II. I encountered no clearance problems. I didn't move the firewall or do any other modifications to the frame.

 

Thank you all for your replies!!!

I decided to sell my Aerosedan... spent over 12K in Bodywork, but did not found more than 6 days within 2 years working on it... so that is a never ending story. Makes me sad! So it has to go - but will definitely look for omething conplete driveable to cruise and take care of. But restoring frame-off will ot happen again.

If someone is interested - rockinroller@gmx.de

Greetings
Oliver (Berlin/Germany)

 

When in doubt, stick with a six! 235 is an easy way to go for better reliability over the 216. And it shoehorns in readily.

 

Is there room to raise the engine and transmission slightly ? Maybe some spacers on the engine mount and trans mount? If you raise it, often that opens up more room for the exhausts. Also, did you set the drive shaft angle properly when you installed it?

 

I let the engine installed by a professional... I hope he does it right...

 

Was there a swap meet in Jackson to ? Coming home last night I was following a truck with shoebox ford parts in it. Cheers

 

Used CE engine mounts and 2" rams horns with 2" pipes snaked around the stock steering on my 47, was'nt too hard. !