Volume One, Chapter 3

Now that we have an empty engine compartment we can take a thorough look at the overall situation. It’s time to set our project goals. What do we want to accomplish? How will we be using this vehicle? These questions will essentially guide us in creating our goal. For us, we want a reliable and comfortable driver. Something we can get in and drive cross country. We want a car that’s uses parts that are readily replaceable if a breakdown does occur somewhere over the road. We would like it to be fun to drive with plenty of ‘seat of the pants’ power. We also want it to look just as good as it performs and if our past use is any indicator we’ll see a few casual drag-strip trips each year, so it will have to be safe and compliant with class rules. Some might say this is a tall order to complete on a tight budget, and it might be, but heck, we’re gonna give it a go.

Over the last few months we’ve been gathering and selling parts. We now need to establish a baseline budgetary goal. There are two ways to address the budget. First, if we had completed selling all our parts, we’ll take that number and subtract 20% as our goal. In our situation we are continuing to sell parts as we have nearly 15 items still for sale. Therefore we will subtract 10% from our total so far. Below we’ll take an overview look at the funds generated for the swap so far.

Is this enough? Only time will tell, but it’s what we have to work with. We were delighted with how much was generated so we’ll keep selling as we attempt to gather the parts needed for the swap. Why the 10 or 20% subtraction? It is a cushion for an anticipated over-run; we’ll address it in detail later.

The next step is to evaluate what parts you have on hand that can be re-used and what parts you’ll need to buy. In our particular application we have searched the message forums to find any issues that swappers before us have had. A search on Team Chevelle.com yielded hundreds of people who have done this swap in the past along with thousands of postings regarding the swap. While not all posts will relate directly to our situation the problems and issues can be used as an effective guide.

Several issues affecting our swap were found. Be sure to find out what these issues are before you start buying parts. We found two important issues, and if we would have purchased parts ahead of time, a lot of time and money would have been wasted. In 1968 and earlier Chevelles, the factory used short water pump style accessories and associated brackets mounting the alternator on the driver’s side. In 1969 they changed over to a long pump with passenger side alternator mounting. We assumed that we could go either way with this and had planned on the long pump style. This assumption and decision was made because of it being less costly. The long water pump setup is much more plentiful and therefore less expensive as the parts needed are readily available just about anywhere. We also could have used our existing power steering pump. Our search revealed that the use of the long pump setup can cause problems with fan to radiator clearance in 67 and earlier models. Also at issue was the possibility of the need to use an electric cooling fan with the long pump set up to gain the appropriate clearance. Originality was not an issue for us, but we also wanted to keep it looking like a resto-mod, ‘Day 3’ tribute to the famed but never produced SS427’s. Taking these issues into consideration a decision was made to use a short pump with original style brackets and in our opinion it will look better and we’ll have a cleaner installation of air conditioning if we decide to add it at a later time, but it’s going to impact our budget.

The second issue was the difference in frame stands and motor mounts. Small block and big block cars have different mounts. Mismatched mounts can position the engine in the wrong place causing hood, accessory, and exhaust clearance problems. In 67 and earlier applications small block frame stands can be used with small block motor mounts on a big block. The major difference being small block mounts don’t have a safety interlock therefore the use of an aftermarket interlock mount is suggested. Whether you’re installing a small block or a big block make sure the mounts and stands are matched. 1968 and later Chevelles have even different issues with mounts, so do the proper research for your application.

Now we can start trying to locate parts and get prices. We suggest your favorite restoration parts supplier, e-bay, and a large performance parts outfit. We’ll be using East Coast Chevelle and Summit Racing along with on-line classifieds. We recommend getting G.M. or U.S. made quality parts whenever possible.

In the next chapter we’ll discuss parts, engine layout, initial engine work, and the mysterious and sometimes dangerous ‘Snowball List’ LIC

INDEX