Putting a Chrysler Industrial Hemi in a 52 Dodge truck

I had the same question when I started this project, so no worries.

The engine was regular rotation and I had it rebuilt with good cam too.

 

Good progress over the weekend...and one bonehead move.

First, the good stuff:

Thanks to Rock for coming back Saturday morning! We got the engine in it's final position so I could get the trans crossmember brackets fabbed and mounted.

Crossmember Mounted


Bracket


Frame Clearance ( if the u-joints are too close, I will modify the frame for clearance )


Engine final position (tilts down in the rear about 3-4 degrees)



Bonehead Move - I was using my grinder on one of the brackets to trim it. My stomach started to feel warm, so I look down and my jacket was on fire! Not just a little pin-hole...a nice sized flame was going. After the "holy shit!" feeling went away, I patted it out. So now, my favorite jacket's sporting a nice scar.

I learned a valuable lesson - when using a grinder, tilt the steel down a bit so the sparks hit the floor...not your mid-section.

 

Engine and transmission look good! You'll probably have to open that arch up on the crossmember for clearance, but that should be pretty easy.

As for the jacket, it definitely helps to keep the molten metal going away from you. But that jacket looks like a blend type material, and that's a no-no when dealing with hot stuff. Stick to cotton (and not even cotton blends either) - you'll still burn holes in it if you're not careful, but it doesn't typically carry a flame like blends do (acrylic/nylon/polyester/spandex) etc.

 

LMAO.....reminded me of my much younger days when I set fire to a ragged cuff on my coveralls...

Truck is looking good Dan, get 'er done.

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What a cool truck! pretty stealthy with the Mopar powerplant. That'll have a few people scratchin' their heads. When finished, you'll have something unique to be very proud of. Good work.

whoa....
flashbacked to the 1980's for a few seconds..
{and almost blew a Coke out my nose}

 

I was wondering how this swap was going. Engine looks great!

 

Shouldn't be long and he will have it fired up

 

Very nice build thread and photos to go with it. Thanks for keeping us posted.

Michael

 

engine turned out great

 

Congrats Dan, Great looking truck, Nice work!!!

 

Spent the weekend working on radiator placement. I put the water pump and fan on make up a cardboard template. I had a box around the house that's about the exact size I need for a radiator (22" wide x 18" tall). I can go a bit taller if needed.

I found a few different radiators on eBay that will fit. I'm going to check around locally though. If I find a shop locally, I can have them make the side brackets I need and give them the radiator support to make sure it all fits perfect.


Here's the support and template put back in place on the front sheetmetal checking for clearance. All is good. I have plenty of room....that's a big relief.

 

LOL, Dan! We've all done it! At least you could pat it out!

Mount looks good!

 

It's looking great!

 

What's wrong with the old radiator?

Or use a shop apron.

 

The front of the hemi sits about 4" closer to the front grill than the original engine...and I didn't want to cut the firewall to move it back (I don't have the skills).

The original radiator has a large top tank, so I couldn't move it forward...so a new radiator is my only option. I think I'd need a better radiator to cool the V8 anyway.

 

Earlier this week, I ordered an aluminum radiator. FedEx delivered it today, so I spent a few hours getting my mounts made and fitting it.

I'm pretty happy with how everything came out. The mounts I made are the first thing I've successfully welded that I could use on my project. I've been practicing all week. I'm not a candidate for working in a welding shop, but they didn't come out too bad.








Other than a couple holed, I only had to put a couple of small cuts in the radiator support. I then heated the lip and bent it so it was flush.



I'm going to get some radiator paint so I can paint the radiator flat black. I really don't want it to stand out as much as it does being aluminum. Hoping I can do that and not kill the cooling efficiency.

 

Probably won't make much difference but radiators are painted with a specific heat transfer paint.
I believe Eastwood sells it... I bought some from a local radiator shop.

I believe I would fasten the radiator a little better. Nice work!

 

What else should I do to secure it? It's pretty solid...it doesn't move at all.

The upper & lower cross-bars are mounted to the radiator support with 5/16th bolts.

To secure the radiator to the cross-bars:
On the top, I have two 1/4 inch bolts going into the cross-bar.

On the bottom, I have two more 1/4 bolts going into the cross-bar. Those are going through the engine side of the U-channel.

