Motor Swap Pics (350 to 500)

[Earl Junior]

I'm tired, I'm sore, and I still smell like grease.

But the motor is in my '68, and almost ready to hit the streets. It took my brother-in-law and I about 15 hours total to accomplish this much. And we're about 95% done.

I've got to find a lower radiator hose, have the drive line shortened (2 inches! I really though it would fit without cutting), and run a few vacuum lines. Then I hope to have some nice smoky burnout pics for you.

The swap went surprisingly well. I followed longhornmail's layout and it worked superbly.

See the carnage

[Yukon Jack]

Couldn't get your link to work, eager to see the pics. 15 hours, that sound darn fast to me - mines taking for ever. Wish I could get more than just a few hours of work per day.

[crazy longhorn]

Earl, for the bottom hose....take a 73 up sb pu hose & flip it end for end. I ran a 425 cad in my 69, & thats what worked for me. If you still have the curved neck in the bottom of the rad, you may need to swap it for a straight neck......mine did have the straight neck(large diameter,not the smaller neck in the later radiators). Good luck......crazy man

[Zumo]

Man that's some kind of horn setup you have there. I bet it sounds like a train(s).

[neonlarry]

That's a Preadator carb, isn't it? How does it work on the Caddy engine? I was thinking about getting one for a while, but I hardly ever see anyone that has one.

[Randy70C-10]

Now lets see someone squeeze a Hemi into one.

[Earl Junior]

Yukon: It should be working. I guess try it again?

Crazy: Thanks for the info! After having to create an upper hose I was looking for something easy to use in the bottom.

That is a Predator. I haven't had a chance to run it yet, still after a few parts. I'm hoping it'll work well. If not, I've got an 650 double-pumper I'll be running.

[crazy longhorn]

on the upper hose, I used a shelf cad item......I beleive it was for a 78 sed deville/425, what the eng came out of. at any rate, the hoses fit like the factory put them there. Did I hear somebody say HEMI? Wheres the welder!

[neonlarry]

That is a Predator. I haven't had a chance to run it yet, still after a few parts. I'm hoping it'll work well. If not, I've got an 650 double-pumper I'll be running.

Cool. I'd like to know if it works for you. The only person I have talked to that had one said that they really liked it, but they don't idle well with an auto tranny. But, I guess there is only one way to find out if you like it Did you do anything else to the engine other than the intake and carb?

[imaindianoutlaw]

I am inpressed by your hard work!

[Earl Junior]

The guy I bought the motor from had some work done.

I'm not 100% certain, but I think (based on receipts I have) the motor was rebuilt using a Maximum Torque Specialties S/S Master Engine kit (details). The kit has been upgraded to include .030-over Keith Black pistons, oversized rod and main bearings, and a custom ground flat tappet Comp Cam.

Gross valve lift: .531 intake, .538 exhaust
Duration at .006 tappet lift: 262 intake, 270 exhaust
Duration at .050: 218 intake, 224 exhaust
Lobe lift: .3090 intake .3130 exhaust
Lobe separation: 112.0
Valve timing at .050: Open intake at -3 BTDC, close at 41 ABDC. Open exhaust at 44 BBDC, close at 0 ATDC.

I've also got an Edelbrock Performer dual plane aluminum intake manifold, hydraulic lifters, Accel HEI set-up, and a flexi-fan (which my wife says makes it pretty).

Over-all the motor has about 1500 miles on it. The guy pulled it out of a 4x4, said it was too hot for the application. He was building a diesel stroker last I heard.

The hardest part of this was hooking up the power steering. I had to have one hose made from two different hoses, and a return line built from scratch. On top of my transmission lines I've got almost $100 in hoses!

Now, I just need to come up with $200 so I can fit an air cleaner in there. I've got about 3 inches to work with and thought a Holley Hi-Tek would look awesome.

Edited to add that those horns play the first eleven notes of Dixie. One of the few things I've ever bought from JC Whitney that worked as advertised.

[crazy longhorn]

D@mn earl, that caddy should "do it".....you need a "sit down, shut up & hang on " sticker on the glovebox door!

[racedvl]

Sweet!!!

[Earl Junior]

I got the motor running. Running well!

It took me a while to get that big carb tuned, it kept wanting to run really really really rich, but I finally got it leaned down.

All the hoses are in place, all the wiring is done, the exhaust (2 1/2" aluminized tubing into Flowmasters and 3" aluminized pipe out the side) is hanging in place and I finally found the short that was causing the reverse lights to activate with the brake pedal.

I took it for a short cruise around the block yesterday and boy does this puppy pull!

It pulls too hard, in fact. I'm either going to have to use neutral at stop lights and signs, or upgrade to disc brakes.

Also I twisted my flexplate in two. The part that bolts to the crank and the part that bolts to the torque converter and no longer the same. I'm hoping this won't be a recurring problem. Any suggestions on where I can get a heavier duty flexplate?

I was all set to post some nice smokey bunrout pics, but they turned out really fuzzy and the truck is out of commission for a while. But I promise I'll get some on here soon.

[Yukon Jack]

Sweet - thanks for the update. I wanna ride.

[dashadow]

Forget neutral. Get a higher stall speed torque converter and a line-loc to go with those disc brakes! Looking forward to those tire shredding pics!

[Longhorn Man]

Earl Junior, That is awsome I missed this thread the first time around.
Looks like it went fairly well for you...did you go from a TH350 to a Th400 or something?
If you want another stock flex plate, I have one hanging up in the basement off of an early 70's 472. 10 bucks and shipping.
I know I can't wait to get mine up and marking the street in front of my house.
It kinda looks like you set yours a little lower than mine, that's the only reason I see you needing to trim the frame in a couple of those locations.
I see you had to alter the frame the same way I did mine.

Can't wait to see you burning up the tires.
Figure out what pics you want on my site...hell, yours is done....tell me what all you want on my site, and it'll go on there.

[Earl Junior]

Originally posted by longhornmail
Looks like it went fairly well for you...did you go from a TH350 to a Th400 or something?

If you want another stock flex plate, I have one hanging up in the basement off of an early 70's 472. 10 bucks and shipping.

It kinda looks like you set yours a little lower than mine, that's the only reason I see you needing to trim the frame in a couple of those locations.

I see you had to alter the frame the same way I did mine.

It did go fairly well. I was amazingly surprised at the lack of technical difficulties. There weren't any problems that a BFH or Sawzall couldn't fix.

The motor I yanked out was backed by a four speed. After three POS Muncies I swapped up to a T-10, and now I'm using a TH400.

I tried to set my motor as low as possible because of the carb I'm running. I need all the clearance I can get to clear the sucker. I want to appear as stock as possible, body wise. I'm not a real fan of the cowl hoods, either the look or the price. I was going for a sleeper truck, but it is hard to keep a big block quite. Especially through 3-inch exhaust.

I got a new flexplate for nothing from a friend. The old one was bent (probably from sitting on an old tire in my garage for three months), and I'm hoping not to have this problem again. But I'm glad to know you've got parts if I need them.

[Longhorn Man]

Hmmm...my engine was on a tire for a couple yeras...on second thought, maybe I should hold onto that sucker huh?