You ever pop a hood and scratch your head?

Not an "Open the hood" story, but interesting anyway. A bunch of guys in our vintage race club used to run three-quarter midgets with Crosley engines. One of the guys decided that he waned to try something different, so he pulled the engine out of his Moto-Guzzi motorcycle and put it in the TQ. You can guess where the Crosley engine ended up. Damn good-looking professional job, too.

 

That would be a great engine for the galaxie!

No, not the car. I think it could generate enough torque to induce planetary rotation and gravity to keep the Milky Way in business.

 

I was out driving around one weekend and I spotted a mid sixties chevy pickup for sale so I stopped and checked it out...it had a 472 cadillac engine in it...the owner asked me if I liked older cars he had a car I should check out..so we go around the back of his house to an older shed.. and inside is a 39 or 40 dodge with a 57 corvette engine with factory dual quads...

 

A few years ago, my nephew bought a 1970 Chevy 2 ton grain truck at a farm sale. After checking date codes and casting numbers, he found out that it had a 425 HP 427 Chevy big block in it. He also has a FarmAll W9 with a 455 Olds in it.

 

How about a scalded ape? Although that's not a very pleasant thought either.

I saw a Mustang II at the wreckers with a 351C bodged in. The drivers side had an iron exhaust manifold while the passenger side had a big piece of the unibody missing to allow a fenderwell header outlet. Must have melted the tire, if it ever ran.

I've been surprised by many cars with giant hood scoops.... that had stock engines underneath.

 

Cadillac never made a 572.

 

And here's one more that will surprise you when he opens the hood! The injectors stay with the hood when it opens and there's a single 4 barrel on a 350 under the hood. Looks like the real deal with real Hilborn stacks fitted to a pan under the hood!

 

I saw a late 50s F-series pickup with an IH 6 cylinder, in daily use. I think the strangest I saw: customer asked me to come around to his place and look at his pickup. It was a '90 F150, XLT Lariat, looked like the truck my grandfather used to have. Very sedate. Opened the hood and it was pure musclecar era Mopar: 440 6 pack with all the decals and trimming including Mopar alternator, etc. I don't know that he ever did get it on the road.

Used to do a lot of work for a Mercedes/Jaguar mechanic and he did a number of SBC transplants in Jags. I'm the type that really doesn't like to see those engines outside of a Chevy but I have to say, from the Jags I've driven it was a real improvement. They actually would start and run...amazing!

 

You know it fab32, RustyNewyorker Has the best stories about damn near everything ever made........... But no guesses on what he'll come to the table w/

 

I stand corrected...

 

My first car was a 1978 MGB, all original. Eventually I wore out the little four banger and pulled it to rebuild. I was 15 and left to military school later that year. Fast forward damn near 8 years and I'm back working for the family business and the old MG is still sitting in the corner of the shop yard covered with a tarp. Now, in the mean time, my grandmother had passed away leaving behind her Ford Maverick with a 200 Ford inline 6 and Auto trans. Not the setup I ever, ever dreamed of, but the price was right and honostly, I was bored. So, a little banging on the fire wall with a ball ping hammer, some home made motor mounts, a little oil sump/pan modification, a glass pack muffler I found on the side of the road, a hole in the hood for the two barrel to stick out and one pair of ViceGrip pliers on the end of the shift cable later, the beast roared to life one dark night in New Mexico. My wife went on the maiden voyage with me and about 3 miles into it the throttle cable broke. I McGyvered it and got us home with, I kid you not, a condom. I actually drove it quit a bit before moving on to other things but it was definately a little WTF? It hardly used 1st gear of the three speed so it was more like a two speed and it litterly screemed down the road, even if you werent going very fast. It now sits out at my fathers place and I would be willing to bet the ViceGrips are still on the cable if anyone is looking for a good set. And here I am now, still married with two kids...in retrospect I guess I could have put that condom to better use.

 

I popped the hood on a 68 Buick at an estate sale and there was a mummified possum. Popped the hood on an 80s chevy pickup and there was a live porcupine laying where the left head used to be. I guess it was a porcupine head chevy???

 

back in '69 I traded for a '51 merc with a '66 327/powerglide. nice swap! (shud'da kept it.)

 

my buddy just got a 64 C20 short bed for free with a caddy 500 under hood, got it running in 35 mins. it does burnouts and thats all.