Changing an inline 6 to a crate 350

Hello vanners. I just bought a 64 Chevrolet and it has a 289 in it. I want to get a crate 350 and toss her in there. Will I need a new doghouse cover or will it fit under it?

Also, I will probably change to an auto trans. Any ideas on where I may get a steering column with the automatic or will my 3 on the tree work?

Thanks fella's

Congrats and welcome! I can't contribute any knowledge, but it's a good project. Good luck.

Redsockss to put a 350 in a 64 chevy you'll either need to modify the doghouse or replace it with one from a 67-70 second gen chevy. It's been done many ways by several members here. The stock engine cover in the 64-66 is to narrow to accept the heads on the V8. 67 was the first year that a V8 was a stock option in the early chevy's.

I don't know who told you that the engine was a 289 but it it's an inline chevy 6cyl it's either a 194, 230, 250, or a 292. To the best of my knowledge a 289 was a small block Ford V8.

As far as the trans conversion, the auto columns are hard to find. Most of the guys go with some kind of cable operated floor shifter. The other biggie is the trans rear mount. Depending on which trans you select you'll probably have to fab the rear mount or pay high dollar for a stock mount but the stock mount will not work for the newer overdrive trans.

Hope this gets you started in the right direction.

Welcome to the site, all that infor wideload gave you will be very useful in the swap

Well, that doesn't sound so easy.

Let me ask you this. What is the largest size wheel that will fit under front fender wells?

I am bead blasting and repaint g my machine and though I may ( please don't cuss me out) tub the rear for some mondo tires to fit.

I bought this van...... Any suggestions on what to do to it besides bead blast it paint seat and wheels? http://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/cto/1761604667.html

redsockss wrote:

Let me ask you this. What is the largest size wheel that will fit under front fender wells?

I had 235/60r15 on a 7 inch rim (3.5" backspacing) up front and it rubbed the front edge of the lower wheel opening in turns. I now run a 215/65r15 tire and no problem. You might be able to get away with a 225/60r15, because my 235 just barely rubbed. I was thinking about rolling or trimming the front edge, but I just ended up going to a different size tire instead of butching my van's sheetmetal.

redsockss wrote:
I am bead blasting and repaint g my machine and though I may ( please don't cuss me out) tub the rear for some mondo tires to fit.

Uggh... its your van, but I think its such a shame when people carve these old girls up for 'kustom' mods. You see so many of these vans that are butchered with somebody's ghetto half-ass done kustomizin'!! So many of these poor vans have been abused, its rare to see a clean example of an early chevy that is unmolested. Think long and hard about it before adding 'tubs'.

I think these vans look silly with big tubs. you can run 295/50r15 tires on an 8 inch rim in the back without doing any body mods and that's a big fat tire, it looks badass. Try that before you go nuts and hack up your classic sheetmetal.

I'm running about the same as Kooky 215/65/15 on 7s up front and 295/50/15s on 10s in the back. You can only gain about 2" ? tubbing without moving the springs in. A full offset wheel , say a 15x8 or even a 16x8, would tuck a pretty big tire under the wheel well maybe even a little more with the small tub. Tire diameter seems to me to be the biggest limiting factor, the 295/50s run about 27" tall, there seems to be room for a 28-29" tire in the back without going higher. Borrow some wheels from a buddy or something and check 'em out for fit. On the fronts ,, the wider the tire ,the harder it turns.

I'm going to offer the opposite opinion on mods... back in the day, these vans were designed for utility, not for fun. If you tub your van to give it a character that suits you, go for it. There are other examples out there of factory (or close to) restorations out there. I have a reason to keep one of my vans factory (military ambulance), but the other one I plan to express myself.

I say if you want a small block in there go for it! Probably the biggest chore is the dog house after that your crate motor will bolt right in using the same cross member (minus the 6 cyl extentions) and if you go with a short tail shaft turbo 350 auto and can't find an original turbo 350 hanger just weld in an aftermarket one. Make sure your radiator is in great shape. Bill

Well, I found someone to install a fuel injected crate 350 and a 200R transmission in my 66 for $7000. complete and it's show polished.https://i.servimg.com/u/f61/15/31/32/12/tpi_en10.jpg

I think not! unless he works for free. I've installed TPI engines in these vans. He might get it sitting in there for 7K but I am willing to bet that by the time its running proper it will be well over 12K.

