i have a 1950 chevy pickup with a 235 and saginaw 4 speed. ive been thinking about doing a v8 conversion but many questions come to mind. questions such as...will i need a different harness, and radiator, and flywheel, bell housing, starter switch (since the started switch currently is a pedal on the floor) , will i need to improve my suspension, what parts will or wont fit. all of these im not too sure on. anyone know of any links or sites i can go to? or perhaps any of you have done it and can share tips?? please let me know! thanks in advance! -dan
Your wiring harness should work ok. The radiator will have to be moved closer to the V8 motor. You will need the V8 starter since you will have to disconnect the stater pedal and replace the ingition switch with one that can be used to start the motor by turning the key. The 235 bell housing may work on a older small block Chevy. You will have to move the steering box away from the motor for clearence. This can be done by removing the rivets that hold the steering box to the frame, install some spacers and use grade 8 bolts to secure the steering box back onto the frame. The suspension will be fine. Bottom line, it's not a hard swap to do. 2 sites that you can check out are: www.chevytrucks.org www.stovebolt.com
I believe the steering input shaft will interfere. I've heard that V8s need to be mounted off center some to allow this.
Actually, the even easier way is to keep the stock ignition switch and simply run a new pushbutton switch to activate the V8 starter. In fact, the coolest solution is to adapt one to the stock floor starter pedal.
I thought about doing the same thing with my 50 Chevy and sort of went about doing it the wrong way. Instead of doing my homework, I started into it with some new parts that I bought, only to find they wouldn't work. As far as your question, the suspension would work fine, but going with an upgraded IFS would work much better for everyday driveablity, and take the guess work out of it and get a painless wiring kit to make it all easy (painless also includes the ignition key and all diagrams).
I used Chassis Engineering motor mounts, later model bellhousing, 4 speed, and made a simple transmission mount. The moter ran a little warm idleing in traffic so I found a factory 4 core radiator (came out of a large early fiftys grain truck). 2nd generation Camero 3:73 posi rear end. I also used a pacer front suspension with a modified Cassis Engeneering instalation kit,early '70's tilt steering column and a Quick Wire wiring harness.
I'm in the process of doing this to my truck now, my motor is in tranny hooked up. Right now i'm in the mix of figuring out how to wire up my existing to the original wiring. Good luck with yours
I also just three month's started to drop in a small block in my 53 pick up with its original stuff, but after looking at everybody's mistakes and them telling me they wished they had done the hole 9 yards and the 99% that did the hole 9 yards used a 350/350. I decided to the extra mile with heidts 2" drop suspension, tilt, Z28 rear, 700R and a 454 with smooth 4" set back fire wall. my fire wall must have had a hundred holes in it plus rust at the bottom, that's when I said heck with I'm going all the way. when I figure out how to put pic's up I'll let you see were I'm at now.
I am doing this in a 53. I used a 58 truck bellhousing. The manifold in question is a 55 chevy 265 v8 manifold, which I am unable to locate as of yet. I will probably end up going with block huggers and moving the steering box over. Your wiring will adapt to the new engine, provided it is in good shape. Yes, it is much easier to do the whole damn front end....IFS, auto trans, etc. but this swap happened all the time back in the day.
Years ago I contemplated doing the swap with my 51 GMC 3/4 ton. The first thing I thought was get a V8 truck bell housing, which has the motor mounts on it. The idea was to use the same crossmember that was already there. This should allow driveshaft, clutch, and transmission to remain unchanged. Next was to fabricate a new crossmember for the front side mounts. Another possibility is to use tri-five front mounts, since the transmission mounts will absorb the torque. The tri-five mounts should line up with existing front crossmember. If not, simple tangs to extend back to mounts should be simple to fabricate and weld. As far as the steering, well frankly I don't recall how the steering box is mounted, so I can't help there. But shimming the box away is something to look into. A fan shroud should be able to take up the extra space between the radiator and fan blades. Mine was already converted to 12V and had a starter button. Hope this helps, even a little. Good luck
I highly recommend boxing the frame from the motor mounts to under the firewall. Those frames were designed for about 100HP. My first one had no frame stiffening and felt like a Flexi Flyer when you stepped on it.
