yo..I've got a 54 chevy with a 235 and manual trans...ran across a '57 283 locally and was wondering if it would match up to my trans???? also, it only has the front cradle mount, no side motor mounts...would it work???? does anyone sell mounts?.....thanks
you can get mounts, but the 54 trans won't bolt to the 57 bellhousing, and the 57 V8 engine won't bolt to the 6 cyl bellhousing. it's generally a good idea to go to an open driveline when swapping to a V8, if you can find an original 55-57 car rearend that would make it kind of easy to do.
Using the stock '55-'57 front mounts shouldn't be too difficult, since when Chevrolet was designing the small block, they intended to release it in the '53 models, but the Korean conflict altered their timetable. That's why '55-'56 LH exhaust manifolds exit in the front; the clearance was necessary on '53-'54 steering gears.
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