Herman said:
The Chevy small blocks require alot more "fitting". Problems with
distributor clearance at firewall, tranny hump needs to be expanded
etc., ...... Chevy parts are in abundance though.
SBC is a drop-in fit. That's with the big-cap Chev HEI
dissy. It just needs to be a "short water pump" chev.
(shorter pump, shorter crank pulley and different
accessory brackets - basically the pre-'70 style.)
I bent the flange across the firewall to make sure that
the cap would go on and off, but it was not really needed.
No trans tunnel mods. The only body mod was that I used a
V8 chev down-flow radiator and had to bash the top of the
front body crossmember down to get the radiator to fit. A
late model V8 cross-flow radiator wouldn't need that - I
just used as many existing parts as possible.
New crossmember bolted through the chassis rails ahead of the
suspension crossmember to take the stock chev engine mounts.
Stock chev '70s-'80s passenger car sump.
Using a T350 auto, you just need to remember to trim the
assembly lugs off the bellhousing before installing. I didn't
know that, and had to cut one off in situ. Supposedly, I used
the wrong gearbox crossmember. I used the V6 one that I had,
with a small plate welded to the front of it to bolt the GM
mount to. I've since read that if I'd used a 4-cyl
crossmember, the GM mount would have bolted straight to the
crossmember. Original Volvo auto shifter adapted to the T350
by cutting and shortening the Volvo selector linkage rod and
filing the hole in the Volvo lever to fit onto the T350.
I think that the T700R4, 4L60, 4L60E bolt in without any trans
tunnel mods, too. I remember seeing one with a T700R4 a few
years ago. I don't know if T400 or 4L80E would fit without
tunnel mods - I think they might.
Tailshaft is a shortened GM item with a spicer rear weld yoke.
Speedo cable is a GM item adapted to the Volvo speedo with a
small turned brass bush.
Power steering pump is the original GM Saginaw item from the
Volvo V6, and has been mounted to the front of the Chev block
using a new bracket.
The only real hassle I had was with the exhaust. Chose the
best cast iron manifolds I could get and then got the exhaust
guy to fabricate an ugly engine pipe to suit. One of these
years, I'll get a custom set of extractors made.
The only accessory that I haven't re-fitted yet is the A/C
compressor. I'll have to make new brackets for that, and will
probably start on that in the next few months. I have the
alternator high-mounted on the left side, so the V6's GM Delco
A/C compressor will go back in its original position.
