Putting a Chrysler Industrial Hemi in a 52 Dodge truck

Got the Hurst mounts today. Need advice.

Cross-Member holes are 19 1/2" apart.
Hurst Mount holes are a bit over 20 1/2" apart.
Picture shows where my original holes are vs. the hurst mounts. This picture is pretty close to where the engine will sit. It's probably just a bit closer to the driver side in this picture.


Top view of the driver side mount. This is about where it would sit..can't really go back any further.


Option 1 - modify the cross-member. In this picture you can see how the cross-member is curved where the new bolt holes would be drilled. If I go with this option, how do I flatten out that mounting location?


Option 2 - modify the hurst mount to use my original holes - To do that, I need to widen the mount about 3/4" at the front. The blue tape shows the metal that would need to be added. If I did this and then had to drill through a weld seam to put the bolt, would that ruin the strength of the weld? Weld's are a bitch to drill through, aren't they?


The engine will probably come down a bit and the mount I have will take up the rest of the space. So I'm not too worried about building up a bracket to reach the mounts as they sit now.

Your mission - tell me which one to do and how to get it done.

 

If it were my project, I would likely go with Option 2. If you get thorough penetration with your weld I don't see any issues with weakness. Mig welds are tough to drill through because they are pretty hard. Use a small pilot bit and go up in increments slowly, use oil.

 

I think you should cut any and all steel you need to make this work correctly, including boxing the frame. THEN call up a mobile welder who will TIG is all up for you and make the work look like its aircraft quality. They charge surprisingly little and they know exactly what to do. Whats a couple hundred bucks in welding on a nice project like this?

Also, I am not a huge fan of those hurst mounts. I would prefer two rubber pucks under the engine and those sitting on 2x2 steel box cut at a 45 degree to the frame. Then I would have the mobile welder tell you if he thinks it will be strong enough and to strengthen anything remaining.

 

I have a 55 Dodge 1/2 ton, and like the direction you are going with yours.....it is beautiful and you've done quite a nice job so far....

A couple of suggestions regarding the original frame.

I would definitely suggest boxing the majority of the open c channel, as much as you can do along the length of the rails front to back.

I had some plate ordered up for mine, originally a 259 poly V8 with 2 spd auto, then decided eventually after a 270 super red ram phase that I would install a 440 and a pusbutton torqueflite, then decided to get a 90 Dakota extended cab frame to complete the build....at any rate, box the frame for sure, front and rear. I will be boxing the balance of mine after I shorten it, and the factory already boxed some areas, so I'm ahead of the game there...

Regarding the prior suggestion of having a mobile TIG welder come in, or talented MIG dude for that matter, anyone with experience will make the most of your cash and you'll be happy with the fit and finish I'm sure. I'm lucky and have a nice 220 V setup, and torches for heating and tweaking, and have welded professionally and for hobby work for a long while, but as was previously suggested, any area where one may be lacking in equipment or skill, a few extra bucks to those who have both will be money well spent.

And some of the areas where the frame lip looks "bent " up or down from the factory, these look similar to my 55 frame, I was just going to slightly adjust the attitude these areas say at to make the fitment of the plate or mounts work for me, a little tweak here and there won't affect any integrity with the frame rail.

I like all the time and measuring you're doing, and asking questions when most of the guys on here are ready and willing to back up an explanation with a "here is why you should do this" based on previous trial and error.

I've had many questions to ask here, and all were answered , many with multiple possibilities to the same end.....nice to have options, and with this kind of project, options can be endless, make it your own, keep sending pics and guys will certainly let you know if anything needs beefing up or changing, and why.

Best in your new endeavor

MBMOPAR

 

Gary (73RR) offered to modify the mounts for me.

I got them back and now I can use the original mounting holes for my hemi.

So if anyone else wants to put an early Hemi in their pilothouse, Gary now has the specs to make you a set of mounts.


I still need to come up with a better rubber insulator setup or have some custom spacers machined for me. The universal mounts use a 5/8th bolt head, but then where the threads are, it's 7/16th. My concern is that with a larger hole through the rubber, the mount will be able to slide around.

Instead, I may just open the slot on the hurst mount so the 5/8th shaft of the universal biscuit bolt fits through the right way.

What I'd really like is to find a different rubber biscuit with a 7/16 or smaller hole through it. I stopped at NAPA, but their books didn't have specs in them for each mount (and there were hundreds of rubber mounts to choose from).

Here it is just held in place with some other bolts for now.

 

grab some hockey pucks they come in different hardnesses you can freeze them and cut them or mill them to any shape then drill your own size holes they work awsome for body mounts also

 

nice rig, the only way to go... i think he's got a good start...

 

As for the rear end, also check out Ford 8.8 out of newer Explorer. Strong, the correct bolt spacing (Mopar/Ford 5 on 4.5) have an e-brake, and later ones (post '98 I think) have disc brakes. (Was your old e-brake on the trans? Just run a cable off the existing handle to the Ford rear end, maybe using some pulleys.)

