My 19 year old son has watched my grandfathers 1951 3600 sit in our barn since he could walk. Ok he wanted to restore it.. My fathersaid sure.My father inherited the truck when his dad past away., I had no desire to ever fix it up.Especially since I watched my dad sell his 49 five window for fifty bucks when I was around ten years old..You know the short bed half ton more desired version. ok enough history. The engine has a later engine a 235 out of a 53 or 54 bel air, something about a 2 speed power glide configuration.. Long story short unable to locate the proper head.. I talked him into a small block and an automatic tranny. We tried shoe horning that assembly in there this evening.. wow is that tight.. Tried two different sets of manifolds overs and unders. Did they ever make one that will miss the steering box? The under slung hits down low the overthrown hits up high. In relationship to the factory front cross member. How should the harmonic balancer be located?>behind? and above? in inches Which manifold option will work and leave the factory steering box in place. Thanks Eric Enk Martinsville Indiana
Some people shift the engine over to the pass. side just enough. Otherwise, the steering box has to be moved over an inch or 2.
manifolds I gave up and went with a power steering conversion with the box outside the rails, and headers.
What passenger side manifold are they using to gain the room to shift?I currently have the under slung exits out the rear and it is touching frame as we speak. Only other passenger side I have comes down out of the center,. or at least I assume it is a passenger side.........has a heat riser in it
-or- Be smart and put a proper 235 in there.... Your son will enjoy it and it'll be easier & cheaper too as 235's are being thrown away as we read this . FWIW , the '54 235 was a one year only engine , perfectly good yes and a true bolt in but a bugger to find that cylinder head when you need it .
Or put the 267 out of a late model in it like he already has purchased. Just to figure out how to shoe horn it all in there and keep the steering stock. Those hugger headers are fairly cheap all things considered.Probably our best bet. Thanks for all the advice.
Ok men it is not shiny.. It was wet. This truck had a half inch of dust on it. Has set in our hay barn for over 30 years.
It is his toy. I learned how to shift gears in this old truck when I was about 13. It was all green when we parked it. But when we washed it with soap a lot of the grime and green washed off!LOL I have located a set of 265 manifolds. and ordered a set of 1967 camaro 230 motor mounts. 7 bucks a piece locally. I prefer to not fool with headers as they always seem to leak and lose bolts. i have them on my jeep amc 360. Now tolocate a floor shifter set up for the tranny. turbo 200 I believe. the engine and tranny came out of an Elcatruck 1979
shifter I went with Lokar as a shifter for my auto they make several different ones and the look like an old four in the floor
I think next weekend there is a big swap meet up in Indianapolis. Might find a used shifter// or at least a cheap one.. His pockets are not real deep!
Cheap headers always split down where the tubes come together. I have a more expensive set and I have had to weld them up. The good ones are thicker and will last longer.
