motor swap

[Guest hot rod trash]

Here comes the dreaded question... I have a 51 coronet that is very sick and dont have alot of money to put into the car, I have 2 already built small blocks that look like a good candidate. How much of a pain is this to do???.

[Don Coatney]

Sell one or both of the small blocks and rebuild your flathead 6.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Don speak straight skinny...

[james curl]

He will probably have to sell both small blocks to pay for a good rebuild of the stock I-6, instead he should try to find a Chrysler or De Soto I-6 to rebuild, more bang for about the same bucks.

[PatS....]

It's a straightforward swap as far as swaps go. PlyDo has mounts. You'll need a driveshaft made up and the transmission crossmember has to be replaced. Standard engine swap stuff, really.

I was very close to going that route before I finally found a flathead which was/is my first choice.

I just LOVE the sound of a Mopar flathead.

[Normspeed]

If you plan to keep the car and you want a SBC, go for it. If you plan to sell it you might have trouble recouping your money with the SBC in there. Some other expenses for the swap would be new exhaust system and a wiring kit, like a Painless. Probably a radiator. Conversion of the rest of the car to 12volt. Also need to deal with the steering box clearance on a lot of old Mopars. Some folks have mounted the motor an inch or two to the right of center.

You could trade the 2 small blocks for an old hemi. If it comes out anything like the photo, I got dibs.

[Rodger S-11]

Hola Class

I too agree to sell the two V8's in hand and to repair or change the flat head. In yester-year the Plymouth and Dodge driver's did put in an De Soto or Chrysler Six. It seems all P-15's and D-24's North of Minot had the big block already.

To me, the second engine to look at is the pre 1955 Dodge or De Soto V8's since the are smaller in weight , size and etc ( than an Crashlier V8 ), and they will bolt to the original transmission.

The comments of the Generic Motors ( GM ) is also very true. The MoPar crowd will snub you cause it has that drive train and the GM folks will say the same because of the body maker. The lose of spend funds and work time will show up if you ever want to sell or trade.

Rodger & Gabby

COS

[55 Fargo]

Rodger, just for info sake, there were no D24s built in Canada, they had the D25, which was a P15 body with Dodge trim. In Canada since 1937 they built only one block, the 25 inch, all the engines ie 218,230,251,265, were all the same block, different bores, cranks and connecting rods to make the different dsiplacements. Maybe Mopar should have done all Flatties the same size, either 23.5 or 25, just for uniformity sake and interchangeability. BTW, Minot is fairly close to where I live 4 hour drive, you don't here it mentioned all too often............Fred

[RobertKB]

Fred, there was also the 201, 228 and 242 CID built in Canada using the 25 1/2" block. There were actually a few D24's built in Canada as well which I didn't realize until about a year ago. The numbers were insignificant as there were only around 300-400 I believe. I imagine all the parts came from the US but the cars were assembled here. It likely had something to do with taxes/custom/duty as most things do.

[55 Fargo]

Sounds like they might be rare cars, being only 300 to 400 built here, possibly special orders. I stand corrected then Rodger, we had D24s

[PatS....]

Hola Class

I too agree to sell the two V8's in hand and to repair or change the flat head. In yester-year the Plymouth and Dodge driver's did put in an De Soto or Chrysler Six. It seems all P-15's and D-24's North of Minot had the big block already.

To me, the second engine to look at is the pre 1955 Dodge or De Soto V8's since the are smaller in weight , size and etc ( than an Crashlier V8 ), and they will bolt to the original transmission.

The comments of the Generic Motors ( GM ) is also very true. The MoPar crowd will snub you cause it has that drive train and the GM folks will say the same because of the body maker. The lose of spend funds and work time will show up if you ever want to sell or trade.

Rodger & Gabby

COS

I hope nobody decides how to build his car on the basis of who may snub him for his choices!! Like I care about a snob who would snub me for building a hot rod. Just look at John Burkes beauty of a Dodge with some very well done modifications.

As far as value goes, a well done SB installation will have an upward effect on value if sold at the right venue.

Shoddy work, no matter original or modification, will drive the price down in most cases although I have seen butcher jobs sell for what I thought was way too much.

Lets just have fun with these things:D

[BobT-47P15]

And, don't forget, you have to do a few modifications to install that DeSoto or Chrysler long block 6......even though it's only a couple inches longer. You might consider a MoPar 318....I think they are a bit smaller than some V8s.

[Plymouthy Adams]

the small block Mopar and the Ford are very long due to the water pump snout...these are the major drawbacks in installations because most times it involves movement of the firewall or at best an electric fan and forward of the shell mounted radiator..