SBC into a little T-Bird??

If you have an open mind, you dont limit yourself to one brand...


And I'm not saying you cant make something cool out of an early T-bird.



But to me, a stock one is just a soft & overprized pseudo sportscar...

( I'll have to admit, though...
Y-blocks sound great.)

 

You are so right and would not have one.

 

This is why I like these threads.. There is always somebody that has to get "personal".. It's a fucking car... How does an engine swap make somebody a punk?? I sold the last y-block that came my way for less than scrap price. It went to comebody that liked and had a use for it. It didnt end up coming back as a Kia. The guy that wanted it is a good dude. Should I think less of him or call him names because his tastes are different than mine??

My empty head did a small block Chevy into a '57 t-bird in the 80's. The guy that owns the car loves it and is driving it to this day. I have been in that car at 70 mph in the 15 freeway heading to Vegas with the air on in July. It never missed a beat.

.. So, From one PUNK to another... Have a nice day.....

 

There, I fixed it for ya.

 

Ha ha thanks yoyo.

 

You're right you never could have gotten those results with a Ford..... right?

 

Oh, come on. You've been here long enough to know this is a HOT ROD and CUSTOM forum. I'd like to see some of the more notable builders on here get their hands on an early bird. I would personally keep the Y. But wouldn't condemn a different choice..

 

Why do people get so upset? Its only a car, and this is, as Dreddybear says, a hot rod and custom forum.
Ive always thought hot rods should have a diffrent brand engine.
Same brand into same brand is a street rod way of thinking to me.

 

Same brand engine as car is Street Rod thinking??
I thought 80% of all "Street Rods "are SBC powered Fords.....

 

The very definition of a hot rod was a Model A with a Ford Flathead mill for the first 2 or 3 decades of the sport. Brand X Y or Z into Ford is a non- traditional move if you ask me.

I saw a guy remove a good Flathead from a nice `39 Ford because of a light rod knock. This problem could have been taken care of in the chassis by dropping the pan. His solution was to gut the driveline and hack the X- member to install a 305/350. After it was all done he still drove the same speed so it's not like that soulless 305 was a major improvement. In fact I pass alot of these Chevy powered street rods on the freeway with my Flatty on the way up I 4 to the Turkey Run every year. You guys are brain washed.

 

VS living in the past by authoritarian rules?

 

I can't imagine it would be that big a deal, like as has been said you'll probably need an early chevy II pan, you can buy them new from your favorite catalog speed shop.

I would tackle it in a heartbeat (no pun intended), I started out a ford man but got bit by a vampire and now I'm a creature of the night and need GM blood to survive.

That said and all the naysayers aside, you have to determin if you are a restorer or a hot rodder. If you lean towards restoration than you can't use anything but a ford in it. But if you are a hotrodder get out the shorhorn and put the stoutest engine you have in there.

So what year baby bird you got? ya wanna trade it for a '38 ford? The wife likes birds and i've got a hell for stout 390 that is programed for her '38 but I could change direction.

 

Ok, now you are making more sense than some of the guys who expect a guy to spend 10,000 on and engine just to keep them happy and don't understand that some people want to run what they know.

You should be able to install the engine/trans combo in a way that you don't have to modify the Bird and at a later date pull the 292 out from under the cover in the corner of the shop and stick it right back in. A happy wife who has a car that she drive and get back home in on a regular basis trumps some guy with a blue oval tattooed on his butt being happy with what you do with you own car. As several said, those birds were the subject of engine swaps almost from the day that they were new.

 

I have two friends with SBC powered '55 Tbirds. One was built in '61 and the other in 2000. The first one started out with a 283 and over the years has grown to a 383 and 5 speed. The newer is a 406 with 700R4.

Both cars are works of art and the conversions look like they came from factory. It may be sacrilidge to Ford purists but in fact they have the best of both worlds. Style and lots of power.

 

Must be...

A buddy of mine is putting a Dz302 together for me, and I'm collecting parts for a Formula 2 spec Lotus Twincam ( English Ford with a Lotus head )

Cant wait to drive them, these engines will be my nicest yet.

Other engines I own are a couple of SBC's, a couple of SBF's, an Abarth, English and German Fords, a Caddy and a Nailhead.


I'm aware of my limitations...

I just have no imagination.

 

Back in the early 60's I remember one with a nailhead in it. Which in my estimation one of the coolest looking engines ever.

 

I'm not really a purist and the only gripe I have is using a "everyone & their granny has one too" 350 Chevy. I understand it's what you have on hand but it be cooler if it was a BBC or BBM or an...AMC 390"yeah I'm a Rambler nut what can I say" lol As for swaps I gotta dig up pics of my buddy's old 23 T bucket with a healthy 401 AMC in it. he had people scratching their heads raw wondering WTF was in that thing lol

 

why are you so upset that other want to put what they want in a car .myself i love y-blocks(coolest sounding motor made) but would drop a sbc,s in it in a heart beat seen alot of them with sbc in them you are the one thats brain washed this is a custom and hot rod site if he wants to put a 6 cyc amc and build it to run ilike hell cool go for it but calling people names cause they don,t like what you like not cool maybe you just had a bad day but learn that there are other motors besides fords and they are all cool

 

Ah hell the name calln' part isn't that big a deal I call people names a lot.

You are on dead nutz as far as being a hot rod site. too many of the fellas loose site of that fact. The everyone and their grandma running an SBC thing is just dumb, we are not street rodders we are hot rodders. I got an SBC that I have run in about 5 cars over the years and I don't think it is an everybody and their grandma engine.

Anyway thing stock is an everybody and their grandma thing.

 

I've heard rumors of a BBC/'57T-bird abortion going together in northern Michigan. If I get any definite info I'll pass it along.

Frank

 

I saw this '55 with a 305/350 at the LARS. The guy said it was no trouble and drove fine. I think the car is in Phoenix now. Works for me - a Chevy powered Ford roadster. What's wrong with that?

 

Von its a good idea because it gets almost everyone's panties in a bunch.

Most of them need a good shakin'. There are too many restorers and collector around anymore. To say that a baby bird needs a "Ford" engine to have any value is the same as saying that a '37 chevy needs a stove bolt to be worth anything or heaven forbid you should stuff a hemi in a duece.

Hotrods only have value one way that is the value that the builder/owner gets from them because they built themselves a hot rod. If it gets sold or traded later for more than invested that's a good thing but the bottom line is that hot rodders build them they way they see fit and lets the chips fall where they may.

 

Sorry, but no...

That is a terrible reason for doing it.

Pissing people like that off is not much of a challenge, and you dont have to go to the trouble of building an entire car to accomplish that.

Seems to me that building a car to piss people off makes no more sense than building one to get people's approval...


But if you feel a early T-bird with a SBC would be a superior vehicle to an original one, then that would be a really good reason to do it...

 

There's so much room in a small bird engine compartment that they are just begging for engine swaps. The reason to do it is because Ford didn't put big enough engines in them when new! For the most part, cars with original engines in them are boring. Too bad that they didn't make more room in the driver's compartment though.

 

i never realized my pics didnt load until checking back in . .

 

You've convinced me guys what a wonderful way to go with this Ford classic.

 

I usually lean Pro Choice, but this time I have to go Anti Abortion....

 

why doesn't anyone ever throw a 302/aod in a chevy???

 

And not one participant on this subject told you to put T-Bird valve covers on that SBC....I'm dissappointed

 

In 1957 my dad had a 1955 Bird with a Chry Hemi in it
Doc