The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop sbc swap on 52 3100

How hard is this with stock front suspension,how do you space the steering box.Searched back 15pages any good threads for doin this surgery.Thanx

This should get you started.

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthread...Main=117006&Number=796970#Post796970

I have a sbc in mine. Used original suspension but changed the steering to power....as noted in the thread above.

I put a 327 in my '49 way back in about 1985. I fabed boxing plates for the inside of the front frame rails & made tabs frmo there to the side mounts. I used an m21 4 spd with a mount from the rear crossmember to the tail shaft. I left the center crossmember in place, but the motor is not attached to it. I did move the steering box out about 1.5 in. This set up has worked great for many years.
Good luck.

I'am working on a sbc with a th350 swap right now. I picked up a tranny and engine mount from Classic Performance Parts. I also picked up a frame mount master cylinder with power booster and front disc brake and a complete power steering kit that includes the pump and gear box. They threw in a free custom tilt steering with shifter on the cloumn free when I picked up the power steering kit. The disc brake conversion and power steering kits are not really required for the swap you can still go with the stock brakes and steering column. Although you could still use the original brake setup. I didn't like the idea of depending on a single style master cylinder for stopping my V8. I would go with the dual master cylinder setup. I used the frame mount master cylinder with power booster easy to install. You can still use your drum brakes all around, you just need to buy the master cylinder setup for you application. The sale rep named Aron at CPP really knows his stuff and can help a lot with telling you which setup you need. I'm no expert at this sort of stuff and have had a lot of help from Alvin aka "Achipmunk" and a bunch of other folks here on the forum. The biggest problems I run into are the small things like installing a neutral safety switch or the kick down cable. The motor and trasmy installs and conversion kits are actually not that hard. But I also had my cab and bed pulled off my frame, made it very easy. The hardest part about the disc brake conversion was the control arms, knocking the old tie rod balls out of them so I could use the "new style" tie rods. As far as using the original steering box and column. The truck I picked up had already had a V8 in it and man was it rigged up, and the engine was shot. And what the previous owner had done to give himself some space between the steering column and engine was to use some spacers between the steering box and frame. There still wasn't much room left between the eingine and column though. You would have to jack the engine uo to get to the back spark plug. And the steering column was kind of at a slight angle in the cab. The other problem I ran into was my pulley setup for the alternator and steering pump. But I just had to pick up a differnt bracket setup for my alternator and steering pump. Also you will have to look at your exhaust manifold clearance. It is kind of tight between the frame. I ended up picking up some ram horn type exhaust manifolds. But you could go with some custom headers depending on your budget. There is a lot of info here on the forum about differnt aspects of a sbc swap. But I haven't seen a thread that had everything to do with a sbc swap all in one thread. But for answers to any questions about old Chevy trucks this is the place, great folks here.