394 olds in a 49-54 chev?

has anyone seen a 394 olds put in a 49 to 54 chev?
I have a running 394w/auto available free to me, and am wondering if it would be just as much work as putting a sbc in my 50 chev..

for now I am wanting to keep the stock steering and crossmember.

 

I love 394 Olds engines. Ran them all through the '60's. Would make a great engine for your Chevy........but I've never done it. They have the starter on the drivers side of the engine and the front engine mount was under/behind the engine balancer. Pat at Wilcap may be able to help you with advice as he is a great guy and very knowedgeable. Hopefully someone on the HAMB has done this and can post pics for you. Do not get discouraged, this would make a great (and powerful) traditional swap!!

http://www.wilcap.com/

 

thats kind of what I was thinking.... starter on the lh might be in the way of the steering, that front mount might work out nice...
I'll have to do some measuring, and looking...

 

Shouldn't be to hard since the Olds had 303 at time .
when I did my 54 Olds w/ a later 394 the side mounts(on bellhousing ) I think was 57 chevy and redrilled a little. Front mount I thin I used a later trans mount between frame and bracket under balancer. I recall changing one of the exh manifolds for clearance , just a stock one from differant car .

 

Btt
anyone else?

I talked to a local guy here that had one in a 52 chev on the 60's, said he used to race it in spokane...
mentioned that he changed up some stuff in the steering.

 

Free???!!!! I'll give you $50 for it!

 

I have a '52 Chevy and a few Olds motors laying around

looks very do-able to me

but will involve replacing the entire drive train,
cooling, heating and possibly steering
and should get an upgrade on the brakes

not exactly a simple bolt in but not much more than a typical power train swap

and in the end you have honest to god rocket power

 

well, I am pretty sure I am going to go forward with this..
A guy on the hamb here makes header flanges, chaz has a tubing bender, and as far as I can tell the biggest issue will be the drivers side exhaust manifold.

I have already converted to a 56 chev posi rear, (auto gearing,3.06?)
I will keep the olds driveline, and hopefully just replace the rear u-joint/and shorten to fit to the chev rear if needed.

The front brakes have been converted to the wider 52-54 drum, hope that would be enough?

As for the heating, since this is a convertible, and will be considered a summer only car I hadn't planned on a heater for it anymore.

the 59 olds radiator looks like it might fit in the hole with very little modification.

years ago I had converted the car to firewall mounted 567 chev brakes and swing pedals, so the brakes should be out of the way.

looks like I will have to trim/remove the front firewall body mount brace, I will have to try to fab up something else to mount the body at that position.

I am thinking I will pull the front clip off, and then hang the motor and ****** in the hole, and then just keep t******* and fabbing till it fits!
can't get more traditional than that haha

I'll keep you guys updated over this spring as I get to the project.

 

the main ****** for any swap in these cars is the steering. have a buddy turn the steering wheel lock to lock while watch the steering go through its full swing. it really needs a lot of space there on the drivers side.

if there is a front dump exhaust manifold available for this engine that may be a way to go.

headers will be a ***** too, even more so with the starter on that side, unless you are going fenderwell type headers.

there's a shop around here that put a 350 in a 52 and returned it to the owner "done" except for exhaust... it has exhaust manifolds, but if you were to put any pipe on them you wouldn't be able to turn.

 

as for the firewall braces go you should be able to get by with just removing them from the firewall and the actual lower body mount part can stay. drill out the spot welds to remove them.

 

Use a 57 olds 88 exhaust manifold on the driver-side that will move the exhaust dump up near the front of the motor and should clear your steering box. I am running a 394 in a 50 olds and heads go fender well to fender well.
It is a tight fit.

 

The 49-54 Chevy radiators are pretty stout, if you have one. Get it cleaned and pressure-tested and it should work well. I've used the stock rad with a SBC on 3 occasions, including my daily driver '49, and never had any radiator-related cooling issues.
dvz

 

Its been 15+ years ago, but I had a 50 Olds, that I dropped a 394 in, Remember it being pretty cut and dry

 

thanks for that info on the brace, the exhaust, I am just going to just do whatever it takes to make work, I am expecting it will be some sort of fenderwell dump, probably over the steering box/framerail, I suspect IF there is any room left between the steering and starter that there wont be room for exhaust.

I doubt I can find a 57-8 manifold, but if I do and it looks like it will work I will go with it.