 

I was thinking of exactly that recently for our '56 Dodge. It has a mild cam, but pretty stock, so no need for a bullet-proof rear end. Plus I like the disc brake factor. Someone over on the Forward Look website rigged up the e brake using the original handle. It was pretty easy as I remember it. Nice build you've got there.

 

how is your clearance between the radiator and the motor. I have been thinking of installing a 392 in my Dodge woodie, now that I see how yours is fitting I think it will work. was not sure about radiator clearance or exhaust clearance.

 

Exhaust clearance is fine. I will probably have to route the driver side pipe under the oil pan and then out toward the back along the passenger side. The steering box and gas tank are in the way on the driver side.

I'm going to have to move the radiator forward about 4", but I have enough room to do that. I'll have to change to a side tank radiator and will need a remove fill setup too...not too big a deal. I'll update this post with pictures when I get to that point.

I'm sure I could have minimized the radiator interference if I had changed to the bb chevy pump and worked out a new pulley setup...but I didn't want the modern look on this engine.

 

this is so cool! i'm glad you kept a dodge powerplant in it.. watcha doin with your old flatty six brotherman?

 

I have the original engine sitting on a crate in the garage. Once I'm done with the Hemi swap, I'll probably start to clean the original engine up and maybe even completely tear it down and then reassemble it. I'd like to learn to rebuild a motor and it would be a good one to learn on.

Maybe at some point, I could find an old dodge coupe or something cool to put it in.

If I don't put it in something, I'll probably just keep it in case I ever sell the truck. Then then new owner could have the original drivetrain if he ever wanted to go back to stock.

 

definatly not a bad idea.. one of these days after mines up and running i wanna find another flst six and build a nice classic preformance engine...

keep up the good work. i dig this thread!

 

Small victory today. I needed to make up some spacers to finish up the front engine mounts. Here are a couple pictures of what I designed and a friend's machine shop made for me.





Now that I have the front mounts done, I can work on getting the transmission cross-member mounted to the frame rails.

I got the wiring harness today (rebel wire kit got so many positive recommendations here, so that's what I went with), so that will probably be the next thing to work on.

 

Looking good Dan!

I may have bought myself another '53 B4B, so I'd better pay attention. Would like to see how that wiring kit goes in, based on the condition of the wire harness in my "new" truck it'll need a new one.

 

Lookin' good Dan.
In the pic above, it appears that your starter might actually clear the oil filter pkg, how close is it?

.

 

The picture is decieving...I will need to use the relocater. I was going to wait until I pull the engine to get the relocater installed.

 

The relocator, when installed does it mount on the firewall?

 

I probably going to put it on the firewall so I can change the oil easily, but I could probably make a bracket and mount it to the frame rail too if I wanted it out of plain view.

 

Great stuff Dan, looking good! Keep up the great work.

 

How much clearance do you really need between the frame and the transmission end of the driveshaft?

I would like to be able to move the tail of the transmission up a bit higher. It will move a bit more to the centerpoint of the frame piece (not all the way to center though).

Just trying to figure out how much clearance I need to allow for (given that I don't even have a driveshaft yet, but need to make the mounts for my transmission cross member).

The driveshaft u-joints will probably be right under that frame piece.

As it sits right now, the engine tilts down about 4-5 degrees. I'd like to get it closer to 2-3 degrees.

 

Do you have a slip yoke for the transmission? It might help you figure out how much clearance you have/need without having the whole driveshaft, especially if the U-joints will be right under the cross member.

 

Agreed, stuff something in the tail so you can judge clearance. I would plan on a minimum of 1" clear space. You may need to do a little surgery on that crossmember....not a bad thing, as it will be an opportunity to incorporate a driveshaft loop.

.

 

I don't have one, but I guess I can hit a junkyard or the parts store to try to find one. I'll need one anyway at some point to have a new driveshaft made up.

The trans is a TH350.

If I wind up leaving the engine at the incline I have now, I guess I could get a carb spacer made to bring it back to level.

Are those 'off the shelf' parts or a custom item?

 

I've seen slightly wedged spacers in catalogs for leveling carbs on boat engines

 

I believe 3* down is pretty much standard with the pinion 3* up. (With the frame leveled).

 

Dan, welcome to the H.A.M.B., my buddy Kerry and the other dudes on here can offer some first hand advice, you have come to the right place. Love that truck, a very nice combo in my opinion, I hope you keep the Industrial valve covers on, they are so hip. Good Luck brother. ~Sololobo~

 

I'm definately keeping the industrial covers...looks cool and to me, they look like they belong on a truck.

I see you're in Omaha. The company I work for has it's headquarters out there (Infogroup-formerly InfoUSA). My last business trip out there, I saw a cool looking black 32(or close) Ford on the road. Was that you?

 

I don't want to sound like I know what I am talking about but,.... One time I had an Industrial Hemi that ran the opposite direction, came from a generating system. Had to change the cam. Just saying this so someone can check.