Hey folks....just wondering if anyone has any advice on swapping a v8 into a 53 chevy, Ive looked for conversion mounts and have found very little information...are there any major issues I can expect to run into, specifically brake pedal linkage and parking brake linkage? Any advice would be mucho appreciated!!! new guy.
mounts and conversion advice are pletiful. where did you look? BTW, you'll find much more advice here if people know who you are. Introduce yourself.. . who are you, what cars do you have, where do you live? pictures are a bonus.
only thing that has been a sonofabtich with my 50 pontiac BC swap has been issues between the headers and the steering box. they make em for your car, but they are big buck$. i'll end up rerouting some header tube(s?). not sure if the brake pedal would be a problem or not. i am going to have to moutn my master cylinder on the firewall, unforunately, so i haven't paid attention to that aspec tof it. snything wrong with the original 6? they're cool engines with lots of potential. they're right, it helps to do an intro. welcome anyway.
www.chevytalk.com has alot of info about the swap. One thing to keep in mind is that you're going to have to change the entire drivetrain. The torque tube doesn't go over so well with most newer transmissions. Motor mounts,******* mounts, firewall braces and parking brake stuff has to be changed for the engine to go in aswell. -Derrick
As a Rockstar with a Torquewrench I will say there are several options for your conversion... RB's has what you want
I did mine a few years ago. The ribs on the firewall got to either go, or be notched. I used short water pump and brackets. Exhaust manifolds came from a 77 Chevy Caprice 305. I used the Turbo 200******* out of the Caprice too. It is smaller than the T350, and I wanted more room under the car. The stock x-member was cut in the center and a removable******* crossmember went in. I used ECI master cylinder bracket with the big dual Mustang master cylinder. The park brake is gone. There is no way to use the stock center pull handle e-brake with the V8 in there. My car is lowered about 7-8 inches from stock, so the exhaust had to go above the******* crossmember. With the master cylinder and residual valves and auto******* in there, it's very tight. I wound up using Dodge K-car turbo exhaust shields on the pipes to keep from cooking the master cylinder. For the rear end, I used a Buick Apollo 75 model rear. The Buick is the same as the Nova one that everybody uses. So is the Pontiac Ventura and Olds Omega. The reason I used it was the guy at the junkyard wanted 1/2 the price for the Buick rear as he did the Nova one. The Buick was a 6 cylinder 3 speed 4 door, so I figured it had led a pretty easy life. Driveshaft came off the rack o driveshafts at the junkyard. Tape measured till I found one the right length. Stock temp guage won't work. The capilary tube on it is too short to reach any possible place on the SBC, heads or manifold.
I went with Total Cost Involved. They have some killer motor mounts you just weld in. You can use them with the stock front end or with an IFS kit. As was mentioned before, you should probably use a short water pump unless you want to run an electric fan.
I used all the stock long-water-pump factory brackets and 7 blade clutch fan by mounting my radiator on the other side of the core support. I used a repop 55-59 chevy pickup radiator and hadda trim deep into the bottom of the core support to get the 3" taller radiator to fit under the hood...even then, I had to "pop" the filler neck down in the tank with a BFH to clear the hood.... I used a early 70's twisted ramshorn manifold on the left side. I don't recommend it. I had to grind a bit on the manifold and on the pitman arm and even then, the two contacted each other on a hard left turn. Oops! I trimmed the front body mount supports and trashed the e-brake junk altogether. My 406 SBC begged for a stick*******.....used a saginaw 4 gear with a lakewood*****tershield and fabbed up my clutch linkage from 70's ford pickup parts glommed from my freindly u-pull it. Had to shorten the "Z" bar and re-orient the arms on it to work for my setup. Used the Z-bar mount brackets and plastic bushings too. I left my '49 non-removable******* crossmember in place but drilled a few holes in it for the chevelle style mount. I was actually able to install and remove my******* without cutting out the silly crossmember! I did hafta remove the stock 49 floor panel tho. I was able to keep my stock master cylinder and pedals...no interferance problems at all....
You guys are to easy.....what is Rockys favorite drink? What is Roots favorite shoe? What is the windspeed on an unladen Swallow? Answer these and all shall be revealed!
[ QUOTE ] and why can't i proof read? christ, i usually don't type that bad... [/ QUOTE ] hahaha! i just re-read your post!
guess I got kinda excited and forgot all about introducing myself....most people call me moe, Im 23 and I live in Arkansas. My car is a 53 2dr sedan, Im just trying to get it running now...no garage and a wal-mart sack full of tools isnt helping me much though .
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