As the ***le says, having a few issues mounting a 55 (I think) 261 into a buddys 58 Apache. His rebuilt 235 had major catastrophic failure. As in broken in half cam & crank... Lets not focus on that. I sold him a built "ready to go" 261, dual carbs, split manifold & all the good stuff. This current motor has the front "truck" mount under the balancer that would rest on the crossmember. His 235 has the "forward" mounts that sit on mounts about like a V8. The 261 block has no provisions for any other mounts. No holes in the bkock, mounting bosses ect... So question I have is, has anyone done this swap w pics or info. Is it as easy as using the stock 3 speed bell housing mounts to line things up, then marking holes for the front saddle mount ? Is there a template to drill said holes. Or a measurement a fellow Hamber can provide ? I know pics are helpful, so heres what Ive got. To be clear on the pics, all of the black motor is the 261 we're working with. The blue is the 235 we pulled out. Then the engine bay to show the crossmember & current mount setup. Thanks in advance Hamb Fam. Im off to visit a brother in the hospital after a motorcycle wreck last night. I'll check back ASAP.
And some #'s off of the 261 if that helps at all. I believe when I bought it I was told its a 1955 motor. It was in a 54 A.D. truck with stock front end & ran great. Sorry, the photo quality isnt great. I didnt have any luck researching the numbers stamped in the block.
It's not in a truck but this is how I mounted my 261 in my Model A racecar. (solid mounted) You could do something similar from the mount on the engine to the stock mounts on the frame.
It's probably a 54 or first series 55 engine, not sure exactly how the first 55 was configured.. I'd probably just drill the crossmember and shim to level if needed. Or, you could fab a bracket to attach to the timing cover and reach out, and back to the original frame mounts. just drilling should work though as long as the clutch housing used has the wide spread mounts.
Maybe check with Langdon, Stovebolt, etc and see what they have. Also look for Wilcap , Hurst, etc. Can’t be the first time this was done, may even have been a natural swap in the day.
My 61 had bracket rivited to the front crossmember that the 235 bolted to using the front style mount. I’d stab that set up in the truck, bolt the bell housing in place, set the engine angle and fabricate a simple center mount off the crossmember if it didn’t line up with it
Thanks for the replies. We'd kind of ***umed using the bellhousing mounts to center & get us roughly lined up then marking to drill the holes for the front mount to end up w something similar to @Robert J. Palmer did except with the rubber isolater in place. I agree with this being a first series 55 engine & certainly has to have been done before. If I had to do it over again, Id of taken some reference measurements off the 235. This pic from the web is what we're working towards. If anyone else has any thing to add Im still listening. Will report back if we make it work or if its a failed effort. Thanks again
My '56 panel has holes in the crossmember and the mount bolted to it. I bought it with the '54 261 already in it. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...hevy-panel-truck.1099578/page-9#post-14805726
@1oldtimer Thankyou, exactly the info we're searching for ! With pictures too, man I sure appreciate you sharing that !
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