Would like pictures of your big block early A body with motor plate. Thank you drive through.
Would like pictures of your big block early A body with motor plate. Thank you drive through.
stock B headers will hit early A idler arm if motor is placed in stock location. 67's and up seemed to move the suspension forward 2-3 inches as that is what it would have taken to get the Pro-parts passenger side to drop in unmolested. IF you could, see if moving motor forward 2-3 is an option for future header use if that is in your plans. You may want to build in a passenger side -1 bias off centerline for the obvious driver side steering shaft issues. Will have to move trans mount the same to keep parallelism. Or go with 3 U-joints and get steering shaft around the driver side manifold, probably easiest to engineer with least impact on everything else as those seem to fit well with that one steering shaft issue.
SMR makes a 1/4" B to 904 adapter plate that would allow you to use the physically smaller 904 on your B. Its really only 2 pieces: a 1/4 dual pattern drilled mount plate and a flex plate spacer (and associated countersunk screws) This would allow the 904 to be offset slightly in the small tunnel.
Goin three speed baby. A230 all the way.
Hey Rusty, just curious - What are you planning on running for exhaust?
I can take some measurements on the engine offset in my 66 if you want.
That would be a huge help! On the exhaust, I'm not sure yet. I am either going to make some factory C body manifolds work, or my friend Matt says he can make headers for anything. I've already seen his work and it's very good. He's a Chevy guy though, which has no bearing on his talent, I just don't think he knows "how little" room he has to work with. He assures me though he can do it. We'll see. It's a long ways off yet, but I am trying to get all the hard parts done NOW, because the cost is just going to keep getting worse over time.
Sure - I'll take some measurements tomorrow. If I recall coorectly, I think I followed the TTI measurements for the later A-body big block cars (http://www.ttiexhaust.com/MoparClassics-Headers/400IB-218/TTi400IB_Install.pdf). I'll double check tomorrow. I do know I mocked everything up and aligned the crank centerline/trans output shaft with the pinion yoke on the rearend before I locked everything down.
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This may help too: early a body big block engine mounts
I've heard angle milling some manifolds may work. I've also seen a couple guys swap sides and run manifolds out the front and under the k-member on the way back. A guy - Ron Thomas "Chassisman" over on Moparts has an early valiant with that configuration - https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/1990015/1.html. I'll see if I can find photos.
Either way, it sounds like you're well on your way to the BB early A club. Can't wait to see the progress.
So I was wrong. I ended up putting mine in closer to center than I thought. Here are the measurements TTI recommends for small block early A's:
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Here's where mine landed. Passenger side to crank center: 13-1/2". Driver's side to crank center: 14-5/8". Difference is 1-1/8", or 9/16" off center obviously.
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Thank you. That helps a LOT! Mine may not end up in the same place, but I have a great illustration of how to find "where it will go". I assume you located the transmission mount in the cross member, "and then" squared it up "from there"?
Yep. We bolted up the trans mount and dropped plumb bobs from the output shaft center, and crankshaft center. We moved the engine side to side until both plumb lines were in-line with the pinion centerline on the rearend. The pinion offset is in the stock location per Dr Diff's instruction. That's where we locked in the engine location. Not sure if that's the proper way to do it, but that's how my dad and I did it. I'm sure it'll be fine though.
I can't recall how we determined the height. This is when we were locating the engine:
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That's a great way to do it. Thanks! You've been more help than you know. I do appreciate it. I love the plumb bob thing. That's how I narrowed my Ford 9" housing.....and also why I did not do a how to......I know too many people will make fun of it, but it came out perfect.
So, do you have this beast running yet? What's the latest progress pictures? Would love to see the rest of the cage, too.
You got it - no problem! Plumb bobs work great. My dad's a semi-retired carpenter and taught me the basic old way of doing stuff like that.
When I bought my house a while back, my priorities shifted and life got in the way. Luckily I've been able to get back on the 66 Dart in the last year. I'm in the process of building a 727 TF for it now. Still gotta plumb the brakes, fuel lines and do the electrical, then it'll road worthy. I've got a 400 stocker in it now to work out the bugs before finishing the 512 for it. It'll still need interior and paint/body, but that stuff can wait. At least all of the metal work and fabrication's done. I had a build thread a long time ago, but it was too much effort keeping it updated. I'm sure you could understand that.
I thought you were a dyed-in-the-wool slantie man forever. Just decided to skip a SB and go for the throat, huh?
AbodyJoe had a slick black Valiant w/ a 440 (you may have seen it already) but I don't remember how he mounted it.