I'm trying to keep from modifying the radiator support.

 

Does the manufacturer indicate any special requirements?
I'm thinking that an alum radiator should have some cushion at the mounts, perhaps a piece of rubber between the flange and the frame to cut down on vibrations transferred to the alum and cracking something.

.

 

Good question...I didn't see any instructions in the box.

I do plan on putting some type of thin rubber insulator where the radiator support mounts to the frame. Do you think I need something where the radiator mounts to the cross-bars? I could get some rubber washers for the top. I have a 1/4" nylon spacer down at the bottom bolts...I could easily replace the nylon with rubber.

 

Progress is slow...seems like I have to do everything a couple times before I can check it off the punch list.

Before pulling the engine, I wanted to finish up the transmission crossmember. So I tacked the ends, pulled it out and brought it to a friend's house to weld it up (big thanks to fellow HAMBer Rockable).

Once that was done, I tweaked my brackets a bit..painted everything...and bolted it all back in place (hopefully for the last time).

Here's the finished crossmember


Here's how it sits now...after almost 5 full months since I pulled off the front sheet metal.


I need to get my ass in gear and finish this up...I want to be able to drive the truck to the Charlotte Auto Fair this spring.

 

Very nice!

 

Looks nice, Dan. I'd use nylock nuts on those mount bolts, however. Better safe than sorry.

 

Funny how sometimes making progress makes you feel like you're taking a lot of steps backward.

Got the shifter and measured it while the trans was mounted...then I pulled the engine. Funny how the engine bay now looks like a did a few months ago (empty).


Here's a picture of the trans with the shifter mounted (Lokar Nostalgia 23" on a TH350). Big thanks to Probesport for posting a good Tech thread on installing this shifter.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=474129&highlight=lokar+th350




I bought the Rebel Wire harness (after reading multiple recommendations here). I decided to mount it in the glovebox. Since my original glovebox was toast, I made a new one out of sheet metal. I sprayed it with Rustoleum rubberized undercoating )so it thuds instead of klangs) and mounted the fuse panel. Now I have to start running all the wires.




Today, I went to the local U-Pull-It and got a brake pedal out of a 96 Bronco. There were a lot of trucks for me to choose from there, but the bronco looked to have the most compact pedal box and seemed to have the easiest access to get it out.
I think it will work, but not 100% sure yet. I'll post pics on the progress I make. Trying to find something that will work and won't cost me a few hundred bucks.

 

I like this truck. You are certainly doing it justice with your choice of parts and work!

 

Sometimes, it's about the little victories that keeps you going.

Today I got my the pulleys lined up. I found the smaller front pulley on ebay and made a spacer to go between the water pump and the larger pulley. Every now lines up perfectly.



I picked up an old style mopar air cleaner from a HAMBer and cleaned it up. It's an oil bath cleaner that I gutted. I haven't mounted the carb yet, but wanted to get an idea of how it will look.



Inside, I'll mount a 10" modern filter. I need to figure out how to properly seal the new base against the oil bath base. I think some rubber seal might do the trick, but I was thinking that I could use some type of epoxy to mount it and fully seal it off. Anyone have a better idea?




The top of the oil bath cleaner leaves about a 1/2" gab for air to come into the main housing. Is that really enough space or will that restrict airflow and hurt performance? I could modify the top with some holes on the sides to open up the airflow, but only want to do that if it's necessary.

 

The easier it is for air to get to the filter, the easier it is for the engine to breath! Drilling holes is old school way to do it.

 

Let's see...a ½" gap around the perimeter of a 14" dia housing gives you about 22 sq inches of opening....I don't think your carb will have quite that much venturi...
Consider that the early 'un-silenced', 440 air cleaners had a similar arrangement.

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Dan, as far as sealing the new base to the old base, around here I can buy a super caulking named Polyseamseal. It is polyurethane caulking in a caulking tube. I use it extensively in exterior environments and I like it's durability. The stuff is also strong. This would be a relatively easy product to use since you would just have to squeeze a bead along the perimeter of the new base and set it into the old base. If I were doing it I would apply more than enough caulk so it would ooze out and then I would use my finger to form a radius edge between the side of the new base and the bottom of the old base.