Putting a Chrysler Industrial Hemi in a 52 Dodge truck

i would wait till you got the trans and bellhousing to position the motor.... but thats just me.

 

That's the plan. I just needed to get it set in there today to see how things fit. Really needed to do that so I could decide on the transmission. Starter position is a big question for me because of the location of the steering box.

I won't be fabbing up any mounts until I have all the pieces needed.

 

HH has 318/340 dampers machined to fit, not sure if smaller or not, may be, measure 1 & find out! I see your block has the '55 car front, the long BBC W/P will fit over that timing cover. Keep in mind you need room to pull the dizzy out as far as how far back you can go!

 

Very nice project man. I almost bought one of these trucks a few months ago, but with the rebuild on our Dodge motor, Mama said we didn't have the cash right now. I think as a general rule you should have about 4-5 degree angle down in the back and the same angle up on the pinion. I guess you could measure the pinion angle you have now and see what it is if your not going to be changing rear ends.

I thought '55 passenger cars were the first year for the short snout cams, am I wrong? Is my '55 C300 331 a short snout cam?

At least with your '57 intake you can drop an Edelbrock on it, my '56 Dodge (has no room to drill wider holes) has to run one of those darn cheapo adapters that looks like its going to be a pain to install.

I really enjoy watching your build, keep posting those pics.

 

I love the "INDUSTRIAL" script on the rocker covers !!! I also love the Pilot House trucks ... I know where there is one sitting in South Dakota ... Hmmmm

 

'56 is 1st year of the short snout, if your '55 has 1 it's been replaced! The Edelbrocks will drop on any of the intakes, they're drilled for both patterns. You just have to open up the bore hole for clearance.

 

Dan, Looking Good!

Clearance for the balancer must also include space for the sheave and belts. ¼" does not allow much room for movement.
Mopar balancers are all right at 7¼" od...not sure that you will find anything smaller.

You can vary from having the carb flange dead level, a couple of degrees is workable. If you get in the 4-5-6 deg range then you will need a wedge under the carb.

.

 

Correct on the little spiral drive-in rivets. Any good electrical shop that rebuilds electric motors will have these, I used to install new ones on electric motors at Westinghouse.
(if all else fails, McMaster-Carr has them in stock)

 

Thanks for the lead on the rivets.

Gary...I put the pulley on after those pics were taken and I'll have plenty of clearance. I will have it installed a bit higher than in those pics too.


Picked up a trans. TH350 that's already been rebuilt.




I've been trying to find a 'step by step' installation post here or online. No luck yet. I've never installed an automatic, so I don't know what the connections are. Any tips would be helpful.

I'll be calling around tomorrow for an adapter and order a transmission cross member. Once I have those, I can bolt the units together and do another test fit to design mounts.

 

wow. gourgeous truck man and awsome build! i hope my old b3b looks half as good as yours keep up the good work!

 

Spent about 4 hours today getting the engine & trans set in the truck so I can start to work on the motor mounts. Few pics from today.

Getting ready to go in:


Almost:


Sitting on a mount I made to hold it in place for now. It's sitting higher in front than it will be when secured to the frame, so it won't be at the angle you see now:



Need to think up mounts for the front. Here's what I'm looking at. I checked out the whole Hemi Mounts thread, but really don't have any great ideas. Anyone have any ideas that will help me?

Driver side:

Front view:


Side View:



Passenger Side:

Front View:


Side View:


I'd like mounts that would be a bolt in solution - I don't have any 220 outlets in the garage, so welding isn't an option yet.

From the front view, you can see the bolt in the crossmember where the original mounts bolted in. It would be nice to be able to have something that would bolt to the side of the frame and bolt into the front cross member too for extra stability.

 

Buy or borrow a 110v welder...

Have you had your radiator mounted in place after the engine was mocked up?

 

Haven't started on the radiator yet. I know I"m going to need to get a new setup and mount it about 4" forward of where it was originally. Plan on doing that by making brackets to move it forward.

I have a 110v welder...didn't think it would be enough to weld up mounts though.

 

what about radiator clearance.. any issues..

 

The tranny crossover is easy to make. Ditch the Fram.

 

Are you going to box the frame before you're going to fabricate/install the engine mounts? From what I can see in the pics, that's what I'd do first. Or combine the mounts with strengthening the frame somehow.

 

Box the frame in the area you plan to install a crossmember, use cardboard to make a template of the engine (and transmission) crossmember, then transfer it to probably 10ga. steel.
Maybe a pair of THESE
IMO, you need a 220V MIG or stick welder for an effective weld on the frame and crossmember.
I'd move the engine as far back as possible, with the frame level, I'd tilt the motor 3* down in the rear.
Tool-up!

 

I have a transmission crossmember already. It's a transdapt tubular mount with a 3" drop. The bracket ends slip over the end of the bar and then you weld it.

