Engine Swap for '53 Chevy

[Bruce Poage]

I was browsing some car mags looking for inspiration for the next project. I saw a cool '54 Chevy that got my creative juices flowing. I have but few 1:1 or 1/25 scale mechanical skills or knowledge. I'm wanting to swap a V-8 and tranny into a '53 Chevy. What suggestions would you offer and where would I find the combination? Thanks.

[62rebel]

Revell had (has?) a '53 Chevrolet 2dr sedan that comes with a 409 w-motor, with a choice of supercharger or dual 4v carbs. there used to be a choice of '53 or '54 grilles in the kit, but no stock wheels, and kind of crude by Revell standards of today. Monogram has a '53 BelAir hardtop, which you could PROBABLY fit any Chevy engine you desired into. it's in 1/24 scale, and it came with stock and custom wheels the last issue around. plenty of Monogram big block Chevy engines to use, Monogram kitted a lot of Chevies.

the problem i have with the Revell '53 is the low detail fidelity of the engine; it seems awfully small for a w-motor, has odd seams that are difficult to remove and fill; and the valve covers, although beautifully chromed, are narrow and small.

swapping engines in almost any kit is simply a matter of how much fitting has to be done; a razor saw, some strip styrene, and a few reference photos will guide you straight to your goal.

[Longbox55]

I would suggest checking around for reference pix from 1:1 '53 Chevies with similar engine swaps, as well as chekcing out the catalogs for the hot rod/custom parts suppliers to see how the mounts are made. Speedway Motors would be a very good one to check, they seem to carry just about any engine swap mount you can come up with, including many that are vehicle specific.

I don't know how far in detail you want to go with the swap, or which kit you are using, but on a pre '54 Chevrolet, to do an engine swap would pretty much require a complete drivleline swap in 1:1. The early Chevrolets used an enclosed driveline, plus the transmission to engine bolt pattern is different from the '55 and later V8 ('63 and later for 6 cylinder), so a trans and rear differential swap would be in order to get a different engine. I won't neccessarily say this is the case 100% of the time, as it's possible that someone could have made an adapter to bolt a different engine to the original trans. Not sure about Chevrolet, but there sure were plenty available for Ford, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, and Chrysler (early Hemis) engines. I also do know of a case where a '54 322 Nailhead w/Dynaflow was swapped into a '50 Chevy sedan, but I don't beleive that project was ever finished.

[62rebel]

if 100% accuracy is your goal, join the HAMB, do a search for V8 swaps on these model year Chevies, and you will get all the info you need.

Revell didn't seem to think much of accuracy in their '53/'54 Chevies, in regard to the engines and transmissions.

still; not a problem a well stocked parts box and a razor saw with some imagination and reference material couldn't overcome in short order.

[tooltas]

i use the newer 58 chevy by revell 's 409 w motor in my 54 chevy i got two more 53s ones got a 427 bigblock out of a vette and highteck foose car 2th car got a 1957 283 sb in its old school custom i just love 49 to54 chevys

[Fat Brian]

What kind of engine are you trying to swap in? Is it the engine from a period hot rod or a modern muscle car? The difficulty of the swap depends greatly on the kind of engine you want. Modern engines tend to have longer and thicker transmissions and require you to relocate the transmission crossmember most times.

[Jantrix]

I would recommend the 1/24 Mongram '53 bel Air.

Then get any of the 1/24 Monogram '37 Ford kits. They come with a very nice 90's era small block Chevy. The kit also has IFS and a Corvette style rear. I think with some clever cutting you can make a pretty cool street rod.

[von Zipper]

I know you said you were looking for V8 conversions, just to be different I used a Ken Kitchen Buick Straight 8 in this Revell 2 dr.sedan, used an AMT '51 Chevy for the frame and fire wall/inner fender wells , used an old pill bottle to make the fire wall deeper and had to move the core support a little to get the long engine to fit.

[wrecker388]

I dropped a 327 out of an impala in mine with no problems. Just left the old Straight 6 it had out.

[Lunajammer]

I'd sure like to see more of this Christopher. I couldn't find it in a search Under Glass. If you never posted it, I'd be interested in seeing more of it there.