I am having some problems setting my 283 with 350 trans into my 1958 Chevy 1/2 ton pickup. Here's the set up that I have. First it's a frame off restoration and I've kept the straight axle but have add mono springs and disc brakes. The truck originality had a 235 with 3 speed trans. The 283 came out of another 58 truck that I had bebuilt and put a 350 trans behind it. I have the tubular engine and transmission crossmebers mounted up to both the engine and trans and it's sitting inside the frame. I removed the original trans crossmember but left the front engine mounts in place so that I could line up the engine. The problem that I am having is that I cannot get the engine to sit level(at the manifold) and I cannot get the tran lower in the rear. Both tubular crossmembers are just sitting inside the frame, the trans crossover is sitting on the bottom of the frame inside the C channel and the engine crossmember is sitting at the top of the frame inside the C channel, but have not been bolted up yet to the frame. Any suggestions on what I could be doing wrong. Thanks for your help.
If this is like my setup. ( tci tubular tranny mount) then you will have to fabricate some spacers to drop the crossmember below the frame. this is what i had to do, and it is very simple. good luck hope this helps.
I boxed my frame and used different engine side mount than what you are using however my tranny mount was a square tube type and it located the tranny a little below the frame as stated earlier. You do need to have the intake manifold level with a torpeedo level on the carb mounting surface, level from side to side as well as front to back and that will determine where your tranny mount should be. You may have to fab some spacer to have the tube mount below the frame. If you are using the stock front motor mounts to locate your engine then you should be fine from side to side and centered in the engine compartment, so you will need to check from front to rear. The original tranny crossmember will have to be removed as you already know. Hope this helps
Thanks for the info Bill55 and Lowchevman. Mounting the trans mount under the frame seems like the best idea. Thanks again
tranny mount Over the weekend I was looking at the set up I had and decided to see if the orginal tranny mount that I had removed would work in place of the tubular one. Will low and behold the orginal mount is just about a perfect match when moved back to the tail of the 350 trans. A couple of spacer between the rubber trans mount and crossmember should do the trick. That will level up my engine and give me the angle I need for the driveshaft to the rear. Has anyone done this before. It seems like such a simple and inexpensive way to go when installing a 350 trans. Les
