O.K. just thinking aloud here, what would be involved in swapping a 57 Olds 371 in place of a 55 324 in my 55 ? Can I still use my existing Hydro ? do the 57 engines mount the same ?? Thaught process being a running 57 might be better (like saving thousands in rebuild costs) then building the stuck 56 engine I have in the shed which is slotted to go in the 55 while the 324 comes out fro another project..... Anyone done this swap or have acess to both engines to confirm ?
Yes the mounts will be the same ,, but you will have to get the 324 flywheel offset balanced to be used with the 371 because the 371 is not a zero internal balance like the 324.
thx Don, I figured about as much just wasn't sure on the mounts and stuff, the balancing is something an engine/Trans shop should be able to sort o.k. ? nothing too technical right ?
The 371 crank probably doesn't have a pilot bushing that the early trans requires - and the crank probably isn't drilled and bored for one either. Have to pull the crank and take it to a good machine shop. Take the 324 along to duplicate bore.
Pretty much covered what I was going to mention. Did the Hydro to 371 years ago and the only other thing is that the early hydro setup has the dowels I believe are on the engine block, whereas the 57 transmissions had the dowels. So you will need to work on the dowels to get proper alignment. One last thing, some of my motors manuals show a gasket between the flywheel and crankshaft. Others say to use sealer in place of gasket. I have had better luck with the gasket, but if you want to use only the sealer it needs to be PLIOBOND.
thx for the info, might just keep my eyes open for a good 56 runner sounds easier and probably fool the law here a bit better too.
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