Newbies Considering a V8 Swap, Looking for Advice

Sir....
Welcome to hot rodding. Best way to know is put on engine and drop in car. Nothing going to work out perfectly.

If it do not fit modify whatever it hits or buy correct pan.

I dropped in 302 few weeks ago (pan sump in same location as yours) and my plug was close to belly bar or whatever it's called. I made it work however.

 

I had a kicked out and baffled Milodon pan on my car for years. I had to ding it in one spot where the steering rubbed. Every car is different, I would certainly test fit first.

 

Do you have anymore pictures or info for either of these shifting modifications? Thanks.

 

I am all for using good junk, but you have to know its good. Take the oil filter off that motor and cut it open to see if it has metal in it. If that is a roller motor, a 28 oz. balancer will not work. Also, roller cams require a steel gear, not cast iron. Check your distributor gear and make sure it is steel. If it ran with the wrong gear, it is my understanding that the gear will deteriorate, and fill your oil filter and/or your system with shrapnel. If you have the pan off, check a couple bearings to see what kind of wear they have, or how much crud is embeded in them. Inspect rod and main journals, they should be shiny and smooth. New timing chains are cheap too.

The other way to see if is any good is to toss it in and run it.....but since it is on the stand, I would mess with it a bit. If you take it apart, you can inspect cylinders, heads, piston tops, camshaft ( see if it is a roller or was swapped for flat tappet), lifters,etc. Look for major issues. If it is old, it might look old, lol. Just try to determine if your junk is any good. You will be able to tell if it was ever re-built too. Get those heads identified. Get a cheap harbor freight dial indicator....you can find out true TDC, measure crankshaft thrust tolerance, measure piston to deck height from true TDC, measure cam lift at the lifter, all kinds of fun stuff. CC your combustion chamber and find out your compression based upon head gasket thickness and piston to deck height. Research X 3 ....... The more you learn from this junk, the fewer mistakes you will make if/when you spend some substantial money. I built my motor out of $1,000.00 worth of junk. Just know that there is some risk involved, and if you want 100,000 miles of service from it......well, ahem, maybe decide to spend some money.

 

The Granada shift cable works good with a C4 bellhousing that has the spot it bolts to already on it. I got my C4 from a junk Granada that had a 250 in it, but I think it was rebuilt as it was painted silver and the fluid was very clean.

 

Only forged roller cams need a steel distributor gear. Many after market roller cams are cast iron...

Only forged roller cams need a steel distributor gear. Many after market roller cams are cast iron...

 

I did not know that, but now that you mention it.....I pulled a roller cam out of a mustang GT that had a remanufactured engine and when I compared it to the Ford roller cam, it looked cheap. It did not have "GT" specs, so I returned it for credit on yet another GT cam that WAS original, and there is a difference. The one I turned back probably was cast.

 

Just like can't run iron dist gear on steel cam, can't use steel roller lifters on a cast cam, lobes will soon wear. No doubt some have tried it, recipe for disaster.

 

We did dig into this motor. Turned out it was a flat tappet, not roller. Bored .030 over. We replaced the main bearings, cam bearings, rod bearings, pistons, oil pump, timing chain, oil pan (old one wouldn't fit with the crossmember), distributor, fuel pump, honed the cylinders, lapped the valves, all new gaskets. We installed it in the car a little over a week ago and it started right up. We've temporarily rigged up the old 6 cylinder throttle cable (we've got a new throttle cable and kickdown cable ordered). We've modified the shifter linkage and it seems to work fine. We haven't driven it yet, gonna try and get the power steering back on first. Exhaust looks like its going to interfere with the pitman arm. Not sure what to about that yet.

 

BFH...

 

That sounds great. Get the rings seated and break it in like a new motor. That motor should go the distance....or at least as long as it needs to until the next upgrade, lol. I want to know how it runs! I like what you did with the valve covers.

 

Looks really good...

 

One photo of the rod I made from the longest and shortest pieces of a stock 200i6 column shift, four photos from Jack Grice's '70 with the Granada cable and bell. I put over 50k miles on my car with the first piece.

 

Thank you!