The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network - View Single Post - Definitive answer for I6 to SBC 350 swap.

Keystone_Hate · 01-28-2018, 10:56 AM

As a follow up to this, I just dropped in my SBC this past week. As stated by others above, it works, nicely. Like TXFirefighter said, I had to cut half inch off the z-bar to get it to fit. The only reason is because of the frame side perch for the outboard end of the z-bar. Apparently there are different locations for this perch. One of them being more inboard than the other, which is where mine is. If I had known this before I would have swapped out for the perch that sits more outboard, almost even with the outboard most edge of the frame, while the engine was out and made the z-bar installation a lot easier.

All in all it was pretty seamless. I've never done this before and a friend and I had the motor in and torqued down in about 45 minutes. Just a tip from my experience doing this. I found it easier to mount the engine frame stands to the engine, leaving the center bolt loose for wiggle room and alignment, while its hanging from the hoist. This made lining everything up easier as you lower the motor into the bay because you have full access to stick bolts in the frame holes for the frame stands as opposed to trying to get that one bolt into engine mount pad, from the back side while trying to line everything up.

Also, I have no clearance issues with the sbc sitting back in the rear position. There's plenty of room for plug wires to be routed down and under the ram horn manifolds. Furthermore, straight dump 2.5" ram horn manifolds work great and there is more than enough room to route exhaust, even with a full size starter and the clutch linkage.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in with advice and gave me the confidence to do this for my first time.

01-28-2018, 10:56 AM	#26
Keystone_Hate Registered User Join Date: Apr 2017 Location: Colorado Springs Posts: 129	Re: Definitive answer for I6 to SBC 350 swap. As a follow up to this, I just dropped in my SBC this past week. As stated by others above, it works, nicely. Like TXFirefighter said, I had to cut half inch off the z-bar to get it to fit. The only reason is because of the frame side perch for the outboard end of the z-bar. Apparently there are different locations for this perch. One of them being more inboard than the other, which is where mine is. If I had known this before I would have swapped out for the perch that sits more outboard, almost even with the outboard most edge of the frame, while the engine was out and made the z-bar installation a lot easier. All in all it was pretty seamless. I've never done this before and a friend and I had the motor in and torqued down in about 45 minutes. Just a tip from my experience doing this. I found it easier to mount the engine frame stands to the engine, leaving the center bolt loose for wiggle room and alignment, while its hanging from the hoist. This made lining everything up easier as you lower the motor into the bay because you have full access to stick bolts in the frame holes for the frame stands as opposed to trying to get that one bolt into engine mount pad, from the back side while trying to line everything up. Also, I have no clearance issues with the sbc sitting back in the rear position. There's plenty of room for plug wires to be routed down and under the ram horn manifolds. Furthermore, straight dump 2.5" ram horn manifolds work great and there is more than enough room to route exhaust, even with a full size starter and the clutch linkage. Thanks to everyone who chimed in with advice and gave me the confidence to do this for my first time.