Will Spitfire Engine fit in 1948 Plymouth P15

[RLBS]

A person saw my '48 Plymouth coupe and said he "had a rebuilt engine to fit it if I was interested".  He went on to say the engine is a "Spitfire" and  was rebuilt and mounted on a stand with radiator and the original truck transmission still attached with the idea to use it to pump irrigation water. He said that was a number of years ago and they never got around to hooking it up to pump the irrigation water and now he wants it out of his barn.  

I haven't seen the engine, so can't get any casting numbers from the block to be sure, but does anyone know if it's the same size and can replace the current engine in my '48 Plymouth coupe if it ever needs it?  I think I recall seeing the the Spitfire engine block was a few inches longer than the standard 218 cu In block since it was 250 cu in, so I assume it wouldn't be a straight swap with the 218 cu in, but I want to make sure before I let a good deal slip away...  I don't actually need an engine, since mine is running fine (and I already have a spare engine in storage), but it sounds like a great deal for a spare rebuilt engine... he didn't know if hardened valve seats were installed during the rebuild, but said he could easily start up the engine for me to show it runs great.

Thanks, 

Robert

[plymouthcranbrook]

Depending on what is in your car now it might with minimal effort . If you have a 23 inch block I have read moving the Radiator to in front of the crossmember is necessary for sure. I bet others have done it and will have more detailed information. Try doing a search and see what comes up.

[Plymouthy Adams]

it is doable but you will be moving a few things around in the process...

[Los_Control]

Seems like the spitfire has a 25" long block, your car probably came with a 23" engine. The 2" difference means moving the radiator forward.

 

Same time, all Canadian cars came with 25" engines .... no idea why.

In USA the larger trucks came with the 25" engine, still had the same engine space as a smaller 23" engine truck.

 

So it was done from the factory ... if you look at your original radiator brackets and the radiator core support, it is somehow possible to just move the radiator to the front instead of mounting it in the rear near the engine.

 

While I have never done it myself .... I have heard there is no real advantage in HP between the 23" - 25" engines, maybe more lower end torque .... just not enough improvement to make the swap worthwhile.

 

If the price is right, it may be worth it. I see mounting the radiator differently, exhaust probably needs modified to match the manifold, probably gas pedal linkage is different.

Motor mounts might be the same???

 

It will work, just lots of little things to work through.

[andyd]

I've not read anything to confirm my suggestion but I suppose that the use of the 25" engine instead of both it and the 23" was possibily due to Mopar trying to use the one engine, ie the 25" in all Canadian Mopars as a cost cutting exercise due to the smaller market.........tho' here in Oz we got BOTH engines, the 23" and 25" in the same model from 1957-62 in the Oz only Chrysler Royals which were essentially 53/54 Plymouths with 55/56 Plymouth front & rear fenders grafted onto the early body shell.........depending on what gearbox was ordered, ie standard 3 speed then you got that behind the 23" 230 cube engine but if you wanted the overdrive gearbox or Powerflite or Torqueflite Auto then that was attached to the 25" 250 cube engine ......and if you had a need of a V8 then you got the 301 then 313 Poly but only with the 3 speed Torqueflite , no manual V8's were sold in Oz..............the 25" engine basically fitted in the engine bay that had the 23" engine with the extra length projecting forward by virtue of relocating the radiator. 

[Dan Hiebert]

Unknown if you could still find it herein, but Don Coatney (RIP) put a 25" 265 out of a DeSoto in his P15 and documented the process quite well here in the Forum.  This was going on 20 or so years ago now, but if you can still access the thread, it has a wealth of information.

[Dodgeb4ya]

You really want that 25" "Spitfire" Chrysler engine in the if it's the 1952-54 Chrysler 265 ci. engine.

Pull the 7/16" hex plug over cyl. #6 to check for a piston stroke of 4-3/4". Just drop a 12" length of straight coat hanger wire down the plug hole, rotate the crank 360 degree's , measure the movement of the wire.

This is the only positive way to know which ci. engine your checking out for sure.

C52/C53/C54-XXXXX.....is generally the 265 engine #.

The 265's have more than enough power to move a P15 along.

A difficult engine to find these days.

The DeSoto and Chrysler 236/251's are common and don't match up in power to the 265 engine.

But even they are a big improvement to the 218/230    23" engine.

Don Coatney's P15 has the later DeSoto 251 engine in it.

[keithb7]

My 1938 Plymouth sedan had a stock 201 ci 23” long engine when it was new. It currently has a 25” long 237 ci Desoto engine in it. Its fantastic. Stock 3 speed, 4.11 rear end, she makes good torque!
 

The rad was replaced with smaller one and pushed forward into the rad enclosure.  The cross frame member cut out a bit to allow for front crank pulley clearance.  Custom fabricated font engine mount to account for engine mounts on the block being 2” further forward than stock 201.