hi from hawaii, i have a 1951 chevy styleline 2 door sedan that im working on. it has the stock 216 cid with the standard 3 spd trans. in it. im planning to swap out the whole drive train from engine to rearend, with a drive train from a later 70's year nova which is a newer 250cid with an automatic trans., and open driveline. and now i just have a few questions on how to go about doing this transplant. i really wanna stay clear from stuffing a boring small block chev in that thing. being on this website and on the inliners.org site really got me hooked. well i know its possible but kinda carefully doing some research on the project and not just jump in and butcher the whole car. and what better choice to go to for advice about it than the masters. hehe i really hope you can give me some pointers on what to do, and what not to do and any other stuff that i need to purchase to get the ball rolling. im on a budget so this car is being built hot rod style, bare bones and just the essentials.
-so when doing this kind of swap i noticed that both motors will use the side motor mounts and looks like theyll mount very similar. but looks as if the newer 250 cid will sit just a little lower in the engine compartment of the car. lower than the 216 cid.i am using motor mounts from stovebolt engine co. do you think that i will need to cut out some of the fire wall to make clearance? (oh yeah im still using the stock suspension thats on the 51'chevy.)
- are there any other issues with clearance that i may face? i will make my own trans mounts and lengthen the drive shaft if i need to. are the braces on the firewall gonna be in the way
-when mounting the th350 transmission what wil happen with the old transmission crossmember the the standard trans and torque tube was bolted to? after mounting the newer six cylinder in there and mate up the automatic transmission, what happens next? as for the open driveline conversion, when i remove the rear end from the 70 nova what do i need to do in order to mount it to the 51' chevy? im not too clear on what and how those super slide leaf springs/ rear end mounting kits work(chassis engineering, posies, etc.) when removing the rear end from the nova do i need to use its mounting hardware? or do i mount it like how the standard trans and rearend is on the 1951 chevy? i remember reading somewhere that the newer open driveline rearends are positioned differently onto the leaf springs than it would on an older car not having an open driveline with a standard transmission. i may be using a 10 bolt from a 70 nova. what would i need to mount this rear to the 51'.
well thats all for now... thank you so much for taking the time to read this and i really admire what you contribute to this whole kulture of klassic kustom kar building. and you like many others inspire me and this younger generation to keep it alive and old skool'...
i am open and all ears to any and every kind of feedback and advice you can offer. thanks and aloha from hawaii...
