Hi everyone, I’m new to the H.A.M.B. and to car restoration in general. I’ve been trying to gather information and learn some things over the past several months and I hope to continue to learn with your help. I’ve been looking at the 49-53 Olds Rocket 88 coupes. However, I’ve seen a few 76 coupes and I was wondering if I can swap out the inline six for the v8 303. The 76 has the hydramatic transmission, so I was wondering if it’s a fairly straightforward swap. Thanks. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Welcome aboard Jed. I have never done that swap but don't believe that it would be too difficult so long as you had a complete 303/324 to work with. The hydramatic may be a different animal though and would be worthy of more research as the torus etc may be different in the six cyl equipped 76 models. Finding a person capable of working on the hydramatic may be a bit problematic as most are long gone. However, many members on here have opened them up to do their own rebuilds. Parts are available still from certain vendors. Lots of info here: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/social-forums/hydro-tech.671/ Remember that rebuilding a 303/324 is not an inexpensive thrill. Parts are not cheap, labor expensive making a complete rebuild fall into the 5 grand arena unless you can do a lot yourself of course. Whatever you do please don't think about installing a SBC or LS1 into that new ride when you find the right one....
Jed, Phil just went thru his hydramatic in his poncho. He did a great tech on it and it is imbedded in this thread: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/mild-custom-51-pontiac-chieftain.1171852/
vtwhead, thanks for the info. If I can get my hands on one, I definitely will not be putting a SBC in there! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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