First off, fuck flatheads, over priced peices of shit.. With that out of the way, I just replaced my blown up flattie with a SBC in my 51 Ford. I used the Jamco mounts, be carful when you order them, specify you want them to measure them and send you the tallest mounts they have. The first set they sent me, I put them in and when I was putting the motor in, the oil pan (62 Nova front sump pan), hit the cross member before the mounts lined up. I called Jamco, the first question he asked was to measure the height of the mounts, (making me beleive this has happened before), the mounts they sent me were 4" tall, he said the ones he had in the shop were 5" tall. He sent me a new set, free of charge and free shipping, put them in, and perfect fit, no problems. You dont have to spend $300 on their oil pan and pump, I bought a used pan and pump off ebay for $35. Just look for a 62-65 Nova front sump pan and pump.
Haha thanks for all the responses. Yes the easiest option would have been to use a flattie unfortunately the car didn't come with a motor. I most certainly did go on the hunt for an un-seized flathead however a 327 was advertised in the local newspaper and got it real cheap. Pulled the heads off and much to my suprise the bottom end must have just recently been rebuilt. So seen as i wouldn't have to spend a lot on the motor i thought i would be mad not to use it. I ordered the mounts off JAMCO probably over a year ago now and when i went to drop the motor in i hit problems. Even with the pan off the oil pump hit the crosslink? I emailed JAMCO and they said that i was gonna have to get a nova pan etc. Anyway long story short, not the easiest thing to get your hands on down here in Australia. I let it go for a while and seen that JAMCO were offering the pan to solve this issue so i went ahead and made the purchase while the dollar was up. Working interstate at the moment so i'm yet to be able to fit it to the motor. So i thought i'd see if any you blokes had used them or ran into problems. After reading through your responses it seems to me that i have probably got mounts that are too short because i thought no way in hell when i dropped the motor in the first time that what ever pan/oil pump you would use would have any chance of clearing the link. If thats the case then JAMCO have wasted my time.
I got her in a bit of primer before i left. Almost a year ago now that she left me and miss her every day! haha heres a pic-
You can cut them and add in a little extra metal to make them taller if they are too short. Not an insurmountable challenge. The early Nova oil pump, the one in the Jamco kit, is very, very different from the conventional rear-sump model. It is squat, and sits much higher up. This allows the pan to be as shallow as the front of the current pan on your 327. It makes for a pan that is a good 3-4" shallower in that area. I think that it will work out just fine.
looks good but is that somewhere in victoria in summer? where are you/the mounts? someone can help you out with welding a spacer in if we know where your at.
Lets get this thread back on track....! I used a Jamco kit this summer on my 1950 coupe. It fit Great! My drag link was already dropped (for the Olds that was in it before). My car is also sectioned 6", and the steering box has been laid backwards a few degrees. You'll probably want a lowered drag link, and if you have a good welder you can do it yourself. Pics of my car...Click Here And here is a post on dropping the steering arm Good luck!
thats how mine was when i bought it, it works like crap! i did the nova oil pan and stock center link!
I used Jamco motor mounts, transmission cross member and oil pan to install a sbc into my 1950 Ford. other then raising my transmission tunnel the swap was a bolt in deal. highly recommended.
sbc is ok as long as its in a chevy . If ya want to drive a ford ....drive a ford. "AND THE BOWTIE ROLLS ON"
This is very dangerous though. A center link is originally forged when it leaves the production factory. When you cut it and weld a section into it, you change the metallurgy of the original forged steel. It makes it very weak. Add into this equation a set of whitewall radials, and you have a formula for a rollover. My cousin didn't live through a rollover. Maybe your odds are better.
I wish that it was as cheep as the SBC. That would be awesome. As it stands, we don't even have a good reproduction block, most of the originals have cracks around the valve seats, and the only viable answer to a "new" flathead block cost $3000 to import from France and is banned in all major NHRA events in the country.
Fwiw if you have to cheat my '51 has a sbc with stock pan etc. I bought it like this, I just have bigger fish to fry than change it around. The mounts locate the engine forward in the chassis, so that the flywheel is the interference with the center link just barely at full lock left. I ground 1/8 or so from the center linlk to stop interference, and it looks like the centerlinlk was heated and bent at either end just a smidge Had to run elec fans as there's under 3" bet radiator and wp puley I doubt it does anything for my handling but it works fine.
Don't raise the bridge, lower the river....I mustve done something wrong.....I used Jamco frame mounts that were supposed to be for a SBF and made my own engine mounts...the motor sets in there nicely. I stuck the drag link on to see how I was going to have to modify it, and it clears by about 2 inches....I took the steering wheel lock to lock and I have lots of room
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