I have a 56 "truck" 235 that I will be swapping into my 53 150 soon and I have lots of questions regarding the mounts and some clairification on what ive read so far. The car had the side mounts orginally, it appears that the truck motor I have uses mounts or bolts directly to the front crossmember. Is this correct? Is there an actual "mount" from the bracket on the front of the motor that appears to actually "hard mount" onto the crossmember or does it just bolt directly to it? There are currently two holes on both my motor, directly below the h.b. pulley and two holes on the crossmember that are eactly the same width apart, lets call it approx 3 inches. Ive searched every 235 post I can find and cant seem to find any pics or explaination of these holes on the front of my motor. Seems that the guys doing the swap are fabbing or buying mounts that come off the side of the motor as opposed to using any "front" mounts. Can someone please clairify this? Ive been on stovebolt and particks websites, and other than buying mounts that I dont think i need, I cant find any useful info. Thanks in advance! Jaison
You can get a water pump from Patrick that will keep you from having to move the radiator. As far as the motor mount you can mount it front are side. By using the side mounts and an open drive line you can get away with no other mount to keep the motor from moving under torque. IMO. If someone already has all the mount figured out I'd go with their mount for quick and easy. $.02
I went over this last week http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=276713&highlight=snarl
Thanks guys for the replies, Snarl, I read your post before wasting everyones time and making my own, but I was unclear about what mounts were what and where the were located. Heres the mounts im curious about..... Sorry about the big pics... So Im assuming that the lower mount on the front of my motor mounts to this location? It there an actual biscuit or bushing that goes in between? And to clairify my side mounts on my motor, the only "mounts" i appear to have on the motor are two bolt holes on either side, on directly in front of the fuel pump, and the other in very close proximity to the generator, (which will of course be replaced with an alternator) are these the "front side" mounts that I need to buy the kit from patricks for? Heres the mounts currently in my car... Thanks for the help guys, forgive my rookie retartedness.... Jaison
those holes are for the radiator core support. to front mount it youd need a 49-52 large front crossmember
No, you don't change anything out... See those two "bumps" on top of the crossmember? You drill your holes on the flat side of those bumps (that face toward the engine centerline). You drill coresponding holes in the front motor plate (on the angled parts, farther out from the centerline of the engine from whats allready drilled). Those two holes in your motor plate currently are not the ones you would use.
It's been a few years but I do believe those 2 holes on each side of the block is where you bolt the engine side of the mounts that will hook up to what you have on the frame now.
Again, there are only 2 ways to mount a 55-57 engine in a 49-54 car. One, I've shown in the link that I posted, you make some brackets to go from the lower front corners of the block over to the frame, using some of those puck style rubber mounts. This method eliminates the need for stabilizing mounts. Two, you mount it like a 49-51, under the front motor plate, like in the mockup picture I just posted here. You can use the stock 49-51 mounts or again, the pucks. You will need to add some stabilizing mounts to either the side of the bellhousing or the front corners of the block to help control "torque roll". Either way, your stock motor mount "towers" should be removed, as they will serve no purpose other than to get in your way... FYI... If you don't know what something looks like, there are plenty of resources out there you can use. Take a trip to the salvage yard, go to car shows, searching ebay not just to buy but to see what things look like, look at craigslist.org maybe there is one for sale in your area that you can look at for reference....
thanks again snarl, one last question, do I just use grade 8 bolts and nuts up through the existing holes at an angle from the bottom of the crossmember for my front mount and modify or replace my trans crossmember to accomidate my Muncie? Thanks jaison
What existing holes? based on your pictures, you need to drill two holes into the crossmember, and two coresponding holes into the front motor plate. Grade 8 is fine. I suppose its possible to use the two holes that are allready in the front motor plate, but only if you can get at the bolts from underneath when used in that position. Also, make sure that what you use for mounts positions the motor at the correct height. Make sure the oil pan doesn't rest on the bolt head for that center steering link. What are you using for a bellhousing?
under the crossmember there are two holes that are definatly from the factory, they are at an angle, and sit in the proximity of where I need to drill the holes in the "angled flat" surface. For a bellhousing I have one for a 54 car, and one for a 56 truck. Neither appear that they will "just bolt up". Just fab up something custom for either I'm guessing?
Do you still have all of the '54 clutch linkage? If you use the '54 car housing, you will need an adapter plate from Buffalo Enterprises. You may also need to use a longer pilot bushing. Tell him what you are using and he can get you sorted out. By doing it this way, you can avoid problems with the clutch fork angle. If you use the '56 truck housing, everything will work, except the fork will be at the wrong angle. While it is possible to physically get the linkage to hook up, it will not work like it should. Do not bend the fork, as it will cause the throwout bearing to wear out early. I have a solution worked out, but I'm not going to be able to market it for a couple of months yet. Either way, if you use a mount under the tailshaft of the tranny, and you mount the motor under the timing cover, you will want to add some stabilizer mounts to the front corners of the bellhousing. Finding ones from a 49-51 car would be the easiest thing to do. If you were to make the other style of motor mounts along with a tranny mount, no stabilizers would be needed. Make sure your flywheel and starter are both either 6 volt or 12 volt, as they are not interchangeable due to different tooth counts. If you are running 12 volts, you can use the 6V setup if you wish, but you will need to stay with the 6V setup if you are still going to run 6 volts. If your tranny is 10 spline, the stock disc is fine. If it's not, we need to talk more.
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