 

You also might have to swap the starter onto the other side so it clears the steering which is doable because companies like Hildebrant made the conversion available.

I plan on putting a 365 Cad V8 in my '54 but have only gotten as far as buying the engine so far.

 

Theres a guy on here "cyclebilly" who had a fleetline with that engine trans combo. You might try to ask him details.

 

I am putting a 455 in mine, but ditching the steering. It was tight enough with a sbc, I can't imagine putting the starter over there too.

 

Ive had a -49 chev whit olds 403 in it, remember it was kinda tight whit the starter but i think a 394 is a bit bigger. A friend of mine used a steering device from saab 9000 whit powersteering in his -50 whit sbc.
By the way my -49 used to be a dragstrip racer from around Florida somewhere in the 80s before it got to Sweden. A 2dr sedan white pearl whit green and blue flames . anyone who seen it?

 

cool, I want to see this

 

If you are easy on it, the 56 Chev rear should work okay; if not find a 55-57 Pontiac rear, should be a bolt in.

 

yeah, I am pretty much past the two throttle position of my past, soI am hoping that the chev rear will hold, this will be more a cruiser than a race car, but it will be nice to have enough rocket power to keep up with traffic.

thanks for that "cyclebilly" link above, I put in a pm to him to get some more info.

 

well , finally cleared some projects out of the way , time to get started on putting a "big olds" in the '50
59 olds 394 w/hydramatic.
This is the first trial fitting.

I was really worried about clearance issues with the auto ****** and the convertible X frame, so far it looks like that won't be a problem.

I have been in contact with cyclebilly, who put a 394 in his 52, and he said the way to go was to get a hi-tourque mini starter for the olds, that should solve the clearance issue with the steering.
hamber RDR ha salso been helping out, he put a early olds v8 in his car in the 50's, he was able to clear the stock starter by extending the steering arm...I will look into that method as well.

I was hoping they wouldnt; but the firewall braces will have to go to make for more room.
will post up some more pics as this progresses.

 

todays progress:
trimmed the firewall braces.
made a front motor mount.
now starting on the rear transmisson mount... hard to even get a pic of it much less modify it for where it is going to be and get it in the right place!

motor sits pretty nice in the hole, might even be able to use the original radiator...

playing with LH exhaust manifold locations...
mounted original : it dumps directly onto the framerail, and then there is nowhere for a tail pipe to go...literally would have to probably run it forward and around the radiator to the p***enger side to get it going in the right direction..
mounted upside down: (in the pic) this might work...still has a pretty wicked 90 degree bend, and would have to go up and then back and down to clear the tire when it is cranked all the way to the left...

*598*

 

Oldsmobile made a special exhaust manifold for cars with factory duals from 61 -64, mainly for Starfires and 98's. It dumped towards the back and looks like one might clear the brace. Unfortunately they're hard to find, and usually expensive when you do find one. There is one listed on ebay right now with a $275.00 buy it now. You might check it out to at least see what one looks like.

 

To do that I think I would have to change the heads... I found out 59-60 had a different exhaust bolt pattern than the 61-64

here's a shot of it in the car...kinda jumping ahead.. but I didnt take any pics of the transmission mount yet, and I'm not pulling the engine out again-haha- well not for a little while I think I have had it in and out 6-7 times so far...

what I did with the transmission cross mount was shorten it to 21 inches, then I fabbed up a couple mounts for it to bolt to, and welded them to the X member in the frame.
for now I will work on hooking up stuff like the throttle, shift linkage and exhaust...
I will probably have to save for most of the summer to buy a custom built hi-tourque mini starter for it, that will solve the problem of the steering linkage hitting the starter...

 

I've got a 54 olds that has a "red" 394 in it...from what I can tell, the motor is from '61 or '62. It's a real tight fit around the steering, but other than that it fit's pretty well. I just got the car, so I don't have too many details, but would be happy to provide pics if anyone wants.

 

got a prize from ross racing engines today!
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=415518
here are some pics of the new hitourque mini starter in place.
pics are steering straight, and left lock.
everything clears!

 

you never told us what hydramatic is bolted to the engine? Dual range, dual coupling, or slim jim?

 

hmmm not sure, my owners manual says it is a jetaway
the selector lever says:
PNDSLR

 

what year 394? If 59 or 60 then it is a Jetaway, if newer, then SlimJim