Charles,
I did this to my '65 ragtop. I bought a used '70 LS5 in 1997 &
drove it daily until a short time ago. I broke a valve spring & the
timing chain is getting way too loose. It's parked at the moment & I'm
looking at a rebuild but that's another story.
For motor mounts I just bought a set for a '66 big block from
the local AutoZone. (They couldn't find a listing for a '65 since the
Z16's are so scarce.) This sat on the small block frame mounts with no
problem. My original springs worked for about a month & then they
started settling. I've since put a full Hotchkis suspension under the
car to cure this.
My combination was fairly simple & drivability was great. I
made several long road trips with it. The only pitfall I ever ran into
was cooling. If you can, come up with a complete short water-pump
setup. Otherwise fan clearance is tight. I ran the long water pump
because I have everything for my AC & power steering & didn't want to
change it. With a new 4-row radiator my setup ran 190+ at all times.
When I stopped in a drive through or got caught in traffic it would
shoot up to 225 but always came back down again once I was moving.
Feel free to ask if I can answer anything else.
Dean Vandergriff
-----Original Message-----
From: 65ss.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 4:28 PM
To: The Chevelle Mailing List
Subject: [Chevelle-list] Big Block in a '65
Ok, if anyone read my post about compression, then everyone realizes
that I need to rebuild my poor 350. I think I found a big block
completely built within my budget. Since my car is missing the original
engine anyway, I figure a big block won't make it drop value. Anyway...
...my question is this. What would I need to do for engine mounts to
put a big block in my '65? I've never did a sbc/bbc swap before. Also,
when I look up spring part numbers for the '65 it sometimes says the
same part number for both the sbc, and bbc engines. Will the stock
springs support a bbc? I plan on replacing them at a later date when I
upgrade with the Global West stuff, but would like to know if I can get
away with it for now.
Also, if anyone has done this before in a 65, please feel free to let me
know what pitfalls lie ahead.
Thanks
Charles
www.65ss.com
