SmokedTires

I don't usually post over here (for no particular reason ;) ), but thought I'd share this over here :cheers: .

Here's a couple of pix of my friends 59 that he just put a Ramjet Crate motor in. He loves the new found power over the 327 he had there :D .

62fuelie

I've been wondering when someone would do this swap. At one time I even considered shelving my original FI in favor of one of these set ups. Can you share any more info, such as any obstacles to the installation, manual or auto, fuel pump used, etc? Any cooling issues with the bigger engine?

4_inch_Bore

Here is Sallee's description:
http://www.sallee-chevrolet.com/Chev...m_Jet_350.html

Their price is $4595. I wonder if there is enough clearance under a 66 hood.


[Modified by 4_inch_Bore, 9:27 PM 5/19/2002]

USAZR1

How's the clearance on that 59's hood?

396 RAT

Nice!
The wheels are turning.........
Saw a few nice C1 swaps Sunday at the Plastic Fantastic show.
C4 susp & drivetrain. Paul N. susp on a 62 w/ 454!:smash:
Your buddies car is :cool: , love the black with the white cove........
(personal favorite!)
Please make the wheels stop turning!
I dont need another project!
BTW, Thanks for posting this! Yea,..... thanks alot! :lol:


[Modified by 396 RAT, 7:15 AM 5/20/2002]

SmokedTires

He did have to clearance a small cross section on the hood, but he did a nice job and it's not even noticeable. He's using an electric fuel pump (I don't know if it was included with the motor or not). He did say that ALL the new wiring for the fuel injection is under the hood with only 1 hot wire needed to pass thru the firewall.

cbernhardt

I am in the process of installing a Ram Jet 350 in a '62. Since I did not want to add a hood scoop, I had to lower the engine approximately 1.5" (relative to the stock engine location) in order to get about 0.5" of hood clearance.

Everything comes with the Ram Jet except for the fuel pump. I am using a Holley 512-103 inline fuel pump, mounted inside of the outside frame rail under the passenger compartment. I used a stock fuel tank and used the tank drain plug location for the output fitting to the fuel pump. The fuel system also requires a return line which I routed into the gas tank through the stock output fitting on top of the tank.

I ordered my Ram Jet with a flywheel for a manual transmission application, but, since I am using a Borg Warner T56 6 speed transmission, I had to change it for one that would fit inside the T56 bellhousing. This transmission also necessitated the use of an hydraulic clutch linkage.

I did one test fit with the Ram Jet (with the flywheel that came with the engine)using an old Muncie 4 speed and everything seemed to bolt up fine so you could probably use a stock transmission and mechanical clutch linkage.

Charles

INMYBLOOD

Nice Mod. The only thing I see hard about lowering the motor is keeping a fan on it. If electrics would cool it lowering it seems easy. My fan is close to my shroud on the bottom now. I assume we all wish we had more hood clearance :yesnod: If I did I would have a better intake manifold on.

62fuelie

Dear SmokedTires: I saw a 66 about a year ago with a RamJet installed. He had had to notch out a small section of the hood support to clear the throttle linkage (located right side forward). The owner stated that he had tried a BB hood on the car and that it fit fine. However, he prefered the look of the SB hood and chose to make the slight mod instead. I would probably have done the same thing. :D

cbernhardt

DavidB:

The measurement on the Sallee site is correct - 9.75" from the top of the block to the top of the air plenum, and the plenum is parallel to the top of the block.

My '62 came with an NOM 350 and the measurement from the top of the block to the top of the air cleaner cover was about 9.5", however there was evidence that the wing nut holding the cover on had been rubbing against the center of the hood. I didn't want to cut any of the hood bracing so I lowered the engine enough to give me approximately 0.5" of clearance under the front reinforcement brace, which sticks down about 0.8" below the bottom of the hood. As it happens, the front hood brace is almost exactly over the highest point of the air plenum.

I really did not want to use the stock engine mounts since I was adding all new pulleys for an alternator, air conditioning, and power steering so I used the "standard" side mounts in front. I also figured that lowering the engine as much as possible would help the handling. I'm using an electric radiator fan, so the fan shroud clearance presented no problem.

If anyone needs any other measurements from a Ram Jet 350 engine, let me know.

cbernhardt

DavidB:

The Ram Jet does use the smaller distributor. On the left side of my engine there is only about 0.5" clearance between fuel pressure regulator and the distributor. On the right side, I have a 90 degree fitting on the fuel rail that is only about 0.4" from the side of the distributor. On the firewall side there is more room but there are two electrical connectors that plug into the bottom of the distributor and I can just get them in now. If that part of the distributor was 0.5" closer, I would probably have a problem getting these plugs in without modifying the firewall.

I think an electric tach would be much less of a problem with this engine if only to eliminate the cable from the distributor. The rear of this engine is pretty well crowded with wiring harness and eliminating the tach cable would certainly make installation easier.

I have never dealt with this place but check out: http://www.corvetteinstruments.com/
They advertise a 59-62 Electronic Tachometer - Complete - All New for $250.00

I think "Clocks by Roger", located in Tennessee also does this conversion. Probably some of the other forum members have other suggestions on where to get this done.

Charles

achapman

I have dealt with Gentry Zentmeyer at Auto Instrudments for the guages in my 63 SWC. He also converts mechanical tachs to electric, he quoted me $250 to convert mine. http://www.autoinstruments.com :)

SmokedTires

That's exactly what he did :yesnod: !

Curtis

I somehow missed this earlier. That is a sweet job. Very nice indeed!!!! He can put the fulie emblems on the side with pride. :yesnod:

Thanks for posting it.
Curt

SmokedTires

QUOTE]I somehow missed this earlier. That is a sweet job. Very nice indeed!!!! He can put the fulie emblems on the side with pride. :yesnod:

Thanks for posting it.
Curt [/QUOTE]

He actually has the fuel injection emblems in the white cove above the flag emblem :) .[

cbernhardt

DavidB:

Can't be of much help on the oil pan question. I used the oil pan that came with the Ram Jet and built my own exhaust system from 2.5" stainless steel tubing. Currently I do not have a crossover pipe. Thought I would run the car a little and see how it sounded before adding one. I used Sanderson QP1000 cast exhaust headers. One thing to look out for with this engine is that the knock sensor is located in the center of the block and the connector for this sensor is very close to my headers so I will be wrapping it in some hi-temp insulation.

Charles

cbernhardt

DavidB:

I had a set of Rams Horns when I first got my Ram Jet engine so I tried them on for fit (without an exhaust gasket). There was interference between the manifolds and the bottom lip of the valve covers. This interference was on the magnitude of 0.1" or so and could probably be eliminated with a little grinding or adding a thick gasket. I never have liked the idea of mounting an alternator or generator to an exhaust manifold, and I was going to be using all new brackets to mount my accessories anyway, so I chose to use the Sanderson headers. I never tried an exhaust system with the rams horns but my guess is that they would probably give more clearance around the knock sensor than my Sandersons.

I asked GM (and several others) the same question about moving the knock sensor and the answer was that it could be moved but that it would be much more sensitive to knock at it's designed location in the center of the block.

Charles

Muttley

I've heard the same complaint on manifold/valve cover iinterference from people doing ZZ4 swaps. Grinding wouldn't excite me too much, as my rams horns have already been jet-hot coated. Nonetheless, it sounds like a solvable problem.

Thanks for all the info; I think my brain is full for now.

46hudson

Great info! what hydraulic clutch linkage did you use? I put a 350 Ram Jet in My 46 Hudson now in a 59 Vette going to order it soon.

cbernhardt

I put together my own clutch system. Here is a post with some pictures.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...er-source.html