Length is one of the major concerns. It's work just to put a 55-62 235 in a pre-54 car. Now, the 63+ Chevy 6's are a good motor and I would put a 292 Chevy up against a 300 Ford anyday. The Ford 300 is a legendary motor for sure but the is absolutely nothing wrong with a post 55 Chevy 6. And if you would like 300+ cubes and a ton of torque, you can always look to big brother GMC and build up a 302 jimmy 6. I dare someone to badmouth that motor... With that being said, I have a 250' Chevy 6 goin into my 29 Chevy roadster
Because it actually takes a little bit of brains to work on a ford motor. I prefer them over chevy motors anyday. The only reason the 51 has a sbc is that it was set up for it and done had an intake headers finned valve covers and a bunch of othe r shit for it. If I was to start from scratch again I would go with a sbf.
All these storyes about broblems putting a ford in are funny. These people can't have any skills at all. How the hell do thy wipe thar asses. I am not a mechanic I put my engine in with no trouble in 83 went to a h.o. in 2000.
I once had a '40 Chevy P/U with a Ford 6 banger, C-4 and 8' Ford that I was selling at the Turlock Swap Meet. Well I was told I that I ruined the car because of it!!!! That thing ran better then it did new and got tons of gas mileage to boot ...... GEEEEEWILIKERs! By the way somebody showed a picture of a Vett with a Flathead in it here on the H.A.M.B. a couple years ago.
OH YA!!! Here is a Ford that dispels that theory that they don't make it to a high millage. Plus the resent story of the 85 year old lady with a '64 Mercury Comet with over 500,000 miles on it. It was in the AARP magazine.
it's not about the motor itself, but rather a loyalty to Chevrolet. just like it's wrong to put a Chevrolet in a Mustang.... or any ponycar/muscle car era Ford.
Couldn't he find one decent running Chevy to run? I'm not saying he might have beat some chevy powered cars but if you are saying he couldn't be beat by a Chevy then I've got some beach property in Arizona I'll give you a deal on. How about some pictures of this wonder wagon? Got any? Frank
SBC's are lame anyways you can go to any car show and every car or truck there has a chevy 350 with a turbo 350 trans in it and they call it a hot rod. To me I like to see a little diversity so run the Ford in a Chevy be different.
Have you seen a Boss 429? or a 427 Cammer? Hell some of the newer Modular Engines (4.6L,5.4L) look nice when they're done up right. All the SBF's look good, and the Ford sixes are lookers too. FE's aren't bad, and I'd kill for a fully dressed 460 in a rod. I personally don't get the whole "Ford Sucks" "Chevy Sucks" deal...Every person you ask..."Why does Ford or Chevy suck??" "Well...ummm...THEY JUST DO!!" I like all sorts of engines, I'd pretty much put anything in anything if that's what I had...I tend to sway towards Olds alot though... Rockets sure are pretty. My '94 Chevy P/U has a 425 Olds going in it, that gets some guys pissed off...It is a GM in a GM though....I want to build a '70 Camaro one day with a 425/455 in it, that would be sick... My list of mills.. '36 Olds 240ci Straight 8 x2 303 Olds Rockets 425 Olds 218 Chrysler Six 320 Buick Straight 8 223 Ford Six none of which are going in their respective brands...
I'm for putting a Chevy in a Chevy and a Ford in a Ford, etc... I'm never suprised to see a SBC in anything though...very common and it's been done for years. What really makes me say "WTF!???!!!??" (I am a die hard Chevy man) is to see a Chevy with a Ford in it. I saw a beautiful 47-53 Chevy truck with a SBF in it at a show last week here in Santa Fe. I may have offended some people with my reaction...oh well, I didn't mean it. Just caught me off guard... Anyhow, if you can make it run, run whatever the hell you want...
Cause a Chebby mill in a Ford is an improvment? Put whatever you want in it. I put the 6 out of a gremlin in a '54 Ford once because I needed a ride and it was what I had. Later I shoved an Fe in it out of an old police car, because I could get it and I figured it would be an improvement (I don't like 6 cylinders). In the '50s and early '60s Chebby was out gunning about everyone in their class with the small block. They became popular both on track and off. Nothing has changed much. That said if I had a tough SBF and a body of whatever value/kind to put it in I'd put it in there. If I didn't have one then I would be loking for whatever I could get my hands on that was fast and dependable.
There is a beautiful 35 Chevy Sedan here in So Cal that has a 396 in it. A 396" stroker Small Block FORD! It's very cool and he did it just for the reactions.
Ford engines confuse me,especially the ones with right and left heads.Fords have less head bolts than a Chevy so they are easier to put together.If you like to drive through deep water, a Chevys rear mounted distributor is better.The Ford's front distributor makes the engine an easier fit in some vehicles,but the Ford engine is longer.
Faster is better and Chevy does it well. The smallblock Chevy has been kicking ass for a long time now. I just don't get some of these motor snob replies. I'm a fan of GM motors and wouldn't mind having a big hp one of all the flavors.
