It's too easy to put a B/RB in anything. Don't really need a motor plate- just 1/4" steel plate bolted to the front two motor mount holes on each side, and weld to the frame. For headers, use small block Chevy headers for the '57, and change the flange at the motor. The exhaust port spacing is real close. In fact, to make custom headers for a 440, some header companies sell you small block Chevy kits and add 440 flanges. If you do it right, the Chebby guys will be asking how you got that distributor on the front of your 350...
Since every Tom, Dick and Harriet has put a 350 Chevy in just about everything, I guess a 440 in Chevy will be ok. Especially when it blows the doors off all the rat motored Chevys...
Cool! The engine GM wishes they could have designed and built (especially after loosing year after year in every form of racing) Go Mopar! . .
Several years ago I put a 63 Dodge H.P. 383, in a 55 Chev 2 door including the Torqueflite Trans. and the original pushbuttons mounted in the dash. Believe me it was a great combo and it had very little competition on the streets. GOOD LUCK, you will be sure to surprise a lot of people. Larry
I've got a few friends that are Mopar guys, and between them, there are a few engines lying around. Not sure about any 440s, but I do know one guy has a running 383. Would that be worth the effort? What kind of power can you make with those?
Almost as bad as BBC guys feel when an SBC blows their doors off (which is more common than I ever would have guessed)
Back in the day a couple of us put a 392 Hemi in a '57 Chev sedan delivery. We kind of screwed up on the engine mounts and couldn't get the hood to close....and in about 1980 or so I put a 396 BBC in my 56 F100. That was an easy swap and the turbo 400 combined with a 9" from a 67 Mustang was a cool ride.
The 383 is a rock solid engine- short stroke, revs good, but the 400 is even better. Both have a shorter deck than a 440, so will fit stuff easier. The 400 actually has a bigger bore than a 440. Bore it another .030, turn down a 440 crank for it (smaller mains) and you get a 451 that is almost as light as a 350 chebby.
Agreed except the weight thing - all iron big block mopar is like 700 lbs (deep skirted block, lots of iron)
Who cares about an extra 100lbs when you have the grunt on tap ? The 451 has to be one of the best and cheapest mods of all time. Need more inches? Plenty of 4" cranks available...and most folks will have no clue as to how to get their car to hook up at that point. .
I ran a 451 in my 68 Barracuda that I had in high school, and I'll tell you what... That thing would make you pucker up where you sit when you mashed the skinny peddle! Back to the topic at hand though, I love the idea of sticking a mopar engine in a chevy! It's like kinky porn - So dirty yet so exciting! This was the beast from my teen years...
Put that 440 in that '57!!! I get so tired of seeing Chevy belly-button engines in nearly everything, that turnabout is fair play. Plus, that Chevy will go faster with the Chrysler lump than if it had a SBC in it. It's all about being innovative and different. Chevy engines are not different. Need video of this when you fire it up!!!
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