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Well i bought myself an early birthday present. I just drove 1800 miles in 2 days to get this car. The engine is stuck so i plan on putting the 63 394 in it with the original trans. The car has just shy of 50,000 miles so the trans should be serviceable. I do not know a whole lot about these cars as of yet, but it is a car i have wanted for a long time.
I don’t know the name of the colors but its a coral or salmon and white. The previous owner shot some oil in the cylinders some time ago so hopefully it’s serviceable. I also managed to get a 4 barrel intake for my 394. Thank you
Were you planing on using the original 394 trans, or the 56 trans? Be careful, the 394 is externally balanced with weights on the flywheel. The 324 was internally balanced and the taunis cover,/ flywheel for the hydromatic has a neutral balance.factor. They will bolt up, but will shake themselves back apart. Some one on this site might know how much and where to add weight to the 324 flywheel to make it work.
Just to let you know a stuck 324 will most likely have to be unstuck to separate it from the transmission. The crank must be rotated to reach the flywheel bolts(all 28 of them) and being stuck you can't rotate it to reach some of the bolts. The alternative is to remove the pan and loosen the rods and hope you get to the rod/piston that is stuck and allow you to rotate it enough so the crank will be out of the way. Without being able to move the crank you will have two or more rod bolts that you can't get a wrench on.. Been there done that....... Good luck...Tedd
When I bought my 55 Super 88 the heads were missing, and bores were full of rats nest, and stuck solid. Someone before me had tried to pull the tranny, and only succeeded in breaking the ears off the bell housing where the pushing bolts screw into it. Years earlier I had a 331 Desoto Hemi I was working on and had the same issue engine stuck, can't get to the flywheel bolts, pull the pan, can't get to the rod bolts. The entire engine trans complete went to the salvage yard in the back of a 64 Jeep Wagoneer. The floor board never was the same, with an oil pan size dent in it.
I have a line on a 61 394 and transmission, both are rebuilt. I will be pulling the original 324 engine and trans in one shot and installing the 61 drivetrain. I hopefully will be having a good buddy build me a set of fender well headers for it. I hope to have the drivetrain in the next month pending on weather.
I have a line on a 61 394 and transmission, both are rebuilt. I will be pulling the original 324 engine and trans in one shot and installing the 61 drivetrain. I hopefully will be having a good buddy build me a set of fender well headers for it. I hope to have the drivetrain in the next month pending on weather.
Good you have a line on the correct tranny. I know you can put the Hydro behind a 394, but balance is always a problem.
Rodney
Myself I would rather tackle the balance issue than take a chance with a unknown rebuilt Slim Jim. It takes a good OLD transmission guy just to get one to shift sorta good. Sorry I'm a little gun shy and a bit prodigious when it comes to Slim Jims.Ive had no good luck ever....... Tedd
i have had probably a dozen 6.2 engines and never pulled so much as a valve cover off any of em.my 92 pickup had 600,000 miles and when the truck rusted out i sold it to a buddy and he still runs it.i have had 5or 6 6.5 and as much as the extra power was nice i still prefer the 6.2.i still have an 82 3/4 ton 2wd suburban with a 6.2
i have had probably a dozen 6.2 engines and never pulled so much as a valve cover off any of em.my 92 pickup had 600,000 miles and when the truck rusted out i sold it to a buddy and he still runs it.i have had 5or 6 6.5 and as much as the extra power was nice i still prefer the 6.2.i still have an 82 3/4 ton 2wd suburban with a 6.2
...The alternative is to remove the pan and loosen the rods and hope you get to the rod/piston that is stuck and allow you to rotate it enough so the crank will be out of the way. Without being able to move the crank you will have two or more rod bolts that you can't get a wrench on...
I'd spray either penetrating oil or brake fluid into each sparkplug hole. Doing this repeatedly and letting it soak for awhile might get it to budge enough to where the piston will at least move downwards. It's likely that only one of them is hanging up anyway. If the engine still won't budge, if you're lucky, you might have the offending connecting rod to where you could unbolt it. Then, if possible, move the crank throw out of the way, enough to where you could fasten a slide hammer onto the rod, in order to at least get the piston to move downwards away from the corroded upper cylinder area. With the head off, you could then hone away enough corrosion, so that the piston can get removed
Last edited by Killian_Mörder; November 28th, 2020 at 12:58 AM.
What trans and rear gears do you have in your 55? Those power numbers aren't far off the later 6.5 Turbo numbers with way more reliability. You basically have stock Olds 403 numbers which will easily keep up with traffic and gain at least 5 mpg over that stock set up. I agree, if it isn't broke, just cruise everywhere and enjoy. The 6.2 with louder exhaust almost sounds like a gas motor. I love they added shorty headers factory, obviously part of the power increase. Is Diesel cheap Stateside right now? Diesel was ridiculously cheap earlier this year and still below normal right now, up here.
I'm running a Turbo 475 which is a heavy duty Turbo 400 that was used in Motor Homes, step vans and some medium duty truck. The rear end is a 63 Starfire 9 1/4 with 280- to 1 Gears. The first time I drove it my wife said it sounded exactly like the gas v8 when I went by her. It has 2 1/4 Dual exaust with 30" glass packs. From the front you know it's a Diesel, from the rear it just sounds like a big block GM. Diesel here is about the same as Regular. With Ca. $100.00 gal tax I'm paying $2.85-3.00 Gal.
July 6th, 2019, 05:59 PM
