Engine Swap Tips

Street & Performance swapped an LS1 engine with a 4L60E transmission into Jim McKown's '77 Chevy pickup. Since the engine was obtained from salvage, McKown had to also secure the (ECU) computer and the mass air flow and oxygen sensors.

Street & Performance offers LS1 engine-swap motor-mount adapter plates for early Chevys. The plates position the factory engine mounts to the correct frame location, allowing them to bolt to the early Chevy towers.

Advance Adapters offers universal motor mounts. The company says the mounts will weld in to fit any Ford, Chevy, or Buick engine, anything up to a 30-inch inside frame width, as long as the framerails are parallel and they're 90 degrees to the ground. For narrower frame widths, the builder must trim the mounts to fit.

If you already have a small-block Chevy mounted in any type of truck and want to swap in a Hemi engine-a scenario becoming more common as 5.7- and 6.1L engines come into salvage yards-the S&P plates allow the engine to bolt to the existing mounts. In this case, a small-block Chevy was replaced with a Hemi in a '33 Dodge pickup.

This is the rear of a 4.6L Ford engine mounted into a '48-52 Ford truck by Fatman Fabrications. Almost anything will mount into this truck without any crossmember modification or recessed firewalls because of the distance between the firewall and the radiator core support.

This truck's owner bought a crate engine/manual transmission combination from Ford for his '48-52 F-1. The shifter on this combination didn't quite fit the original transmission opening in the floor, so Fatman's Kevin Weekly cut out a few inches at the very tail of the tranny. The shifter lever had to be fabricated to go forward from the bench seat in order to clear. Weekly always assumes the customer is going to use stock pieces, so everything he sets up uses stock firewalls.

In many applications, oil-filter placement is crucial. In the case of the '48-52 Ford with the 4.6L engine, the framerail interferes with the side-mount filter. Ford sells a remote adapter that screws onto the stock location and allows the filter to be relocated. This type of filter relocation makes sense on many applications. Even on the '53-and-newer Fords where the filter can be removed, it will leak onto the steering rack and crossmember when it's unscrewed.

On early trucks, the framerails are relatively narrow. Space is at a premium, especially when a power-brake master cylinder is included. The fix on this application was to move the clutch pedal for the manual transmission outboard of the framerail (arrow), which also allowed it to clear the firewall. This is another area where the builder has to be aware of clearances.

The Ford AOD transmission fits well in the '53-56 Fords. Because Fatman Fabrications does so many installations on those models, Kevin Weekly developed a firewall template by cutting a panel from a cab that was beyond repair. The template incorporates just enough of the firewall to mock up engine and tranny placement, while allowing the template to be moved by only two people.

The gray piece (arrow) is an adapter plate, which Kevin Weekly uses in conjunction with the engine mount for a 302/351W Ford to install 4.6L engines to '53-56 truck frames.

The heavily built 588ci all-aluminum big-block Ford ahead of a stock transmission produces 900 hp. In order keep the engine from over-revving, the owner used a Gear Vendors overdrive unit. The Gear Vendors unit bolts to the tail of the stock transmission. It essentially provides an overdrive to each of the transmission's stock gears, so there's a First gear, a First with overdrive, a Second gear, a Second with overdrive, and so on. The driveshaft must be shortened, but it's an excellent alternative where massive horsepower comes into play. This unit also works well when the builder doesn't want to swap for a stock, non-overdrive transmission-but wants to have the benefits of overdrive.

The Ford 460ci big-block (as with most other Ford engines) requires a rear-sump oil pan in vintage trucks, particularly with IFS. Fatman's Kevin Weekly uses this template for a Canton pan in setting up 460ci engines in '53-56 Ford trucks. Other pans have more of a slope from front to rear and can interfere with the crossmember. The Canton pan is very squared-off and fits even better in the '48-52 Ford trucks. The '35-41 Ford truck requires a recessed firewall for practically any Ford engine. Bitchin' Products is one source for recessed firewalls.

While many builders use actual components in setting up most of their engine-mount locations, some shops also have a supply of P-Ayr Products' plastic models of engine blocks, cylinder heads, and transmissions for use in mocking up drivetrain mounts. Steel inserts in the bolt-hole locations allow actual assemblies to be mounted on the models.

With a Ford 351W, the front of the oil pan can create interference problems with the crossmember because the front sump hangs down. How motor mounts are mounted is dependent upon how the engine/trans components line up, including the steering rack or stock clip. An installation may require the motor mounts be altered or even moved in order to clear those items. Rubber pads will settle over time, so vertical clearance may diminish after the installation. At least 1/2 inch of clearance is a good rule of thumb, which may necessitate tipping the motor back slightly. That puts the engine in a little more of an angle than is ideal, but if fuel will flow when the truck is going up and down hills, a degree or two of incline won't be a problem. While this engine is angled at about 6 degrees, once the truck is sitting at ride height and the frontend has come down, the engine will be at only about 3 degrees.

This Mopar 400ci engine in a Ford chassis is located with tubular side-mount motor mounts (arrows). Kevin Weekly likes this type of mount for practically all applications because it ties the motor mount to the frame-rail and the crossmember, so the triangulation acts as a (strengthening) gusset even when the engine is not in place, providing added compression and tension strength to the framerails. The other advantage is the steering connection isn't blocked, as it is with some motor mounts that weld onto the framerails.

The engine mount from PerformanceOnline.com for '63-72 Chevrolet/GMC trucks bolts into the factory holes and allows the conversion of a six-cylinder to a V-8 or an upgrade to common GM mounts. The kit comes with tubular engine brackets and a transmission crossmember. It works with TH350, TH400, and 700-R4 applications. Aaron Meecham of Performance Online.com recommended the optional polygraphite pads. "The polygraphite pads wear like iron," he said. "If someone is doing an engine swap, they are probably going to want to swap transmissions, too. The tranny mount we offer allows them to run their dual exhaust with no clearance issues, and it's pretty much just a direct bolt-up deal."

PerformanceOnline.com also carries an engine crossmember kit for the installation of a Chevrolet V-8 engine into a '47-55 First Series Chevy truck. The crossmember is made of heavy-gauge steel tubing and mounts between the framerails, allowing the engine to be located wherever necessary.

These polyurethane engine mounts are from PerformanceOnline.com. The company says these mounts offer added strength without the harshness of solid motor mounts and are impervious to chemicals. They're available for small- and big-block Chevrolet engines.

PerformanceOnline.com offers engine mounting brackets for '47-59 Chevy (shown) and '48-64 Ford trucks. These mounts are designed for use with independent front suspensions, where the support of a crossmember isn't needed. The brackets work with both small- and big-block Chevy applications and are made extra long so they can fit a wide variety of chassis.

Exhaust clearance is often another high hurdle for swappers to overcome. Companies such as Sanderson Headers make block hugger headers to help solve the problem. Sanderson makes a variety of models that fit the full range of engine options, including this newer-style FF1 for the small-block Ford in '32-and-newer chassis.