DONR

Well I have finally decided to do an engine swap on my 66 conv. I have owned it for 20 years and have enjoyed every minute of it, whether cruising in it or showing it at car shows. The engine is period correct for the car, but not the original engine. I want to now do more cruising so I am going for a little more HP and reliability. I am pulling out a 327/350hp engine going back with a ZZ383 I bought from a CF member. It has 3,000 miles on it. I am putting MSD HEI ignition on it. Will leave the carb on it and see how it runs. If not satisfied I will put a FI unit ot it. Will I need to upgade the Transaxles and driveshaft? The engine will be putting out right at 430+- 10hp.
I have pretty much everything disconnected to pull the motor and tranny. I have heard pros and cons about pulling the engine and trany together or not. I have a drive on lift, which should make the pull easier which ever way I decide.
Since I will have the motor out I want to clean up the engine compartment and may lift the body up enough to replace the body mounts. I know a lot more involved. I bought a 4 strap sling to do that job. Any pointers for that job would be appreciated.
I sure would like to put a 5-speed Tremec tranny in it while I am doing the engine swap. Those are not cheap though.
Other things I eventually want to do to it are:
1) Rack and pinion steering
2) Coilovers front and back
I added Vintage Air last year. Mostly for the wife.
Any suggestions going this path will be much appreciated.

Thanks!
Don

Nowhere Man

Unless your adding wider sticky rear tires the half shafts, rear and drive shaft will be fine.

Crunch527

Don,

Yes on the 5 speed...if you go this route get the TKO600, not the 500.

Coil overs are unnecessary.

SB Rear and half shafts are fine...I have run plenty of 500+ hp/tq 383s on small block rears and 2.5" half shafts and haven't had any issues.

I'd do a Borgeson steering swap before a rack.

Do the clutch and flywheel while you are there and maybe consider a scatter shield. If you go here, make sure you have the right flywheel for your engine balance application.

I swapped all the body mounts on my 67 without unbolting anything. Slid the new bushings and shims back in place no problem. A floor jack was handy to put lifting pressure near the mount. Took a couple of hours...these can be nightmares if the cage nuts are seized and start to spin inside the cage.

Replace all the rubber engine hoses...radiator, fuel, heater, etc...cheap insurance.

How old are your wiring harnesses? Not cheap but well worth it...

Patrick03

TKO600 or 500 choice depends on your rear gearing. It's the same trans, just different gear ratio's.

KC John

I just recently changed from a 350hp ZZ3 to a 430hp 383 and you are going to fall in love with your car all over again.

Randy G.

Being new to C2's I'm just curious. Is the third member, gear quality, and related parts all the same for the 300 HP 327 all the way up to the 435 HP 427 or did they beef the BB rear ends up?

Nowhere Man

the BB rear ends had a different yolk ends that required bolt and caps unlike small block rears that used straps. everything else is the same. BB half shafts and the same diameter as SB but was shot penned. not sure how that added any strength

Crunch527

Ive always been told the 500 is rated for 500ft lbs torque, the 600 is rated for 600ft lbs torque...is this not the case? Plus the gearing is different...so, they aren't the same trans.

As far as gearing goes, the 600 provides a wider range of suitable gearing options...3:55, 3:73 and 4:11s all work great with the 600's first gear...not so much with the 500...the 500 works better with 3:36 and 3:08s...

Avispa

And so will the transmission even if it's only rated for 500 ft-lbs. Torque ratings aren't a magic number that when exceeded in any way result in instant failure. You aren't going to snap the main drive gear off rolling down the road if the motor momentarily puts 501 lbs to the tranny. The torque rating is conservative and based on the manufacturers calculation of how much the thing can stand continuously without even twisting, never mind breaking any parts. Unless you're planning on putting a big nasty supercharger on your car, you aren't going to break either tranny with a 383. Pick the one that has the gearing you want. Neither one is going to fail. The Cobra guys over at SVT Performance forum (present company included) are routinely dumping 650 lbs at the flywheel to box stock T56s without breaking em or even wearing them out. And either a TKO 500 or 600 is a much sturdier tranny than a T56.

Avispa

Shot peening restructures the steel so that any weak spots are beefed up. Weak spots are where stress cracks can start. Once a stress crack starts it will spread and eventually cause the part to fail. Old connecting rods get shot peened all the time if they're going to be used in a rebuild.

Nowhere Man

Thanks. I am in heat treating department at work. But I do all mainly aluminum to T4 and T6 department of defense standards.

65air_coupe

Here's the best all around advice in this thread!

DONR

All comments appreciated. I will change the Tranny to a Tremec 600, Go with the Borgeson steering, the clutch and flywheel(any recommendations), I have the flywheel for the 383. maybe a steel bellhousing (Expensive). Looks like somewhere around $4,000.
I did pull the motor and tranny out as a unit yesterday. It come out really easy. I did use the cherry picker and adjustable engine puller I bought from HF.
I also plan on replacing the body mount rubber.
Will start cleaning up the engine bay.
Again thanks to all that commented.

Don

66Vett

I love my ZZ383 in my 66 convert! I have around 11,000 miles on it no problems. I also added Vintage Air, Borgson Steering setup, headers (the ZZ383 had D shaped exhaust ports and headers must match), FITech fuel injection (I have the 66 big block hood). I tried to do the flaming rack & pinon steering but could not get it to work without cutting the frame/engine mount. I glad because the Borgson setup will fix all of your steering issues and still look mostly stock.

The car runs great with better low end torque, the same or maybe more HP, much better gas mileage. I am deciding if I want to go to 5 speed. I have 3.70 rear end and if I go for it will be the 600.

I do all of my own work except tranny and read end. I also keep every thing I take off that is original just in case. Good luck!

DONR

66vett,
You have done pretty much what I plan on doing with my 66. You just reassured me about using the Borgson steering. I will also go with the 600 Tranny. I noticed my lower A-Arm bushing look a little ragged. Looks like a front end bushing job will be on my to do list. Now I may go ahead and lift the body off of the frame to replace my body mount bushings and front a-arm bushings. Shocks will probably get upgraded to maybe Bilstein shocks.
I plan on posting some pictures, but Photobucket seems to mave changed and want let me copy my pictures unless I start paying a monthly fee. Anyone else experiencing this?

Don

65air_coupe

I would highly recommend you not pull the body off unless absolutely necessary. I don't know where you are in your life and how much free time you have but that's taking a step that is likely to lead to more than you anticipate.

I take it you want to improve the car for drivability and enjoyment so ask yourself exactly what pulling the body does to achieve that. I've owned mine for 40 years and have done pretty much everything on your list except the Borgeson and never pulled the body. Even still, I've spent far more time working on it then driving it and that's never been my goal.

Robert61

Ot. I've only heat treated aluminum successfully once. Does it have to be annealed before or can it be partially hard I.e. welded but the entire part no annealed. The one time it worked I took it to 900* quenched then heated and air cooled. Sorry for the side track but enqiring minds want to know.

Nowhere Man

PM Sent

Dennis Beck

I have this same engine in my '66 Coupe.

cv67

upload the pics from your pc. In the reply box click the icon that looks like a paperclip the window will pop up to let you upload. forget photobucket
TKO and stroker will fell like a new car esp with all new bushings your biggest problem will be getting you out of it.