Hey my buddy has a 56 ford and we need a powerplant so he wants to use his chevy small block that has less then 500 miles on it insted of rebuilding his 460 or 302. so this leads me to this question, can someone point us in the right direction with this swap? anything can help us. thanks!
302 or 390 bolts in on the factory motor mount location with little work. Trans mount has to be made. Make the trans mount so it drops out. 65-7 Mustang radiator works well. I have never put a small block chevy in anything I own, so I don't know about the problems involved with one of those.
i no i no. if it were me i would put the 302 in it but he dont have the money to rebuild it or find a transmission. he has a th350 and the 350sbc that are ready to go. its mostly a lack of funds causing this swap and want to just be able to drive the car.
the car had a 460 and a c6 in it when he got it. we took it apart and found a bunch of bad news inside of the engine and the trans was full of water haha. it was just a shell pretty much.
Clean up, and rebuild what you have........Much less expensive, than trying to adapt a 350 into that Ford platform....... 4TTRUK
While it sounds crazy for your buddy to want to do that, I almost did the same thing with a Fox Mustang I own. I have a very well done 355 sbc and B&M transmission and the Mustang needs a motor. My Sons said they would disown me if I did it, so I am now building a 351 roller motor for it. However, when I was researching the swap I did find that a lot of guys have done it and aside from some front crossmember issues the sbc slides in pretty well. I imagine on your roomier car it would be even easier. If your friend is hellbent on doing it, just drop the sbc and trans down in there and see what is in the way and what it will take for motor mounts, trans mount, and exhaust. From there it will be just a matter of making all the systems hook up. I think because of the compactness of the sbc it would actually be a better fit than a sbf, especiallly with the rear mounted sump. You could always put Olds valve covers on it and no one would ever know the difference................uh, yeah, maybe they would. Don
That's not even funny- better to let that '56 sit or sell it to someone who appreciates it than put a frikken' Chebbie in it. Seriously, you can't find a running 360, 390 or another 460 to put in there? They just don't cost that much, and the FE fits right in there real nice
Haha I was going to give him my 425 olds to put in it.but he's he'll bent. Were 22 years old so money is tight
If you are tight on money putting the SBC in that year of Ford will bite your wallet,you need a front sump oil pan and the rear mount distributor is a clearance issue and then also the SBC's oil filter is close to the steering box so the exhaust will take some fab work,sell the SBC & 350 trans and get a 302 & C4 which is an EZ swap.
nooooooooooooo! 390's are cheap..! There are tons of them out there... please, pleeeaasse.. no Chevy in the Ford!....
what he said. while he might have the engine/tranny good to go, none of the "interface" items will hook up and will all need work to make fit. garb your buddy and a couple of beers, lean into that engine bay amd count the number of items that will need modifying to mate the SBC fit. Then cost them up. The sell the SBC to fund a Ford rebuild.
If this is a serious post and not just a poke in the ribs to rile up the Ford purists, It will be much cheaper to replace the Ford engine that was in there with a good running used engine of the same type and the associated parts for it. Changing to a Chevy means that all the Ford parts that you already have will have to be shit canned and similar Chevy parts purchased $$$ A lot of fabrication work that is not required if you keep the current Ford engine. I bet if you look around you can find a good running 460 with a C6 to drop in there. I always look for rusty complete cars to harvest the drive line. With a good donor car you can have it replaced in a weekend. The cheapest, easiest and quickest way is to keep it Ford if that is really the main concern.
I have seen 460s as low as 300 dollars on craigslist here in Ohio,you will spend way more trying to adapt another motor.
Sell the 350/th350 and buy a 390/c6 combo or 460/c6. I count 4 rusty trucks and 3 crusty cars on Craigslist in my area running and driving with that combo for a grand or under. Buy the whole vehicle, pull the driveline and re gasket and paint it, scrap the rest. You gotta pay to play So this may have to be a long term project...
Great advice given so far. Unless the car is a daily driver, time is on your side. Sell the Chevy, start a build fund. Sell all of your Ford scrap, add to the fund. Buy a decent running donor car, pull your parts and scrap the rest. You should be close to having enough in your build fund at this point. Time will give you a plan to follow. You can do inexpensive things to the car while you are waiting. Clean up the engine compartment, sort out wires, etc.
Think about things like driveshaft modification, exhaust system mods and radiator replacement. Switching to the 350 will require all that plus you'll have the sump issues mentioned above. It may seem cheaper to use the 350 but you can bet you'll be shelling out more coin than you thought. Like others said, sell the Chevy parts and go find a decent running swap candidate. You'll be glad you did.
Since it is already setup for 460/C6, that's the way to go! I got 460s and I am not that far away and I'm in the mood to sell somethin'. Stock take out to more.
I wouldn't even consider sticking a damn chev engine into any Ford ! It's going to cost you more $$$ and tons of hassle to put that chev into that Ford . You can buy a good 5.0 roller engine and AOD trans from a donor car , salvage yard or find one for less that $500 to $600 on Craigs L. that will fit right in with out a ton of mods ! That's the simplest engine/trans swap for that 56 Ford . All you need to do is stop by the 52 to 56 Ford Group and we will set you up with all the parts needed for the swap and even give you the parts numbers and where to find them . Can't be any easier than that . Then all you need to do is sell the chev junk ! Now how hard was that ? Retro Jim
Let's beat the dead mouse a little more - sell the belly-button and get a SBF. Don't get fixated on what you have versus what you've got to work with for trading material. Friends shouldn't let friends put Chevys in Fords...
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