348 Chevy or 371 Olds swap

[FredB]

I am going to build an engine this winter for my 60 short box. I have both a 1958 348 tri-power and a 1957 J2 Olds with tri-power. Not looking for big horsepower just something different. Truck now has 350/350 and I plan on keeping the automatic. The 348 should be a bolt in but I would rather have the Olds. My problem with the Olds is it has no side mounts and I would be looking at a front mount and the stock 350 trans mount. Since I will also need a trans adapter is this going to be too much stress on the belhousing bolts? I have the torsion bar front suspension and I like it but it does not leave much room for adding side mounts at the bell housing. Anyone tried this? Ideas?
Thanks
Fred

[jocko]

that's the easiest question I've ever been asked.... 348, hands down. Keep er all chev.

[Heater63]

X 2. 348 would be awesome.

[Pop's C-10]

348

[padresag]

Originally Posted by FredB

I am going to build an engine this winter for my 60 short box. I have both a 1958 348 tri-power and a 1957 J2 Olds with tri-power. Not looking for big horsepower just something different. Truck now has 350/350 and I plan on keeping the automatic. The 348 should be a bolt in but I would rather have the Olds. My problem with the Olds is it has no side mounts and I would be looking at a front mount and the stock 350 trans mount. Since I will also need a trans adapter is this going to be too much stress on the bellhousing bolts? I have the torsion bar front suspension and I like it but it does not leave much room for adding side mounts at the bell housing. Anyone tried this? Ideas?
Thanks
Fred

the olds wouldn't be that much of a problem to install. I mounted a 371 in my 32 chev almost 50 years ago(64). used a u mount around under the crank pulley and over to the the frame rails. i ran a chev tranny behind it and mounted under the trans. I doubt that you can put a 350 behind it( they may have a way to adapt it). it would give you more snort than the 348.
you wouldn't need to run mounting at the bell housing
ron

[jonzcustomshop]

http://rossracingengines.com/
this guy is the master for olds engines, he has an adapter to run a modern trans with the old olds.
I would give him a call about mounting options, I was under the impression that you do not want to mount an engine/trans only at the ends, because you will get a little bit of sag in the center.
seems like the front mount on the olds should be similar to the way the 60 6 or v8 is mounted in your truck, and might be easier than trying to set it up for the side mounts on the 348

[padresag]

you could get a mount that mounted to the frt of the eng and went under the balancer and out to the frame rails. it was a common mount esp for early fords and it would sit on the early ford mounting holes and with the mount on the rear of the trans , you would have 3 point mounting. I also run that same mounting on an olds that I had in a 38 ford sedan coupled to an old ford box. you could also run the same kind of mounting on a sbc utilizing the 2 mounting holes on either side of the balancer whickh would have been joined together by a u-plate under the balancer and from the bolt holes out towards the frame rails. was quite common 50 years ago
ron