53 belair

I am currently hot rodding a 53 chevy, I have a 400 s/b-700r trans and a chevy 3.42 rear axle that I am installing this week. The 400 came out of a late 70's pickup, trans. out of a 90-91 chevy van and rear-end out of a chevy s-10 blazer. The motor is stock currently,except for the Ram horn manifold I am putting on.
My question is before I put it all together should I change the intake manifold and install amild cam. This car is going to be a daily driver ,but I still want it to get up ang go.

53 2DOO2

 

It would give you the chance to inspect/replace things while they are more accessible. I would definitely throw in a new timing chain. What are you going to use to lock up the trans? I have a side project with a 350/700r4 that I still need to figure out.

I have a 305/sag 4 speed, 3.42 rear in my 53.

 

i have a 53 chev proabbly got 2.73 gears got the 350 turbo 355 cu cam [very mild with rhodeslifters] and headders block huggers
mild street intake and edelbrock leaned, w hei and mod dist curve and advance, pull 16 MPG

I would say to make sure it is streetable when you get done, more tuning on ign and carb will be required for a cam and it will cost a few $$ for all the parts and related items but if it is in budget go for it
you will have a lot more power to the ground with the 3.42 gears

 

I have the trans at a tranny shop now, going thru it and putting in a shift kit, did'nt want to get it built and then tear the tranny out again.$$ hoped to get it all done over winter but $$ will get in the way. The 400 has 62000 miles on it, so when I get it in it should last a while. I do plan on a new oil pump,fuel pump and roller timing chain. Thanks for the reply. --- NEW GUY---53 2DOOR

 

700r4 wire your 4 prong plug to ground and positive to a switch and you can do it manually or you can buy the 700r4 lock-up kit available

 

Or just wire the lockup solenoid ground thru the 4th gear switch and it will lock automagically when it shifts to 4th gear.

 

Just to save you some time and aggravation, if you have stock front suspension, there is NO WAY you'll get a rams horn exhaust manifold to fit on the drivers side. You'll have no problem on the passenger side however. It's best to use rear dumping exhaust manifolds that came on everything from Camaros/Novas to PU Trucks. Or, you can go old school and use the early 265 style manifolds, but they are small port, and need some very creative bending for the header pipes to clear everything. The best exhaust manifold IMO to use, are the later model Caprice, Camaro, Firebird, that sweep upward, with the spark plugs below them, and dump to the rear. They are almost a cast iron header. Just remove the tin covers, fill any AIR ports, and possibly drill an extra hole in the head side flange (6 vs 7 bolt exhaust style heads). They look good, make for a good sound, and are free flowing for more power. This is what we used on my nephews 51 Chevrolet Business Coupe, with full length exhaust to the rear bumper, and using 36 inch long Cherry Bombs. The sound is beautiful! I am Butch/56sedandelivery.