Technical Odd Engine Swaps

What are some of the more unusual engine swaps you've done, or seen over the years in attempt to be different or because it's what you had laying around? Two of the more unusual engine swaps I can think of that I've seen are a 302 GMC in a '40 Ford and a mid '50 International pick up with a slant six in it. thumbing through some of my CAR CRAFT little pages they did articles on how to put Buick nailheads in a '49-'53 Chevy or a Studebaker stuff like that.

 

I put a 472 Cadillac engine in a 47 International pickup.

 

The worst I've seen is a Flathead V-8 in a '68 Camaro....UGH!

 

If it got a motor swap at my place it got a Mopar motor. I put one in a 63 Chevy pickup, and in a Pontiac street stock car for a guy, and a few other odd ball cars over the years.

 

I put a 289 Stude in my ‘63 Avanti… is that odd enough?

 

That was an Orygun feller and one of the reasons we still have an interstate freeway draw bridge between our two states. They aint right down south, we need physical separation. I think their weed gets too wet or something. Flathead in a Camaro...

 

I believe it was 1964 or 65 I saw a flathead in a 55 Chevy in Macon, ga.. suppose that feller left Georgia and moved to orygun!

 

I had a 429 Cad engine in a 55 GMC 3/4 ton. Ive seen photos of a flattie in a 55 Chev.

 

I've seen the flathead in the '68 Camaro but not in the '55 Chevy.

And it was a '67 Camaro. https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/true-story-ford-flathead-v8-in-a-67-camaro/

 

Friend put a 354 Hemi in a ‘63ish corvette.
Lots of corvette guys told him to F-off.

I think it was a ‘63 front clip, ‘65 rear clip and on a ‘70s chassis so it’s not like he cut up a nice car.

it ended up catching on fire and that ended his enthusiasm for the HemiVette.

 

Dean Moon had a 34 Ford coupe with a Studebaker V8 in the early fifties, not long after the Studey debuted. Drove the same car for many years first with a flathead, then with the Stude. There may have been Studebaker V8s swapped into other cars but don't recall any off hand.

 

In 1969 a local guy gave me his wrecked low mile 66-67 Olds 98 with a 455/400 turbo. My daily driver was 55-56 Chevy short half ton pickup with an anemic 6 cylinder 3 speed. About 3 weeks after getting the engine & trans they were in the truck running and diving. Also used the Olds brake booster & radiator. It was lethal. Later in the year it got new chrome bumpers, grille and headlight doors, topped off with a Marina Blue paint job, black roll & pleat interior and chrome wheels. Sold it in 72 to buy a new Chevy Cheyenne Super PU.. Shortly after the sale I was told it had an encounter with something stationary. Recently found out it's in a building in a local town that the owner died and the family is just letting his cars sit. Wish I'd have been a picture guy back then.

 

I installed a 500 Cad into a 33 Pontiac. I did once pull a 351 cleveland out of 65 Chevy II I bought....

 

At the tri five nationals a few years ago, a guy had a 500 Cadillac in a '55 chevy and I also knew a guy who had one in a '63 Ford pickup.

 

Go to Bonneville and look around! Flathead V8 in an orange Mustang coupe plus lots of odd combos.

Dave

 

My brother swapped a wide block Mopar 318 into his '55 Chevy. Needed a motor, that was available for free.

 

Flathead in an early 60's Falcon Ranchero. Late model V6 into a 47 to 54 Chevy truck. Toyota YJ straight 6 into a Corvette. Honda 750 motorcycle engine into a 3/4 scale T Bucket, and it was street legal. Ardun Flathead into a Crosley. I've seen all these cars in person, except for the Corvette, I saw that online.

 

It was in ol' skool rodz like twenty years ago but I really dug the truck. 30/31 model a cc pickup with a shortened bed and a mild channel job running a slant six. Had a bunch of older finned aluminum parts on it and I believe multiple carbs. Wasn't a swap I would have done and normally groan when I see an inline six in a model a but that truck really sprung my sprocket. Supposedly got driven in anger a lot too lol

 

I have a 455 Buick in my 46 GMC.

 

3 cyl Perkins diesel in a '63 Chev 4dr
'49 Ford V8 in a Pinto
241 Dodge in a '63 Ford F-250 4x4

 

Late 70's on a Friday night a buddy and I thought about installing a Toranado 455 complete engine/trans in the back of a Vega. Wild Turkey was working it's magic. We had a wrecked Toro, a 6 year old rusty Vega plus a BFH along with a torch and welder. By Sunday we had a no where near street legal and totally sketchy abomination that would do spectacular burnouts. Scared me sober for a day or two.

 

I saw a nice 79 Z28 Camaro at a car show with a pickup 292 Y block, 2 barrel, the single exhaust with the crossover pipe over the front top of the engine, and the granny low gear truck 4 speed. He left the transmission uncovered so every one could see it. You should have heard the Chevy boys crying, I told one of them that's what they deserve for putting SBC in everything!

 

Back in 1965 I went with my cousin to look at a car he saw for sale. It was an Austin Healy Sprite with a 283 Chevy in it. It was nicely done. He didn't buy it.

 

I've seen a few odd ones. One I've mentioned before was a DKW 2-stroke triple in a Morris Minor. Decent power could be got from those triples with some judicious fettling, but they relied on thermo-siphon cooling, so the radiator in this Minor was mounted over the clutch, as in a DKW and where the battery normally lived in a Minor. It remained RWD, by what kind of transmission I could not ascertain. But it was said to run like the proverbial scalded cat.

The Deek triple is about the same physical size as a Mazda 13B rotary. There is a strong but peripheral local 13B community, something like the fan base of an on-balance quite cool band who don't really fit into any known musical genre, but always seem to be present somewhere on the fringes. Like Jethro Tull, perhaps. Thus in any local bench-racing session it's only a matter of time before someone uses the word 13B. And I've seen them stuffed into all kinds of places, from the back of a VW camper van to the front of a RWD-converted Mini pickup. One I've daydreamed about was in a Citroën GS, to approximate a sort of GTi version of the ill-fated GS Birotor. And, indeed, the Minor, into which it would go quite readily. I had reasons for wanting a Subaru EJ25 instead, though.

But the weirdest 13B swap must be the one done by the factory itself, the Roadpacer.

 

Flathead in a late model vette. saw this last summer at a local car show.

 

Unless it's a different car, I remember watching a 67' Camaro with flathead running at Woodburn dragstrip in the late 60's. I assumed at the time it was done to "fit" a particular set of class rules although I don't remember what class it was running. I recall it having lettering on the body that said "Ford's Better Idea"!

 

Broke my big Merc flathead in my T-bucket. Being a broke kid, I couldn't afford to fix it. Had a 239CI straight six out of a 2wd Jeep. Stabbed a big cam in it, 4bbl carb, built the trans...in it went. Ran like all hell was breaking loose.

 

Diesel In A Fordy..

 

389 out of a 67 totaled GTO into a 57 nomad.