250 to 292 swap.. help?

[drivinmydream]

tried looking through some other threads, but i didn't see what i was looking for.

blew a 4 inch hole in the side of my 250. looking at a 292 long block. will the oil pan swap? alt. brackets, balancer, starter, fly wheel, distributor? already heard about the motor mounts. basically im looking for any major hangups or parts i will have to buy for the swap... any information will be greatly appriciated.

[aggieguy713]

The distributor should swap, as far as the fly wheel and the starter go, if your taking the 292 out of an automatic and you have an automatic, no big deal, from manual to manual is ok too, but if you have manual and you took it out of an automatic, i think youll have to change it to a thicker one, Not sure, thats what i had to do when i went from 250 to 350.

[Wrenchbender Ret]

All the parts on the front of the engine will have to be from the 292. The oil pan will not interchange. It's an easy swap but you must use many of the parts from the 292. You can use the 250 flywheel/flexplate if you drill the mounting holes out a little, except the real early 292's used the 7/16 bolts. You need to extend the exhaust pipe a few inches.

[big_rig]

I know this thread is pretty old. It it's exactly what I'm looking for. Did the swap go smoothly? I'm pulling my 292 out for a project build this summer and have a 250 to go in so I can still drive my truck over the next few months. Will the flywheel off of the 292 fit the 250? Water pump pully fit? Is the motor mount different or just needs to move? I've heard the alternator and power steering brackets will need to be changed. Any more details would be greatly appreciated. Also, did you remove the fenders and rad or just lift the motor out straight up?
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['68OrangeSunshine]

Hi BigRig-- I'm not positive, but I think the flywheel off a 292 will fit the smaller L6s. 292s came with 11" flywheels like SBCs. Possibly 230s and 250s came with 10.5". As long as you use the bellhousing that was on the 292 and the clutch and frix disc fit I'd guess it's OK.
Motor mounts: the passenger side 292 tower is different, the drivers side is the same. The passenger side mounts from a 250 may be the same as the drivers side. Get some extras at the junkyard.
Power steering brackets for the 292 are rare as most were used on fleet work trucks that came with no frills.
The water pumps are different. The 292 pump has more outlets. The pulley shaft should fit, but the harmonic balancers are totally different.
When I rebuilt my engine in 1977, we just pulled the hood and swung in the engine only. When I rebuilt the original engine in 2005, we tore the dog house down and swung in the whole engine and tranny. It makes getting to all kinds of connections a lot easier, but then you have to rebuild all the body work again. [Also we installed with the wrong throw-out bearing and it had to be changed, so the driveline and bellhousing had to come off again-- Murphy's Law bit me].

[big_rig]

Thanks for the insight. I was hoping it would all switch across. And as for power steering, the previous owner built their own bracket and welded it directly to the frame.. It has horrendous torque steer under load as the engine picks up the front corner of the truck when it loads up. The first thing I have planned is to cut the damn thing loose before it really rips something up.
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['68OrangeSunshine]

Yeah, the 292 is a torque monster. Gotta "love" POs! They can make life interesting. P/S brackets for the 250 are not that rare. I think you need to make a junkyard quest. Tip: see if you can talk a junky out of an L6 valve cover that's dinged, so you can cut out the top and make a special valve-lash adjusting cover. Those little V8 clips they sell to put on the rockers during valve adjustment, just fly off the smaller L6 rockers. Also they only sell you 8 to the pack. You need 12 for an L6.

[chvtrkman]

big_rig, I'm not 100% sure about the flywheels being interchangeable.
I seem to recall reading somewhere a few years ago that the 292
uses a 168 tooth flywheel,but the 250 uses a 153 tooth flywheel.
If I were you i would do some more research on this.I had to put a
new flywheel on my 292, I bought it at a local NAPA Auto parts.
It had to be special ordered....just my two cents.

[50bomb]

I am dropping a Inline 250/th350 in my 67 and the 250 was originally a standard 3 on the tree. It had a 168 tooth and now I bought the a/t flywheel with 168 tooth for the th350