Hemi in a '53 ford

Has any one on here put an early Chrysler hemi in a '53 Ford Vicky, or any '53 passenger car. I don't want to cut the fire wall if possible. Any info appreciated.
Thanks Phil.

 

Not a 53 but close...........
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=328681&highlight=ford+hemi

 

And the best of luck to you.Get something sensible even a cleveland is tight.

 

A buddy of mine had a '55 331 in a '51 Ford w/o molesting the firewall.

 

"Get something sensible." WTF does that mean?

 

Means get something that will fit I dont think he was trying to be hostile. Clevelands are small blocks and they have a problem fitting. 331, 354, and 392 's are a pretty hefty engine so some fitting issues might come into play. Best of luck to you, once that cars done its gonna be bad!

 

Here again, not a '53...but one of the nicest swaps I saw back in 'the old days' was a 392 in a 56 Vic. It was a bit tight but not hacked to pieces.


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Depth is about 2 inches more on the 331 compared to the flathead and 3 inches wider. www.carnut.com/specs/engdim.html

 

I have a390 in mine. No firewall butchery but did have to Adjust the front crossmember a bit

 

i dont see why it wouldnt fit. my 302 looks even smaller then it is in my 53.you may have some mastercylinder probs ,when i had my 302 out of mine i measured to see if my 331 would fit ...it will just close...im more worried about the weight.....700 lbs of hemi is alot for that frontend

 

Thanks for the input guys. My car is pretty rare in Aust. and is very original having had a body off resto.so I don't want to butcher it, BUT I have a spare early hemi with turbo 400 sitting here. I just thought some one may have done the swap before and could say yeah its easy, or no, lots of issues. I have done a few engine swaps before, but its nice to get inside info from some one who's done it.

 

I knew a guy in the early 60's that had a Hemi in a 52 Ford ht. I don't recall the firewall being butchered up.

I just remembered that you said with a T-400. The car I mentioned had the Hemi adapted to the stock trans

 

The only thing you may encounter is with the t400 the slope of the trans from the top of the bell housing to the body of the trans. Had a friend put a 351 C with a C6 in a 53, because he liked mine, had this problem. Mine is an Old C6 with a round bellhousing.
By the way do you know Jeff Ewing???

 

I put a 392 W/400 trans in a forty ford frame but I have a new firewall for a big block to fit, but it looks from the room I have it would have fit with the stock firewall.