I may wind up using the Hurst mounts so I can mount the engine to the original cross-member. Just need to measure to make sure they will work.

 

This truck is going to we awsome, we are planing on putting a small dodge hemi in a 54 dodge my buddy owns so I'm keeping a close eye on this build.

 

George, I've not used Fram either and I hear most guys saying don't use them. What happened that they apparently are not good to use anymore? Just curious.

 

Looks like you could come off the frame with an "L" type bracket with some metal on the inside elbow to give strength to the "L". I would box the frame as also mentioned before. That driver's side is a little more challenging, but I think you could still make an "L", but you're going to have to get a bit creative with that other frame piece to the inside of the frame rail on that driver's side.....maybe box that whole section in?

That Hemi looks real nice in there dude, gonna be a sweet ride when you get it finished. I like the truck color as well.

 

There posts somewhere where a guy cut up all the brands of filters he could find. Fram was not lookin good for various reasons. Wix & a couple others did well.

 

I did read about the Fram filters. Right now, it's on there just as a placeholder until I get a better one. I'll probably change the oil to something good for break-in before I run the engine.

 

if you're gonna stick with the stock suspension, I reckon it can handle the load of this V8, but I'm not sure if there will be some vibration issues with the frame unless it is beefed up somehow, such as previously mentioned. Boxing the frame will help bear the brunt of torsional loading when the motor gets wound up. I haven't seen a '54 C-series frame when Dodge started installing the small V8, but my guess is that it had to be beefed up from the B-series not only for obvious geometry requirements of the V8, but for durability.

On the Pilot-House forum, I mentioned the triangular bracket from the flathead mount to the shock absorber. Mounting a triangular bracket to the frame web & crossmember would probably be easier to fabricate. I think if you can tie in to the existing crossmember to carry the weight of the V8, and using the frame rails to help resist torque, then you'll be moving in the right direction.

BTW, love them thar valve covers

 

There are a few other guys who have put V8's in this model and didn't box the frame. I'm sure it would be better to do that, but I don't really have the skills or equipment to get that done in my garage.

I'm waiting on measurements to see if the hurst mounts will work. I was bored tonight so I started to cut out a cardboard pad for the passenger side. Not sure if this idea will fly, but thought I'd post up some shots for opinions. I'm not looking to win the 'coolest frame mount of the year award'...just want something solid and functional.

I would put put gussets around the top flat section so it would support the weight of the engine.



I would use a spacer to mount the front part to the original cross member. That would give support to the front section to support the weight of the engine.


The gap between the flat piece and the frame has me concerned. The frame isn't level there, and I'm not sure how I could get just the part that goes under the frame to have the right bends in it.



This section would mount inside the frame. The circle is an existing hole in the frame for one bolt. I would put smaller bolts in each corner. I can't make this piece wider because you run into the shock tower bolts on the left side and the engine crossmember on the right side of this piece.



Think something like this would work?

 

that looks like you're heading in the right direction...note the floating power motor mount on the flathead 6, the passenger side is a straight brace so as to provide direct resistance to the engine torque. Ya might want to beef up the passenger side of your mockup to extend it closer to the shock mount so as to spread the engine loading over a larger footprint on the frame. This would help to reduce any localized torsion of the frame at the crossmember and reduce any chances of fatigue there.

Something else to consider is to have your motor mounts parallel to the engine block. This "wedges" the engine in between the frame, whereas the mockups now are parallel with the frame, which allows the engine to "wander". Angled motor mounts will disperse torque through the frame & crossmember & keep the engine centered in between the frame rails. The mockups are similar to industrial engine mounts, but those do not account for dynamic loads the engine will incur from inertia while traveling. The wedge mount absorbs more inertia than the flat mount because the wedge mounts resist forces in shear & in tension.

Anyhow, keep on rollin', yer on a good start...

 

I ordered a set of the hurst mounts. They won't be a perfect fit - I'll either have to modify the crossmember a bit to move the mounting holes or modify the mounts a bit.

Here's a shot of them I got from the underside of the engine (not on my motor). It might be easier to make these work.


I'm thinking that I could build/find some type of torque brace to help keep the engine from twisting. I've seen those on other cars - it mounts to the back of the head and to the frame.

 

Thanks for posting your project, very interesting. What will you do about replacing the original emergency brake drum mounted on the rear of the transmission? Will you change the rear end or add newer backing plates which have the emergency brake at the wheels?

 

MoPar Rules, great project Dan!

 

I do have a rear-end swap on the punch list for the project. The experts tell me that the current rear end won't handle the power of the new engine.

Once I get the engine/trans mounts set, I'll probably pull everything and work on the wiring and also start to hunt for a new rear axle. Various year Jeep Cherokee axles fit...just need to cut off the old mounts and have new spring perches welded on. If I can find one with disc brakes, that would be a bonus. I'd be happy with a drum rear setup.