Small block Ford in a stepdown

Richie

I'm just wondering if anyone here has put a small block Ford engine and tranny in a stepdown. I'm just tossing around the thought of maybe doing that to my ugly 51 Pacemaker.I will keep the 50 Brougham stock drivetrain. I'm thinking that would be a fairly easy conversion and I can buy a donor 5.0 mustang pretty cheap. All comments are welcome,thanks. Richie.

lsfirth

Hi Richie,

I haven't seen that done, but the small block fords can fit in almost anything!! I'm putting a big block ford in my '49 brougham, but I've also welded in a fatman front stub frame, so mine is a "clean slate" so to speak. Seems very do-able.....exhaust is always tough on these because of the lateral beam beneath the tranny and the floor pans. Also you'll probably need a custom front driveline as I imagine the tranny won't end at the same place. I'm planning on keeping my driveline as a 2 piece unit because it should help keep the "driveline tunnel" low to the floor eventhough the rear end will be up by the rear passengers lumbar (ie...I'm essentially lowering it to the ground). I'll be very interested in the project as you go, so please keep us posted!

Thanks,
Lee

Richie

Hi Lee, and thanks for your comments. Some good food for thought. I'll think about this for a while, but right now I'll probably just keep on using it the way it is. Again thanks, Richie.

[Deleted User]

Richie, Ex HET President Clinton Webb has a 302 in his Stepdown and it looked like a good fit to me. He drove it to the central regional that the Mid-South Chapter hosted a few years ago in Florence Alabama. You might contact Him, He's in the roster, and He could give You the particulars of the swap.
Bob Hickson