Sbc 350

A buddy of mine is giving me a SBC 350 out of a '75 Nova. I would like opinions on this swap. Currently I am running a 232 with a T-14 and a Dana 20. I will be upgrading the T-14 to a T-18 with granny gear and upgrading the Dana 20 to a Dana 300 with 4:1 kit. Is this motor swap a good idean with my future upgrades?

 

All depends one how much you want to change, how much money you want to spend, and what you want your end result to be. What's the planned useage of the Jeep? What's your driving style? Are you a hp kind of person or like to putter along? What tire size you planning on running? All trail, some trail some street? All street? Want to drag race light to light? These all come into play here.
Plan on changing/modifying motor mounts, cooling system, wiring, throttle linkages, exhaust, clutch linkage, etc. etc.

 

Offroading, motor will stay stock, 33-35's for now, all trail, as for the other stuff that isn't that hard.

 

Personal opinion, and I’ll admit my bias here, but I really enjoy the flexibility my little 327 mouse motor affords.
I idle around the trails in a taller gear and if I need to get a wheel over a rock or stump I just burp the throttle a little and get right over it. Then if there is mud in my path I can give the throttle a hard poke and whip up some wheel speed in a hurry.
I have no troubles maintaining speed down the highway getting to my wheeling spots and I don’t really get bad gas mileage, not any worse than the V-6 and 258 I-6 guys I’ve heard from at least.
Bad part is I’ve probably broken a lot more parts than if I was running a 4 banger or even a 6 cylinder.

 

JMO - if you definitely want to use the 350, sell the AMC-ready T-18 and run a SM420 or SM465. The Muncie transmissions will bolt up to a Chevy without modification, and you are going to be buying a conversion kit to the D300 anyway... it would be dumb to take a T-18 that's bolt-in ready for an AMC-powered CJ and then convert both ends of it.

 

I already have to convert both ends. The input shaft and the output shaft need to be converted. The only thing that is bolt in ready is the bell housing.

 

No, you miss the point. From your other thread -

If you have the 77-79 setup, it will bolt up to an AMC engine and bolt up to a Dana 20 transfer case. That's a pretty desirable setup - it would be dumb to take this desirable setup, remove the valuable components at each end, and spend a lot of money to make it work with a different engine and transfer case. Dumb.

The SM420 and SM465 would bolt up to a Chevy bellhousing, and they are both generic Chevy pickup truck transmissions - comparatively easy to find and cheap to buy.

 

Interesting opinion

 

I totally agree with tim on this one.

 

So are you guys saying he would be better off selling the T-18 to fund an SM465 and Dana 300 adaptor because he seems set on an SBC 350?

 

Interesting to see a guy with a corvette engine in his jeep being supportive. I do appreciate all the opinions but name calling is really not needed. This isn't high school nor is it junior high. Besides if I want to be called dumb or my actions to be called dumb I will go post on Pirate 4x4. Thank you all for the opinions.

 

Sorry if it was blunt, but I'm trying to be helpful. I'm not calling you dumb - I'm saying that the action would be dumb if you did it.

Trying to help you (defibvt) avoid a mistake ... please don't take offense.

Yes, the T-18 combo should be very marketable to someone who wants that combo.

 

You will not be sorry putting the 350 in-stock or not. Just a lot of torque available at low rpm. I would also go with the sm465. Easier to get parts for than a 420, syncro first, and the little difference in low gear will be a moot point with the 350. You could likely run 3.73 gears with that combo and still have a very reasonable crawler and mileage. JMO from a highly biased sbc fan.

 

Not offended just found the response interesting. Whatever I decide to do I will post up pics when I get started.

 

I say stick with gm tranny way simpiler in the long run ,work smarter not harder....

 

Pretty much. That way only one end of the transmission needs adapting, it can be bolted up to the engine with factory parts, and the T-18 can be used by someone who needs it to bolt to an AMC engine. You get a slightly lower first gear with the SM-465 too. Otherwise he's looking at adapting both ends of the transmission instead of just one.

Nothing wrong with the SBC conversion. Been done for decades. I've got a TBI version in the CJ-6. Just gotta know what you're getting into.