im trying to get all my ducks in a row. i wanna swap a 454 or a merlin 540 but i have looked around the forum and couldn't find if you can retain the stock hood power steering or A/C or what manual transmissions and rear ends you can swap in

 

Stock hood, unlikely with any kind of aftermarket intake manifold. You'll need at least a 2" cowl.

Power steering, you should need BBC mounting brackets

AC, should fit if you don't use tall valve covers

Manual transmission, T5 will self destruct. T56 is a better choice and there's lots of threads about using one with a BBC

Differential, Doesn't care what engine is in the car. There are no junkyard diffs that will swap in to be stronger for a BBC. Your choices are an aftermarket, bolt in 9", 12 bolt or Dana 60.

The BBC sticky at the top of the forum has most of the information about doing the swap. Check the other forums on how to swap the tranny, diff etc.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/engi...swap-info.html

 

i had read that sticky there's some good info in there, what model truck had these big blocks? and could you run the stock hood with a hole cut and run carb scoop?

 

70's trucks are good for donor big blocks, the heads are garbage, usually peanut port pieces designed for torque. i got mine out of a 78 chevy trailer hauler edition. in these instances, craigslist.com is your freind, sometimes you can find a whole truck for dirt cheap (the motor may be spent, but at least its a core.)

decent street heads are casting #'s 781 and 049 oval ports, but as always aluminum heads are better and will perform bounds over any iron pieces really.

as long as you can mount the PS pump then you can retain power steering, a/c is tuffer cuz if you get tall valve covers (sometimes if your valve train is other than stock you need taller covers) they hit the a/c box on the firewall. windshield wiper motors are sometimes a problem area too. transmissions range from 3, 4, and 6 speeds. auto swaps with bbc's are generally easier and soak up more drivetrain shock than manuals.

im going with a t-56 for mine. was going to go borg warner super t-10 4 speed, but traded that for a forged rotating assembly. rear ends, as said b4, there are no junk yard rears that bolt in and offer the ability to handle bbc power. a 9 inch or 12 bolt is your best bet, and you can do a junk yard swap, but it requires time, money, welding skills and tools as well. after all that, buying a bolt in piece is still better than a modified stock piece. thats where alot of the coin for these swaps go too, rear ends and trannys.

 

The majority of roller rockers will fit under regular rocker covers. Others just need some minor modifications to fit.

Tall valve covers are only really needed when you have a valve train like mine with longer than stock valves and a stud girdle. The longer valves are required for bigger valve springs that have a higher install height. My valve springs have around 300 pounds seat pressure and over 800 pounds open.

Yes, my lifter valley has been painted gloss white.

 

i have heard its a secret to paint the lifter valley and underside of the intake manifold white but i never could figure out why they paint them, i plan on driving this car alot so it needs to have ac and wipers what are the fixes that people have down to get around these other than just yanking the stuff out

 

donno, could be for heat reflection, could be for better oil travel, could be for looks?? stephen may have a better answer to that. i dont remember what years the wiper motors were different, but i think the earlier years fit tighter?

 

Painting the inside of the block is done to help oil drain-back... paint makes it smoother, which makes it slide down faster, in theory. in 99% of cases though, for either SBC or BBC, drainback isn't an issue. The oiling system in both motors its pretty bulletproof. Just don't use a high volume oil pump, which is unnecessary anyway, and you won't have to worry about oil draining back fast enough to not have the pan sucked dry.

 

kinda my thought, slicker surface. i donno bout the pump thing, ive used HV pumps in all 4 of my engines, never had a problem.

 

There won't be any problems because of a HV oil pump, but it just wastes HP. My 193,XXX mile 305 (never rebuilt, has stock oil pump of course) makes just over 20 psi at hot idle and in gear. It could make less than half of that and I wouldn't worry about it.

 

High pressure wastes horsepower. High volume just bypasses back into the pan when the relief pressure is reached.