I have a line on a '49 Chevy 'burb', the body is nice but not too nice as to not chop it up. The engine, trans and everything is better off, off the car. My question is how hard would it be to take a donor car and put that power train under the '49s metal work? Something like a late model full size Chevy truck? Anyone done something like this? Just wondering on this "idea" before I go ahead and make it a reality...
They make kits for about anything you could possibly want to change on that car. Motor mounts for a V8; trans crossmembers, there are existing rearends that will bolt on the stock rear springs as well as kits to change the whole works; front suspension kits, or some guys use a Jaguar XJ front suspension instead... Yeah, you're kind of asking "does the sun rise in the east" here.
As rusty said, the parts are all readily available. Just a matter of whether or not you want to lose the nostalgia factor you get from the inline. Too many people swap in V8s and scrap the sixes. If you absolutely refuse to go old school, then go crazy and find something interesting to swap in the isn't a small block. You'll have to fabricate most if not all of your bracketry and mounts etc, but if you're any good with metal that won't be a problem for you. The thought of using something crazy like the inline 6 that GM put in the late model trailblazers has been in the back of my mind, or maybe a supercharged buick 3800. Just can't get over the awesome sound of the old sixes, the old school look...you know...all that! Got a 230 out of a Chevy II in my '52 and don't know if I'll ever pull it! But of course it's your rig to do with what you please. Just nice to go to a car show and see at least one or two vehicles that don't have the same damn 350s in em.
I can see where all you guys are coming from. I'd really like to rebuild this thing to a hot rod truck but I'm sure it'd take a bunch more work to bring it up to snuff. If I were to buy the truck the body would be the only thing really usable. I would not put a standard 350 iron block and an auto behind it. That's been done to death, back, and death again. A six cyl would be a cool mill to drop in. But I dont think I can support another build. Three jobs, school and such doesn't really leave a whole hell of a lot of free time to build cars huh? Might just build a model truck instead. Work out some ideas that way....
You can put whatever frame you want under that thing!!!!!!!!! Just depends on how much CUTTING you're willing to do! I was going to keep my straight 6, I actually bought a freshened up one from a friend. HOWEVER, I got doing some research on how to convert the touque tube to a driveshaft rear, and you talk about a pain in the ass! The easiest and most reliable thing to do is a 6 with a T-5 trans, but then you're talking adapter plates, cost of trans, clutch, ect.. Plus, If I was going to keep it a manual with a 6banger under the hood, you gotta have shift on the Tree! so If you swapped the T5, Thats a no go. Ultimately I would have gotten a totally weird drivetrain, but I wanted to keep some basics. A friend had a Lexus SC400 with a V8, auto, and IRS I considered, but there would be no nostalgia at all in that. Get creative!
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