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Chevy engine swap

p100ki

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I was just wondering if anyone had done the swap and had any tips. I'm putting a regular 265 horse 72 Chevy 350 carbed motor in my 94 limited. I'm going to put a stock engine in for now while i build a 355 to replace it. The main question i have is - Will the stock front axle hold up for a while until i swap my D44 in? I'm not talking about hardcore wheeling just the occasional mud bog and on road winter driving. I'll probably just run a few gauges consisting of tach, oil pressure, and water temp.

I'm not worried about the fabrication since i have put a small block Chevy in everything from a chevette to a 96 Lincoln Town Car. I have also built and thrown leaf packs in late model Lincolns and Crown Vics. All our derby cars are built with Chevy drive trains and a mix match of leafs on cars that were never built for leafs.
 



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The front axle should be fine....

What tranny you gonna use?


Oh and what is the weight difference.
 






I hear Ford makes some great V8's too.... *hint hint*
 






If this guy wants to put yet another Chevy engine into yet another Ford, I'm sure he can figure it out just fine.

If he wants something people will go "Ooooo! Ahhhh!" over, cram a 427 SOHC reproduction in it. For a lot less $$$, try a 351 Windsor or Cleveland or 351M. Putting a Chevy in it is just "So what? 99.999% of rodders already do that. Yawn.".

Some people have this thing where every Ford they see, they think "I must shove a Chevy V8 in there!".

Some try to hide it. I've seen a street rod with the newer 350 where GM switched to the Ford valve pattern- the owner had made adapters to fit Ford valve covers on the heads. At a glance it looked right, but further inspection revealed the ruse.

A few people do the opposite for a bit of payback. One episode of Pinks All Out had a pro-street Corvette with a big block Ford V8. ;) I've seen a 1930something MoPar panel with all GM suspension and drivetrain.

I'd like to see Car Craft or Hot Rod do a "Pure Rides" issue where every car in it has all the major bits from the same make as the body. No Chebby engines inna Ford and no Ford 9" under any Chev.

Another special issue could feature GM's with non-GM bits and MoPars with non MoPar bits. (Watch the MoPar purists buy tons of the magazine to burn!) It wouldn't need to have a single Ford, because every ^%$# issue of those magazines has a Ford minus Ford engine.
 






The front axle should be fine....

What tranny you gonna use?


Oh and what is the weight difference.

400 turbo most likely, i do have a 700r4 also but the 400 holds up to more abuse from what i have experienced. The weight difference will be taken care of by putting a set of 2" lift springs in the front until i swap the axle out. I have a set out another truck and they should be me back closer to stock.



I hear Ford makes some great V8's too.... *hint hint*

I've got four or five 302's and a couple 351's also but i have much more chevy parts. I was tempted to drop the straight six and drivetrain from my '76 stepside but i have all the chevy parts and i have always had chevy trucks so that's the main reason i chose a chevy.

If this guy wants to put yet another Chevy engine into yet another Ford, I'm sure he can figure it out just fine.

If he wants something people will go "Ooooo! Ahhhh!" over, cram a 427 SOHC reproduction in it. For a lot less $$$, try a 351 Windsor or Cleveland or 351M. Putting a Chevy in it is just "So what? 99.999% of rodders already do that. Yawn.".

Some people have this thing where every Ford they see, they think "I must shove a Chevy V8 in there!".

I don't care what Ford guys think, i had a tuned port Chevy 350 in a Mustang just because i got the car as a roller and had the engine laying around. The main reason i'm doing the swap is because i drove my Ex almost 70 miles home with no oil pressure after an offroad trip a couple weeks ago. I also have more water than tranny fluid in my transmission so if i have to pull them i might as well put something with a touch more power in their place. I haven't started the truck since then but i had a lot of head noise and maybe some on the bottom end but the head is so loud i can't be sure.
 






Ford Motorsport used to have a 351W lower intake to bolt the 5.0 MPFI upper intake to. I haven't looked at one of their catalogs in years so I don't know if they still sell that item.

