Today I was given a 1965 Chevy Nova 2 door. It does not have an engine or transmission. I do however, have a Olds 350 with #5 heads that I pulled from my Cutlass, so I know it runs. Does anyone have experience putting an Olds into a Chevy? The car had a 283 and a 3 speed manual, but was pulled recently. I have a Jetaway that I used with the Olds 350 for a couple of years, so I would use that transmission with the Olds 350 if I can.

Thanks

 

Bitchen car. Not sure what you might do about motor mounts, but I would put money down on the oil pan clearance to the cross member being an issue. The early Nova's (I believe up to 66) require a special oil pan and oil pump pickup for even a SBC to fit. If you are running an HEI there are firewall clearance issues on the SBC's, so just be ready for that with the olds. Lastly that I can think of the SBC's require a lower alternator bracket to clear the fenderwell. Olds being wider probably the same... Not sure if they make such a thing for the olds. Headers will be tough to fit so I'd try and keep manifolds.

Not trying to discourage you because I'm sure its very possible to do. I have a good friend who has a 63 so I'm familiar with all the issues making the small chevy fit in the engine bay. Just be prepared for the challenge ahead. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the thorough and detailed answer. Now that I think of it, I remember seeing a uniquely shaped oil pan on the 283 that came out of the car. Sounds like the Olds may require too much modification to fit. Maybe I can track down that 283 that came out of it. I will have to ask my friend, the previous owner of the car, if he stored somewhere or something. Oh yeah, thanks for the heads up about the alternantor bracket. The fender walls are very close together on the Nova.

 

It's like any other transplant of an engine that was not originally offered in the car. Time you fab up and rig everything to make it work, you'd be way ahead to have installed an engine that was designed to fit.

So my vote is to stick with a SBC in this application. The special Nova V8 oil pans are not difficult to find aftermarket (or weren't, not sure about now).

 

Don't first-gen Novas use front sump oil pans on the V8s? That would be a custom pan for an Olds conversion.

 

I'm not saying that the swap is impossible, but I believe you are going to have to fab your own motor mount brackets. I don't know how the trans mount will line up so you may have work with that also. You also will probably need to do some drive shaft work. The electrical would require some mod's as the starter is on the drivers side, and you may have to move the alternator wiring around. Then theres the exhaust clearances to consider.

Joe brings up another point with the oil pan? So I don't know about that.

This is not the "A" typical motor swap! But it would be an interesting one!

 

With the front end set up in those cars its very tight. IMO the extra width of a SBO as compared to a SBC will give you fits. I'd say find yourself a small block Chevy to work with. The car will be worth more with a Chevy in it when you are done.

 

If you decide to go with the 283, that was a great SBC. I had one from a 65 Chev Belair station wagon in a 79 Chev Malibu & it hauled a$$. Used to have 2 sitting on a shelf waiting to be built... then I got married

 

Drop a jegster sub frame under that chevy II and G LDS

 

I'm not sure what a Jegster subframe is but I will check it out.

I think I am leaning toward this route. Thanks for the info on the availability of aftermarket Nova oil pans.

Yep. That looks similar to the oil pan that was on the 283 in the car.
Thanks for the reply. If I was to attempt this swap, I would stick the Olds engine and transmisson assembly in the Nova, with manifolds on the heads, and take measurements from there.

This is a very good point. The 350 Olds is wider than the small block Chevrolet, and the fender walls are very tight on the Nova. Thanks for the response.

The 283 sounds like a great engine for a car like the '65 Nova. Hopefully I can track it down. Sorry you had to get rid of your 283's. But it most certainly worth it, right? .

 

A 283 would be a good match to a 65 Nova, should work well. Back in the day when I was running one in the Malibu it had a 380 lift cam in it with a Holley aluminum intake, headers, HEI & a Qjet. Heads were ported/polished & had 373 gears in the rearend. Managed high 11's/low 12's in the quarter. Was sorry to see it go.

 

Yes that is exactly what is required... Not a lot of high capacity options for it either. There is surprisingly little aftermarket support for some seemingly common items on these cars... Its reminiscent of some of our Old's.

Hence the need for a special alternator bracket... It hangs off the bottom of the motor, kinda like where the smog pump goes on later engines. We found out the hard way that even a standard one won't work, there are Nova specific ones that are made. You nearly have to grease the small block chevy to make it fit, the Olds is going to be very tough. Amongst all of the engines he has had in his, one was a bored and stroked 283 (made 311 cubes) and with that it would lay rubber halfway down a residential street. Good luck with the build they are fun cars.

 

I have all the brackets and accessories from the 283 that was in the car. I believe the 283 brackets will work on other chevy small blocks? I am sort of stoked to be getting this car. I must admit, I prefer shopping for Chevrolet parts over Oldsmobile parts. There is no Mondello drama when you own a Chevrolet!!

 

Small chevy parts are very interchangeable (265-400 inches). The 65 chevy II I owned had 283 bored 60over (301) with the camel back heads. It was a "go-cart" . Those are fun little cars

 

Yes, unless the accessory brackets require accessory mounting holes on the heads and you acquire heads that don't have them. (Like camel humps) Most heads floating around do, so I wouldn't worry too much yet. If it was on the 283 and it had original heads, they probably didn't have the bolt holes so your brackets won't require them anyway.

 

And the pictures are where??

 

I will have the pics posted on Monday. The car is not at my house, but I will be visiting the location where the car is stored on Monday. So I will post pics then.

 

If you put an aftermarket front sub frame in you can put a big block olds in. My dad is a nova guy. First picture is my dads 65 nova, with a bbc. Second picture is my 62 daily that we are about to put a sbc in place of the dead 4 cylinder. You dont need a front sump pan to put a sbc in just a nova specific one and you either need to use manifolds or 62-67 nova specific headers. There are some 80's Cadillac motor mounts for an olds that will let you put it in anything with chevy motor mount on the frame. I dont know which caddy it is but if you got some it might it a little easier to put an olds in.

 

Here is a 65 wagon I helped my dad put a v8 in a few years ago.

 

Roger, hang onto that four and its subframe for "future reference" if you have room to store. I never saw many of them here.

What was wild was they kept it thru 1970. My SCAC doesn't breakout Four production till around 1968, but the highest yearly total I see from 68-70 is 6000-some. One year was 480.

I've often thought that if they had used the 153 in the Vega instead of that miserable little aluminum lump, the Vega might have done better. If they had only had sense enough to use steel cylinder liners in that engine from the git-go it might have done better.

 

I am definately going to keep the 153. The v8, Im doing a v8 because everything is already available to me, is just a temp engine until I can do a proper rebuild on the four. I got to drive it with the four a little while before it died and it was a nice little engine showing signs of getting good gas mileage. My chevy II is a four door, three on the tree and it was pretty cool to finally see what its like shifting on the column

 

This is great information. Thanks for posting this. I am curious which Cadillac motor mounts those are. Sweet Nova's btw

 

Here are some rear sump v8 nova oil pans that clear the steering. You could modify the olds to look like this, I think it would work just as good if you just took the front of the sump back enough to clear. I really dont know what caddy it is but my grandpa used the motor mounts to put a 455 in his chevy pick up and his caprice. I looked up 80's cadillacs to see if there were some that could be had with an olds or a chevy but there arent any. The seville and fleetwood were offered with the 307 or 350 diesel though.

 

What kind of mounts are used on those? The late 70's 403 Trans Am's may also work. I used a modified set on my 94 chebby 4x4 Olds 350 conversion.