Original purchace price may be the same but when it comes apples to oranges it costs far less to do the same modifications to a sbc than an sbf. It's called aftermarket support. As far as bellybutton engines go. We oooh and aaah over flatheads every day on here in a constant rotating basis that have the same finned aluminum heads, the same intake manifolds and the same ancient carbs with very few differences between one and the other with the exception of the fine owner supplied details. I'm not knocking the flatheads as I have one in the garage that will end up looking just like it's 1000 predessors on the HAMB in a few years when I get it going. I've seen only one Ford in a Chev that was a good build and that was the 40/41 Chev sedan out of Oklahoma that showed up at runs in the OK/TX area in the early 70's and belonged to Bob Reed. Big block powered and a reacher from the word go.
in my world it comes down to the interchangability,, have friends that are hard core ford and mopar people and most of 'em tell me that hey, l wished we could mix and max like the chevy's// example are my 2 chevelles,,[ya l know a littlte to new for this board but l have older toys] the 66 has a 1975 350 and a 1986 700r4 and my 65 has a 1980 350 and a 1985 700r4 and it all dropped in like butter,my ford buddy told me to do that in his 62 short box stepside ford he has to fab new mounts, find the right trans and make a ton of changes as his was a six and he is putting in a 460 and a dana 60,, ,, l like all kinds of cars and trucks and love to see differant {for those who seen my street legal dwarf car know l MEAN REALLY DIFFERANT} but the bottom line is you have to work on whatever you build and drive and it's your's, so put togother the way YOU like it
personally i'm putting a Ford 302 in my 56 chevy truck, simply because i can get them cheap and we have lots of extra parts for them anyways....
Why in the hell would you put a Ford in a Chevy body?!?!?!?!?!?! What a waste of a perfectly good motor!!!!!!!!
Because that may be what you have. I have a 56 Y block (was free) and a cab off a 37 chev pickup (nearly free). Unless I get either a ford cab or a chev engine, they will someday be mated together. Now if I was made of money it would be all ford all the way, like my t bucket. (Hum, I must have had more money once.)
True...Work with what you got. I just happen to have all Chevy stuff. I have a good running 283 that I plan on putting in a 49 Fleetline, but if between now and when that time comes, someone gives me a cool looking Ford, guess what going in there... That's what hotrodding is all about...modifications-getting sh!t to work and work good. I know a guy in Albuquerque putting a 4 cylinder Cummins diesel in an early 50's Suburban. It's awesome!
I want to buy a 57 chevy belaire and drop a Ford 427 SOHC engine in it. Then leave the hood open and just stand there alllll day long and listen, LOL
Do you know how many different water pumps alone Ford made for the sbf? They changed the design almost every couple of years. Then you have to worry about whether it is a "clockwise" pump. And that's just the water pump. All you have to do is say you need a water pump for a sbc and you don't need to know the whole history of the engine. Plug and play! How bout trying to get at that last f'n spark plug near the firewall that's at an angle? Chevy's are straight in and OUT!! It also makes it crazy for your headers too. Gimmie a SBC anyday!!
Because Ford engineers do stupid things like hiding adjusting nuts behind brackets or make crank pulleys that don't come off without special tools...the list goes on... I don't have the patience for that shit. People can talk all they want about how much smarter you need to be to work on a Ford, but in the end you're making so much more work for yourself by doing it... That being said, I would be willing to try out a more modern Ford motor if the situation presents itself.
I seem to recall every car featured in old articles said "and a smallblock chevy for dependability" whenever there was a smallblock where there shouldn't have been. I always pulled a doubletake and wondered wtf? is wrong with any other engine...nothing. only thing I can think of was availability of a cheap replacement in a pinch and the dummy factor. alot of folks don't ever think about installing new ARP rod bolts when they rebuild for the first time and the stock originals can only take so much. smallblock chevy has a short stroke and a light piston compared to 390 fords, 400 pontiacs(notoriously weak in the rodbolts). Most of the high power "other than chevy engines" were bigger than a 305/302/318 where the chevy 327/350 was chevies main high power engine...most people just didn't want a big block chevy so the 327/350 got the hype where as with other makes the larger engines (more prone to blowing up when abused in their old age) got all the attention and their small smallblocks were more thought of as economical utility engines. I don't think the smallblock is a better engine, I think it was more common and cheap in the used engine market and is just lucky to be more immune to someone who doesn't know what they are doing when they put an engine back together
Ok show me a fast chevy untill say around 1962, in drag racing they didnt do well at all. kinda hard couse there were not many around Mazman Vette, RIP. Olds buick,pontiac,hemi,413 Bill cole made the mill to fit the 50 fords and give rodders another option but it wasnt till 1962 or so that the mill started showing its real potendal its a great mill I have used them in lots of GM cars and trucks. Its got Adjustable rockers stock,it fits tight bays,the starter is right place out of sterrings way. they pull hard and stayed the same for some time. if its what you have use it. but I would rather see a ford in the ford to inclued a 32 ford. stick one in a mopar and take it to a show and see if you get out without a broken leg or arm. mopar folk get real up set about that. a ford will be greeted with ( Hay I have a 318 you can have ) but that chevy.
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