So it starts.

I’ve been gathering a few parts I know I’ll need for the swap. I did find a 392 Center sump pan for it……unfortunately it probably won’t be in for a couple of weeks, but the 318 pan should do for mockup for now. I bolted the front half of the 46RH case and Hot Heads adapter to the back of the engine and started figuring out where the engine placement in the engine bay will need to be.

MU1 by M Patterson, on Flickr


After a couple of false starts it looks like this will be pretty close to where it will end up at. I’m up a little higher than the couple of Gen one HEMIs in this era of A Bodies I’ve seen but it looks like everything will clear (or be easily modified). The engine and transmission are centered to the trans tunnel (which means it’s all offset to the passenger side).


MU2 by M Patterson, on Flickr


The next step will be to modify the transmission tunnel and bracing to clear the overdrive unit. I picked up an aftermarket crossmember for the 46RH so that will let me see if the engine/trans will need to be moved fore or aft before I start on the motor mounts. It will also save some fabrication time.

I still have a few things to figure out.

I was originally going to build the frame mounts for the motor on the parts car K member (basically the drop out front crossmember) but just tack them on to transfer to the Green 68 when I do the actual swap. After looking at the motor mount setup in the 440 powered 68, the K Member is set up for spool type mounts, and I’m wondering if it isn’t one of the Direct Connection 440 K members they were selling several years ago. If it is I’m leaning towards swapping the K members between the 2 cars (kind of a shame to modify the 440 K member especially if it is an old Direct Connection piece that’s no longer available). Of course that will mean dissembling both front suspensions and transferring the components. A bit more work than I was planning but what the hey that’s why they call it a project.

The master cylinder is also going to have to be relocated. Brackets are available to either move it to the side or up. I'm leaning to moving it up but that’s still to be determined.

Also kicking around whether to transfer the heater from the parts car and add an under-dash AC unit or go with an aftermarket heat/AC unit. I’ve got an aftermarket combination unit in the El Camino and have done a couple others for customers and they do ok but I’m a little underwhelmed with them. At least that’s something I’ve got time to figure out.

It’s going a bit slower than I had hoped, mostly because of my back. On good days I can get a fair amount done, on bad days the cars sit. They’re still doing tests, I had a biopsy yesterday and a second MRI this morning so that’s 2 days shot especially as the tests are being done in Tucson, oh well, as Mom used to say getting old ain’t for sissies.


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