Add rest of parts as needed. ;)
 






Thank the Lord for the small block Ford.
 












nike2.jpg
 






And post pics while doing it please... sounds neat.
 






The main question i have is - Will the stock front axle hold up for a while until i swap my D44 in?

If you've done these, you would know that's a moot question because the chances of you using that stock front driveline are slim and none. Your either going to have to use a GM transfer case, or buy an expensive adapter to use the Ford. Then, you have the case of where different manufacturers have rotated the transfer case to put the driveline on opposite sides of the vehicle. The chance of having the driveshaft mounts in the same location is extremely remote due to different engine locations and transmission lengths. Maybe you can locate everything so that dimension remains the same...but that's just speculation. If this were a 2WD conversion, this would be an easy swap. But where it's 4WD, there are a lot of pitfalls to overcome. Last one of these I saw was a Chevy in an old Dodge Powerwagon. That took all new drivelines.

1998rollover...there is a reason everyone puts Chebbies in their vehicles. There is NOTHING cheaper when it comes to dollar per horsepower and there are millions of them out there to choose from.
 






I know i can drill out the mounts on a couple different chevy cases so they can be mounted right or left. I stumbled on that last summer putting the wrong transfer case in a friends Blazer. I drilled out two holes and it went in where it needed to go. I'm not saying that's what i'll do since i do have a set of Chevy corporate axles sitting in the garage. I may just do a 2wd swap and then swap axles in the spring for 4wd.
 






i hope you're not planning to make this street legal...because in almost all states it's not street legal unless

1)it's the same as an engine offered in the same model vehicle
2)it has all the emissions equipment intact and with it
3)you have the vehicle pass an emissions check
 






HELL NO!!! Don't *******ize your Ford. If you think Chevy makes a better engine, trade your Ford in on a Chevy. Sorry, but I hate that crap! :thumbdwn:

If you must swap engines and really like the FORD Explorer, put a Fox body Mustang GT40 302 in it. You can get a nice crate engine rather cheap. Or a 351 Windsor. :thumbsup:
 






i hope you're not planning to make this street legal...because in almost all states it's not street legal unless

1)it's the same as an engine offered in the same model vehicle
2)it has all the emissions equipment intact and with it
3)you have the vehicle pass an emissions check


As long as he gets the emissions sorted it may fly. On pre-OBDII cars they still have to the sniffer right? So the computer shouldn't be tipping them off. As long as it looks stock and has acceptable emissions levels, I doubt they would suspect a thing. Worst case register it someplace where emissions aren't required. Here in Spokane you only need to pass if you live in the city of Spokane, county vehicles are exempt.
 






but it still has to be an engine offered in that same model vehicle and i'm absolutely sure that there is NO explorer with a chevy engine offered
 






i hope you're not planning to make this street legal...because in almost all states it's not street legal unless

1)it's the same as an engine offered in the same model vehicle
2)it has all the emissions equipment intact and with it
3)you have the vehicle pass an emissions check


No emissions or safety check, all that matters in my location is the vin matches the title. My big block s10 was a testament to that.
 






What they don't know they can't object to! :D
 






I don't CARE about how cheap a 350 is.

If everyone wanted CHEAP power there wouldn't be GT500's, LS1's,Vipers, Porsche's, etc.

If their owners CARED about cheap power they would've bought a rust-bucket bowtie and dropped a turnkey 350 in it. What a boring motor.

I don't WANT cheap!!!

By the way, a small-blocked Ford Torino mopped the floor with a 68 or 69 camaro at the pinks nationals in Detriot...did anyone see that?
 



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If their owners CARED about cheap power they would've bought a rust-bucket bowtie and dropped a turnkey 350 in it. What a boring motor.

Have you swapped a 350 into an Explorer? I only ask since i was looking for someone who had. Your opinions are worthless to me but you still continue to give them. I wonder what the new Corvette uses for power? A smallblock Chevy, there's probably a reason for this.
 






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