Engine Swap - More Pwr

[Houston54]

The V8 I have been running in the 54 was running pretty well. It is a low compression 355 with Edelbrock cam/timing/intake/carb. I was getting 14-16 around town with it and had plenty of power to spin the tires. However it did have one major flaw which was the oil pressure. Once it got hot the pressure would fall to 20 or less at idle which is not what I consider healthy especially if I was to hang an AC system on it which I am doing the near future. The oil pressure fault is all mine as I did not back check the work the machine shop performed. It turns out they did some pretty shoddy work on the crank, rods and the heads. They are no longer in business though so I guess that says something.

The solution was to build up a 350 4 bolt I had laying around for a few years. I had a new machine shop (Motor City) perform the work. The block is a 1970 010/020 casting which was taken to .030 over and had new cam bearings and freeze plugs installed. The forged crank was done .010 on the mains and .020 on the rod journals and balanced. The rods were checked (two were replaced) then mounted to some Sealed Power H345NCP flat top pistons. The rest of the motor includes a Crane Energizer Cam kit #100052, new crane pushrods, CompCams Magnum roller tip rockers, Melling 55 oil pump with steel pump rod, 487 heads (76cc) with exhaust ports smoothed out (Motor City had recently redone these heads for the old motor), high vol water pump, Mallory Series 85 HEI dist, Holley fuel pump, 8" summit balancer, Edelbrock Performer intake and 1406 carb from the old motor and the Hedman swept back shorty headers I was running before.

Here are some pics of the assemly and install.

The clearances on this motor (Mains and rods) all fell right into spec so I am not expecting any oil pressure issues. Once I get the truck back up and alive I will be installing the new AC system. Having gone one year already without one in this area was enough for this old guy.

[Houston54]

Install pics

[Houston54]

and some more

[pgf545]

Hey Looks great! Is it running yet? And if so.....

Yeah the AC is going to be great...these 100 degree days are rough. I was looking at the weather this morning and it was already 86 degrees and 90 percent humidity at 5am in Galveston, I use them and Hobby for our weather. Geez that is out of control. Have fun with it.

Bernie

[Houston54]

I have not started it yet. I decided to make a few more changes while I had the front clip off. The last one is changing out the upper control arm bar/bushings on the left side. Did the right side awhile back and was very happy with the handling improvement. Might also change out the front springs for some with a stronger spring rate if I can find them.

Hope to have it on the road this weekend and at the Sat Nifftee-fiftees cruise in.

[steve53]

sweet stuff! you have officially made me jealous

[Houston54]

Got the upgrades (control arm bushings, new springs) completed to the front end and the front clip re-installed over the past couple of days. Finished the valve tuning and the timing last night before taking it out for a short drive to see if the new springs were worth it. The results are fantastic. One of the best changes I have made to the truck.

Also changed out the master cylinder to replace the plastic one that just looked out of place on the truck.

Engine seems to have a header leak that will need fixing but it should be road worth by this weekend.