After realizing the 216 thats in my 48' chevy now isnt worth anything more than an enormous paper weight. I figured that I would keep a six in it, but go with the biggest one I could find. Has anyone done this swap? And what must be done to get it to fit. I also heard that I could use a mid 80's S-10 4X4 rear in it.. any truth to this?
The 292 is longer, bolts to a different bellhousing, and uses completely different mounts than anything the 216 might have been in... What are you putting this in?
I put one in my 52 Convert. Had to make new motor mounts, recess the firewall another 2 inches. The worst part was when I decided to have AC. Had to move the radiator ahead 6 inches and down 6 inches to make room for all the pulley's etc. The engine is strong though and has a ton of low end torque. Got 20 mpg or better on Ego-Rama. Got my *** kicked in the drag race portion. THE SOUND OF THE DUAL STRAIGHTS IS WORTH IT ALL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! B B
Monkey, I think the biggest motor you could install easily is a 261. Bolt a T5 Borg Warner 5 speed to it and smack a Blazer 4X4 or S10 (depending on width) differential under it...
I have a 250 in my '49. It's not as tall as the 292. It doesn't appear that the firewall or radiator mounts have been altered. Hooked up to a powerglide and Nova rearend. It's a really good motor. fab32 & I have discussed building a 292 to put in it someday. The only thing I would change at this point is replacing the PG ****** for a Turbo 350. I wouldn't overlook a 250 if you find a good one.
I made a front motor mount for my 250 (to go into a 54 Chevy pu) and used a late '50's bellhousing. It can be done, if you put your mind to it (and it doesn't take that much thinking either). r
A 292 will fit in a 49-52, with some work, but I think the pre-49 cars had smaller engine bays. I'm sure you could make a 292 fit, but it will take some time and sweat. A 261 or 235 will fit, but 261s are hard to find. 54+ 235s are easy to find, cheap, and tons of speed parts are available for them new and vintage. I'm putting a hopped up 261 with a 235 race head in my 48 coupe... one of these days. I think that the 4x4 s10 rear is not the right size. RWD, maybe right. I know that a 55-57 Chevy rear is the right size and gearing you want. There are discussions about this all the time on ChevyTalk.com. Someone on the HAMB generated a list of T5 gearing/make/model/year, and I think there's a similar list for rear end dimensions
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