ClassicCar

Hi,my name is Jim and I am in Jackson,Michigan. I have a 54 New Yorker that I got in a trade. The car has no engine or trans. Originally it had a 331 Hemi that the previous owner pulled out and used it in his hot rod. I looked for another 331 and trans to put in the car but did not find anything that was reasonable in price. i ended up getting a 400 B engine from a 74 Newport along with a 727 trans. I would like to put this combo into the New Yorker unless i find someone with a 331 and trans that would like to trade for the 400. I have gone through the 400 and regasketed it as overall the enine is in good condition. I found a aftermarket 4 bbl intake for it and a holley 600 cfm carb to go on top.

I have been doing some measuring and finding there is not much room front to back for this engine. It looks like I will need to use an electric pusher fan assembly in front of the radiator and lose the mechanical fan. I was able to find OE motormounts for the engine but will need to fab mounts to go onto the frame of the car. It also looks like there is a problem with the exhaust manifolds in that the outlet on the driver's side dumps out on top of the power steering gear box. the 6 volt generator (i'd like to change over to 12 volt) has the power steering pump attached to the back of the generator.

So now you are able to see some of the problems I am facing in order to stuff this engine into the engine bay.

Has anyone performed an engine swap like this and if so how did you address some of these problems that i have mentioned as well as any other problems that I have not forseen yet? I thought I saw somewhere where someone was talking about getting rid of the p/s gear box and using a rack and pinion setup from a Cavalier (anyone know the details?). I am wondering also what pump was used?

My father was a Chrysler engineer during the time this car was built. He passed away when I was a lot younger than I am now and I would like to put this car together but not necessarily in stock form. He was into performance so he would appreciate this car seeing as he helped to design it. He was with Chrysler until 1962.

Any and all ideas,suggestions,experience in doing a swap like this is welcome! I think this would be a cool deal with a 400bb between the frame rails along with the 727 trans. Thank you in advance. Jim