Or; are you talking 7K excluding the cost of the engine and trans?

redsocks; When you go for a second gen dog house, get the crossflow rad and other cooling sytem parts from an 8 cylinder van and don't forget the rad sadle as well. when you cut the dog house out, get the tunnel and hump with it.

m1d

No, it's $7000. complete. the engine tans is $5000. and the labor is $2000.

Sounds right to me.

Whats the "crossflow radiator? Are yoiu saying the one that's in there now is no good for a 350?

Whats the "crossflow radiator? Are yoiu saying the one that's in there now is no good for a 350?

The 6 cylinder rad wont cut it, especialy a TPI V8 and it dosn't fit the V8 dog house anyway.

The V8 came with two styles of rads that I know of. An up and down flow and a cross flow. Some people will go for an aftermarket alluminum rad. I went for the 4 core v8 cross flow It just keeps the TPI engines cool enough. The TPI engine runs hotter then others and if the cylinders ares board oversize, expect the cooling to be a sensative issue.

You should expect to spend close to a grand on the cooling system, close to a grand on the exhaust system, close to a grand on gear shifter and accelerator systems combined. The list will go on, I've been there bud. 2K labour will get it partly installed. Has your mechanic ever installed a V8 into a first gen van? Will your new engine come with the wire harness, sensors and computer? The TPI harness from Painfull is about $400 alone isn't it?

Customising these vans takes research, homegrown engineering and trial and error, not to mention money. I havn't put 1000 miles on my power plant and allready I have spent more the 2Gs re-doing the TPI induction system to better suit the dog house and engine requirments. That also included re doing my rad cooling fan and wiring +relay requiements for the new fan because my first design was not addaquit for cooling the TPI. The most powerfull cooling fan you can get is the two speed Lincon Mark VIII 18" fan with shroud. You can find more info on that in the "how its done section".

Take a look at the picture link I sent you earlier. There is alot of modifications to be done and almost no afternarket stuff availible for these vans.

I hold alot of respect for the guys with these vans because not just anybody can own one. You have to be willing to do what it takes and persevere, and manage the projects carefully or it will test your phycological limits to places you havn't been before. I think others here can attest to that!

M1D

Okay, I will believe you but I talked to the guy that builds the engines and the person that is going to install it. He swears that he can do the job in a 66 for the number quoted. He has his own fab shop and why would it be a grand for an exhaust? The gear shifter assembly is less than 3 hundred. I already sourced that out.

Okay, I'm on it. I will get me that. I have a line on a 69 with a 6 in it. Do you know if the radiator in that will work or do I need to find a 2nd gen. with an 8? I figured I could use that van as a donor. Take the doghouse and the radiator.

Donivan is the Man! hes got pictures of everthing. you can see in that picture the upper and lower saddles. The upper is spot welded into ther V8 dog house.

You exhaust will depend on what you want, Mine was $700 in parts (not stainless steel) and I custom made the front pipe and the two tail pipes myself out of parts I had custom bent at the local muffler shop, that wouls have been 300 in labour where I live.

you might also notice that cross flow rad in the picture has a trans cooler. It is the V* auto trans rad just like mine. If you get a rad out of a STD trans vehicle you will have to build up a trans cooler set up for it. Air flow space is at a premium in these vans so I recomend an Auto trans rad with built in cooler.

And don't waist your $5000 engine on a 40 year old used and plugged rad. Gett the rad you need and have it recored with a four core or just buiy a new rad for that application (1969 G10 V8 auto trans four core cross flow)

A gear shiftere is 300 then you need a cable and the pieces that addapt it to whatever trans you have. A boot for the floor, and what about a shift indicator? My shift indicator alone cost $256 and took about 3 hours to install and rigg. Then add labour for all that. Where I live that would probobly come to a grand or so. Garage service here averages about $100 an hour.

Redsocks, what do the garages in your area charge per hour?