I missed what year truck you are working on, but I can give you the bit of
experience I gained when I swapped engines in my '57 last spring. First, I
found out that I could not drop the engine and tranny in together as a unit,
the tranny had to be stuffed in from the back, underneath. I did this in my
driveway in the rain. I suggest you avoid doing it that way. Since I was
installing a small-block, I was able to drop the engine in complete, from
oil pan to carb, fan to flywheel. This probably would not have worked with
a 6. As for priming and prepping an engine to start, a few simple steps
cover it. An old distributor is needed to spin the oil pump with a drill
motor. I say an old one because it needs to be stripped down to just the
bare outer housing and the inside shaft to engage the pump. make sure all
the proper connections are in place, such as coolant hoses, fuel lines and
wires to the starter and distributor, and you should be ready to go. If
this is a new engine, I would start it up and run it for about 30 minutes,
varying between 2000-3000 rpm, as I'm doing so setting timing and making
sure the temp gauge is ok and oil pressure is ok. I would change the oil
after that run in period, then do it again after about 1000 miles, then go
to a normal 3000 routine. Happy to help with any further suggestions, or if
I've said too much, just tell me to shut up!
Devin
57 3100 327/granny4+4.10
64 El Camino 427/Muncie/4.56 posi (drag car)
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
|