1955 chevy 150 Handyman 2dr. wagon engine swap

I kept telling myself that I am just going to leave the six cyl. in the old wagon and drive it and enjoy it, but for some reason I am out there buying a engine and all these parts to do the swap, I don't know whats happening to me. Now I am in pretty deep so I guess I will continue, no turning back now!
I purchased the wagon out of Wyoming and have been doing little things to it so far. It is a rust free wagon and drives quite nicely. It is a 6cyl. 3-speed with 79000 original miles.
The engine that I bought is a 1962 283 ci. bored 60 over. 292. It has Kieth Black forged pop-up pistons The crank is a original forged steel piece and is turned .020 on rods and mains. The camel hump heads are off a 1967 z-28 camaro and have 2.02 intake and 1.60 stainless valves. The cam is a Duntov 30 30 cam. It will have the ramshorn exhaust manifolds with a genorator with 4 bbl. carb. Trying to keep it looking more like a stock engine. I am looking for a muncie 4-spd to finish off the instalation. Enclosed is a picture of the motor and car. I also have a good set of Ball Joint spacers coming.
A friend of mine is a GM mechanic and will be helping me with the swap. We are about ready to pull the six and get started so I will try and post every now and then to let you know how it is going. Happy hot rodding to all, Tim.

 

Yeah, lose the front bumper and splash pan, cut out the wheelwells and paint it something bright. ummm I don't know, grabber blue maybe.

Just funning man. nice ride.

 

Have you checked valve clearance on the .060" over 283? Will the 2.02" vlave clear the bore on it?

 

thats a strong running engine combo,a 4spd=sweet

 

a good looking wagon, enjoy it

 

Good point, We will check and make sure, also the new AC spark plugs we put in are a little longer and we will turn the motor and make sure they are not hitting the top of the dome piston.

 

That wagon is clean, straight, and old school; keep it that way, and don't cut it up in any way. Your "weak link" is going to be the rear end, especially with modern tires. An automatic can soften things for the rear end some, but it's surely not as fun. You also might want to look into the Saginaw 4-speeds; they are a lot cheaper, and have several gear ratios/spreads. Again, don't cut that car up. Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

While you have the drive train out it would be a great time to relocate the brake and fuel lines to outside of the ch***is on the right side. If the wagon is like all the 6 cylinder 55s I have worked with both of those lines now reside where the right side exhaust will go. Also it would be a great time to change the fuel line to 3/8s. Please dont cut the fender wells.

 

Curious about the valves clearing a 3.935 bore ... I have a 292 that I want to use similar heads on ... let us know if they clear ... Joe

 

Dude!..... That screen name has gotta change..

 

Even if they clear 2.02" + 1.60" = 3.62" plus the distance between valves and the valves come too close to the cylinder wall to get any performance value. You wll get more performance running 305" heads.

Pat

 

any progress?

 

Pretty much got through the engine swap. With the help of a friend We got it running but we ended up with a rear main seal leak that we will have to tend to. Sure have to fix it first before we run it to much. Hats off to all you builders and mechanics, what a lot of work and a lot of obstacles to overcome in a short period of time, but well worth it. I did find a 4-spd, it is a M-21 close ratio. Got it in the car and also a new a new Hurst shifter and instalation kit. Also mounted the new tach on the column. Boy, its starting to feel and look like a hot rod now. I didn't really want to paint anything under the hood but with the new radiator and the core support out it was really a good time to spiff it up a little. It all looks pretty stock under the hood but when you fire it up you know otherwise. My wife took the check book and the credit card away from me so that is about all I can do for now, but I'll get it back hopefully and do a few more little things later. Tim

 

lookin sweet,update when you can

 

Beautiful car!

You have done a perfect job... showed an amazing amount of restarint... and the end product is a car I would be proud to own.

I don't say that very often.

Sam

 

Terrific balance of parts. Sweet survivor too!

 

Like the stock look of the whole engine. What type of carb is under that air cleaner? Just enough, not too much.

 

Looks great. LOVE long roofs, here's a shot of mine.

 

It is a 4 bbl. Quadrajet. Gary took a 2 bbl. aircleaner and cut it out to accept the 4 bbl.

 

although the Qjet is out of place on that motor I sure like the way they work. Nice job by the way. I had basically the same motor in a 62 Impala back in the day

 

Great looking longroof. Have fun and enjoy it.

 

Maybe a SP mistake..Help Me Rhonda maybe ....Just guessin, but I was wondering also

 

Looks sweeet!

If those are truly the heads off a 67 z28 you could probably peddle em to a restorer and pay for the whole conversion.

 

DITTO!

I really like it!

 

That's a really nice car....I wouldn't cut it up....I would fix it up and drive it to the Roundup....

 

My exact question, maybe they relieved the tops of the cylinders, if they knew what they were doing they did.

 

Very, very nice, you showed a great deal of restraint, and it has paid off big time!

 

What a FUN project!

Nice original 6 cyl 3-speed turned into a nice original with a small block Chevy with a 30/30 cam and a 4 speed with a Hurst shifter=

One FUN 55 to own and drive!!!!!

 

Tim,

That swap turned out good, now go work on the green weenie.... Jeff

 

What you got going is great but I wouldn't ruin the "stock" appearance by putting the ball joint spacers in. Of course in my own opinion.