Who has put an SBC in a '55 DeSoto or Mopar?

Ya, thats the ticket. I've got a sbc in my 50 plymouth. Just because thats what I had.. Mines got a 1980 firebird subframe and it fits fine.lol

 

I've got a Briggs and stratton in my garage...let's see....now all I need is a a '55 Chevy...a couple of motor mounts...Hmmmmmm

 

Fat Hack will be proud....

Mutt

 

Please be advised, the car is gone, I no longer give a fuck.

You guys sound like restorers, gadzooks, put anything but a mopar in a mopar? Sacreledge!

Please...

 

My 55 Plymouth has a 76 Volare K-member and a BB Mopar. Gotta love big disk brakes and power steering!

 

Why put a SBC in a Mopar when you should go with the BBC

 

Has any one ever put a 318 in a Belair?

 

Kinda what I was thinking.

This is a pretty cool board to discuss Hot Rods and I'm picking up a bunch of damn good info. But when you guys start bitching about a SBC in a fucking Hot Rod.....what the hell. I can see "not liking it" but frankly if it's what I got so fucking be it.

"Your" definition of "traditional" may be for nostalgia or whatever but mine is "I built an old somewhat hopped up HOT ROD in my garage without a bunch of fucking nonsense I don't need". Not in a shop....didn't have some custom shit fabricated....without high dollar tools...or some high moral ground or delicate hot rod sensibilities which would prevent me from using the fucking parts I want to.

I'm keeping the cost as low as possible (still under $5K and I may just go barely over) while I use the info I pick up here to rip apart and rebuild this '37 in under a month. The SBC is staying in it as it's taking me to Austin.

I'll take the experience from this one and apply it to the next one. That one will have something more "traditional" but maybe not. It'll depend a lot on my mood and my pocketbook and not some fucking opinion I read on a message board.

 

I guess all I am saying is they're not really that rare. I could count a good dozen in junkyards around here, some still with the Hemi in them. Probably will be around until scrap metal is worth it's weight in gold, give it a couple years.


In the end, it's your car and you can do what you want with it, right? If it makes you happy, who gives a shit what anyone else thinks.

Somewhere I have a car magazine with a feature on a '65-ish Corvette. Wild '60's psychadelic paint, flip nose, blown 427. Oh yeah.. it's a Ford motor. I bet that pisses some guys off... lol -

 

I got a little over zealous in my post. I've heard a LOT of shit from people around here who won't even change the oil in their car much less scatter one all over their garage and driveway.

I forgot I am posting in a Hot Rod forum with people who know what they're doing and have provided me with some awesome info and not having the exact same conversation with a coworker.

I have to remind myself that I've set goals for this one car to get me back up to speed and relearn shit my Dad taught me 20 years ago and I've forgotten. I've met all those so far and have taken a relatively big piece of shit that wouldn't move and barely ran and test drove it two weeks later after some serious bust ass work. I still have a lot of work ahead of me if I'm going to get this to Austin for Lone Star at the end of the month.

My mantra right now is "Under $5K and Austin....under $5k and Austin"

Oh......and this shit is FUN. I can't believe I stayed with motorcycles for so long.

 

Damn, didnt mean to cause a firefight. All I asked was if the sbc ever got into the mopar hoping to get some tips. Somehow this became an opinionated thread. Oh well, its funny watching people get their panties all bunched up.

 

Yeah yeah yeah.....instigator.

 

Yeah! I totally blame Josh!!!

I've been defending that car since I bought it 2 years ago......Finally sold it and I'm STILL defending it. Oh well, maybe one of these days, when I'm broke down on the side of some shithole road....that seafoam green, Chevrolet powered, four door DeSoto will save my ass.
xx
Brandy

 

I put a 440 in my 55 plymouth, and from what ive seen, the 55 desotos and plymouths have identical frames and front suspension. Ill admit it is a VERY tight fit, but damn if it doesn't look bitchin because it takes up every square inch of the engine compartment. Big block mopars are not the easiest to find, but if you find one usually you can get one cheap. They are a great pay off because as is they are torque monsters. As far as mods, you are going to HAVE TO take out the tranny crossmember. Stock manifolds also will not fit, i had to use sanderson shorty headers, but they fit perfect. I then used a summit no name aluminum radiator and electrical fan. If i have you any bit sold on this swap, email me and ill send you some pictures.

paul

 

mopower-
Go ahead and send me them pix! Thanks.
-bowite

 

Okay, guys & gals, I KNOW this is an old thread AND I'm a committed MOPAR dude. BUT, I love all American (and some foreign) makes, from 1901 to 2001 !!!

While I would love to see any DeSoto stay MOPAR and get hopped up a bit, I'd rather see an SBC in there than to see these wonder, unique cars go to the crusher.

I'm gonna be banished from the HAMB for this, BUT my small-block FI 350 Chevy has always been able to run rings around my FI MOPAR 318. Sorry. Before I'd stick a 318 in a two-ton behemoth like a '55 - '59 DeSoto, I'd go with a 340 MOPAR or big-cube Chevy, any time. You can put a Chevy in a Ford any day of the week, but I'd never put a FOMOCO product in a MOPAR or a GM. I've drivine a 351 Cleveland (for years) on and off, and it could hold a candle to my own 350 Chevy. And it couldn't hold the slippers of a low- or high-deck DeSoto, either.

If I owned the world, Hemis would rule. (Whether it be '50s DDC, the Elephant or this modern version.)

 

My 57 Plymouth has an LS1 in it. Runs all day long. I drove it from La to Tulsa and back with only 250 miles on the car since building it, no issues during the trip. That trip put 3k miles on it. Took it to San Diego the other weekend, again, ran like a champ. Yes, the knuckle draggers and purists hate me. Don't care.

When I was in Tulsa there was a guy parked by me with a 55 Plymouth sporting a caprice/ impala chassis complete with sbc drive train. he loved it, too.

I also saw last year a 58 Plymouth with an LT1 in it at the Woodley Park spring fling. Of course he, and I too, kept our hoods down.

They're out there. And, yes, I've also seen Chevies with mopar engines, fords with chevies, chevies with fords, etc.

 

I've installed big block Mopar engines in a '60 Pontiac, several '61-63 Ford Galaxies, a '69 Lincoln MkIII, a '73 and '86 Oldsmobile, a '68 Firebird and a '73 Chevy.

 

Don't know about that, but my pal in NC had a '55 Chevy gasser with a 413...crossram and all. Needed a mop for all the crocodile tears.