Bought a 1953 chevy 3/4 ton, originally was looking for a 1/2 ton but couldn't pass this up since it has a running motor. this is my first restoration and was wanting to know if it is difficult to make the standard bed into a short bed?
...just remove the front bed panel and the 4 front stake pockets, then cut the front sides of the bed off the rquired amount (I'm thinkin it's 9"), then bolt front bed panel back on and add stake pockets,..rear fenders stay where they are....you don't need the middle stake pockets.
thanks! so do I not have to cut the middle of the frame off 12''? just whatever is left from the rear?
Noooooo.......If you just want to shorten the bed, then shorten the bed. But if you want to put he shortened bed BACK on your 3/4 ton chassis, then the chassis will indeed need to be shortened forward of the rear wheels. Why not just get a 1/2 ton? You're making more work for yourself. If you want a short bed pickup, then get one. Sell the 3/4 ton. What is the "running motor" in your truck? 216? 235? SBC? Seriously, if you are thinking of shortening the bed and frame to make a short bed pickup out of a long bed pickup, you are opening up one HUGE can of worms. Besides, what is rest of driveline like? Stock trans and rear? Closed drive or open drive? Stock brakes? 3/4 ton brakes are notoriously difficult to get parts for, etc. Maybe time to rethink your direction. Just saying'. First restoration??? Hate to burst your bubble. Also, check out this forum for some guidance. Really knowledgable folks and very friendly. https://talk.classicparts.com/forums/1947-1954.7/ -Andy
...you'd have to take the same amount out of the frame, most likely rite behind the cab where it's straight. When I did mine I mounted it on a 1/2 ton frame.
Or just leave it as a long bed - the proportions of the long AD trucks are great when lowered. The Alaya / Geisler PU being the best example. @rusty1 You sure know how to set the stance on an old truck! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Ya I'm looking at a couple 1/2ton frames, so the truck you have right there was originally sitting on a 3/4ton?
^^^yup, just put everything onto a 1/2 ton frame,...you can see where the extra stake pocket was on the bedside.
I have a 3/4 T long bed, owned it for 20 years. Has a 216/3 speed original engine and trans. I want to up grade it to a newer drive line, Engine, trans, rear axle and front disc brakes. No looking to make it a speed demon, just want a daily driver. Thought of a s10 frame change, way to much work and time, plus my frame is in great shape, its a Cali truck no rust. Has anyone ever put in a 4.3 V6 and the rear axle off of a 4x4 blazer? It's already converted to a 12v system, has an alternator.
I did what you're thinking of...except for the engine and trans. Mine has a 235 I6 in it and a four speed stick with granny first. I got tired of not being able to drive it over 50 MPH (with the engine SCREAMING), so I swapped in a '70 Nova rear end (3.08:1) and did the speedway front disc swap on it (VERY inexpensive and really good). By far the best move I made on this truck. It changed the bolt pattern from 6 bolt wheels to 5 X 4 3/4" front and rear. Truck runs out just great.
The 1/2 ton speedway kit will not fit a 3/4 ton spindle, but a 1/2 ton axle w/ proper spindles will swap in. Both the 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton used the same front springs.
I bought my truck with the V8 fitted, it had the early exhaust manifolds and the stock steering box. Even though the motor had been offset, there was next to no clearance between the manifold and steering and it was virtually impossible to get to one of the spark plugs as it was tucked behind the steering column. Fitting the power steering box off a later Chevy truck solved that problem and allowed me to re mount the motor in the centre of the chassis as well. My truck has been on the road for 11 years with this setup, it's still working really well.
I put a v-8 in my 54 Chevy pickup. I used a task force (55-59) steering box. I mount inside the ‘C’ part of the frame and gave me more room to build my headers for it. I also used the task force v-8 belhousing so it mounted on the factory mid mount. r Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
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