1975 350 Swap Thread.

[billstoudt]

I finally took the plunge and i am now past the point of no return. After 3 years of planning and 2 years of talking about it. i finally made took my first big step towards my swap.

i thought starting my own thread would be a good way document my progress.

it feels so wrong to pull a perfectly running driveling from my pig but the 350 has been sitting in my living room so long we decorated it with Christmas lights this December.

and now the trepidation sets in.

my piggy looks so sad

 

[J Mack]

the 350 has been sitting in my living room so long we decorated it with Christmas lights this December.

For the WIN!!!!

If I wasn’t so scared of my wife I would try this for next Christmas.

 

[billstoudt]

 

[billstoudt]

so the overall plan is to run a V8 -> H42 ->Split Case

probably my first phase will be to get the old transmission off of the motor then the i'm going to rebuild it using a 19 spline output shaft in a late model case so that i can easily mount a cross member to it. if i get the transmission /transfer case off of the old motor tomorrow i'll consider myself ahead.

i'm going to try to start prepping the engine bay for some patch welds and paint.

 

[scrapdaddy]

On your way! Take plenty of pictures, so you remember how and what you did. Motor looks great in the living room.

 

[onemanarmy]

thanks for sharing. Not too many engine swap threads for FJ55s out there.

what year is the engine? Standard TBI 350? What adapter are you using to mate the transmission?

 

[billstoudt]

My Engine was a crate Longblock so i dont think it has any particular year to it. it went to the machine shop and they did their voodoo magic on the block and put in new valves /seats /springs as well as machined the head to allow for more lift. with the exception of the crank, rods, pistons everything else is new.

i'm going to start off with a carburetor ( i have a Holley Truck Avenger on it right now ) but i want to get a TBI Setup for fuel economy and just overall reliability at altitude. I like the FITech Go street EFI setup but i'm not averse to putting another. I just know very little about Fuel injection so whatever i choose i want it to be simple.

i'm using the AA bell housing adapter as well as their centerforce clutch.

one additional pain that i did NOT need was my hood which ( i think i left open) flew up and hit my roof creating a crease and bending my hinges. so now whenever it shuts it rubs against the cowling so before i put the engine in i a going to get that fixed.

Also a month or so back i had a clutch slave cylinder go out on me i replaced that but now that i have it all open i'm going to replace the clutch master cylinder as well.

the next few days I'm going to spend some time just cleaning out the grime and painting the engine bay. to be honest i'm feeling totally overwhelmed, getting that motor out i started thinking WTF am i doing there is no way i am going to be able to manage getting another motor in and out to fit it for the mounts. i feel like i got myself in over my head.

i need to get some small victories take care of right now. My fiance gave me some advice "as soon as it stops being fun, take a brake and come back to it later". i'm going to try to keep that in mind.

 

[scrapdaddy]

Bill,

She's right, keep it fun. I believe most of us were and are overwhelmed that are doing a engine swap, etc. Keep reading and asking questions about what you're working on. There's a lot to think about before you start welding, like they say, ever action has a reaction. You'll make it, hell I did!

I remember driving back from Vermont towing a 55 shell, frame and a boxes of parts, thinking what did I just do. In my case, probably should of had my ass kicked, but it worked out. Remember it's a hobby, so enjoy the good and bad.

 

[wngrog]

Awesome!

I have a spare set of hinges. PM me I'll let em go cheap.

 

[billstoudt]

i woke up moving really slow and creaky today. i managed to clean off 40 years of concretion with my power washer.

 

[billstoudt]

tomorrow i'm going to pull the Tcase i naively assumed it was going to come off easily. i pulled the three bolts as well as the cover and disconnected the nut and spacer from the output shaft. i then went to town on it with a rubber lead shot mallet in a manner that even thor would have been proud of but it wouldnt relent even a MM. so i see fabricating a puller in my immediate future. i found this puller that seems really simple to make

all of the pullers i have are too small. so tomorrow i'll run out and get some 2" square tube. unless anyone has any better ideas.

this is not my Tcase but i found this image which made me realize i wasnt going to beat it into submission..

 

[billstoudt]

Don't forget the two bolts that are hidden in the PTO area. You have to pull the PTO cover to get them

Umm Two Bolts under the PTO cover..... <looks around guiltily> oh yeah yeah of course i got those.. umm yeah.. because only a armature who didnt know what he was doing would spend hours beating on a case with only the main 3 Bolts on the outside removed.

All kidding aside Lil'John of i had no idea those bolts were there. i thank you will the gratitude of a thousand men. once i removed the two little threaded step-children that were under the PTO cover the case came right off.

Small victories. today. but victories none the less.

 

[billstoudt]

so ive made a little progress but ran into a possible uncertainty. so i thought i would ask you guys.

as i mentioned above i bought the newer model case and i am swapping out the output shaft for a 19 spline new bearings etc..
the case that i bought already had the reverse idler shaft and gear installed in it. but i noticed that it was slightly different from the one i took out from my old case. the shaft has a slot machined all the way around for what looks like a Circlip. since this is different from mine i was hoping someone could explain the difference.

below is my old shaft.

 

[billstoudt]

still moving along at a snails pace. was able to cut out the motor mounts and transmission mounts and grind away the remnants of their little metal corpses.

 

[billstoudt]

i have a long todo list and one of the things that i have needed to do was to make some bracing for my serpentine brackets. the stock brackets had bracing that went to different places on the head or the intake manifold.

these brackets did not fit up to my vortec or edelbrock manifold so i fabbed up something that should be functional. i also created a small extension fork that allowed me to use the 250 amp alternator that i purchased from a guy who winds them in Arizona without having to find a different bracket. .

i know that these guys look rough unfortunately

the amount of work that i put into them is not reflected in the finished product.

 

[bobm]

Good job

 

[billstoudt]

i am having problems locating the ac delete pulleys for my application(several look very similar). does anyone have any information which one i need.

 

[71greenpig]

keep it up love the pics and details................

 

[PabloCruise]

Don't forget the two bolts that are hidden in the PTO area. You have to pull the PTO cover to get them

Ha ha, I was thinking the same thing!

Only b/c I already have that t-shirt...

 

[billstoudt]

so it might not seem like much of an update but as of today the motor is complete. i was able to procure the proper A/C Delete Pulley as well as the additional idler pulley. i measured the distance around the pulleys to 96 1/2 inches and got a belt and viola the engine is ready.