Happy New Year to everyone, I am in the planning stages of a 348 install into my nomad. Ihave been told that there is going to be a clearance problem with the left side exhaust manifold and steering box. Does anyone know if a rack & pinion conversion will solve this problem ?
348 into a 57 nomad
- Thread starter Birdman
- Start date
Sure sounds like it would be a big help.
I believe so. I have the same question. I have the engine out of my 55 right now for a BBC swap I will try to drop a mockup 348 block and heads in the engine bay this week and post some pics.
catdoctor
Well Known Member
Birdman : pol 3/4 forward mounts. Bolt on. Plenty of room at rear of engine on both sides. Driver side 1/4 at steering box after you recess the bolt boss on number 5 cylinder of manifold. I have seen 348/409 installs with a rack. If you stay with stock steering you will need to modify oil pan to clear cross link or get a steff’s oil pan. It will clear the steering link. I went with the hydraulic assist original steering. Hope the pictures will help you.
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You could also do what the Mopar engineers did, move the engine over to the right a bit.
This is with the bellhousing in the stock location. I already clearanced the firewall for the BBC cuz I didn't want to move the engine forward. Looks like you'd have to do the same surgery to the firewall with a W engine in the 'stock' location too. HEI just barely clears, plenty of room with a small cap distributer. Already ground the steering box some for header clearance on the BBC, and still couldnt get a stock 348 manifold on without grinding the manifold too. Very tight right there. I believe thats a 348 car pan, as you can see it barely fits but you can get the drain plug in and out. You'd have to drop the idler arm off the frame and get the linkage out of the way to get the engine in.
You might be able to mill some off the exhaust port surfaces on the drivers side, just thought of that. .125-.250?
You might be able to mill some off the exhaust port surfaces on the drivers side, just thought of that. .125-.250?
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Gee Mr. Phil, how do you know that? Amazing what you guys know.
Nice work Kevin........This is with the bellhousing in the stock location. I already clearanced the firewall for the BBC cuz I didn't want to move the engine forward. Looks like you'd have to do the same surgery to the firewall with a W engine in the 'stock' location too. HEI just barely clears, plenty of room with a small cap distributer. Already ground the steering box some for header clearance on the BBC, and still couldnt get a stock 348 manifold on without grinding the manifold too. Very tight right there. I believe thats a 348 car pan, as you can see it barely fits but you can get the drain plug in and out. You'd have to drop the idler arm off the frame and get the linkage out of the way to get the engine in.
You might be able to mill some off the exhaust port surfaces on the drivers side, just thought of that. .125-.250?
Did anyone mention that fat distributor won't work with a dual quad intake? I didn't see any mention of it.
Those are great pictures Kevin... What did you use for the engine mounts??This is with the bellhousing in the stock location. I already clearanced the firewall for the BBC cuz I didn't want to move the engine forward. Looks like you'd have to do the same surgery to the firewall with a W engine in the 'stock' location too. HEI just barely clears, plenty of room with a small cap distributer. Already ground the steering box some for header clearance on the BBC, and still couldnt get a stock 348 manifold on without grinding the manifold too. Very tight right there. I believe thats a 348 car pan, as you can see it barely fits but you can get the drain plug in and out. You'd have to drop the idler arm off the frame and get the linkage out of the way to get the engine in.
You might be able to mill some off the exhaust port surfaces on the drivers side, just thought of that. .125-.250?
Yes, Kevin had noted that the HEI just barely fit .......see pics above
If your talking about the HEI it’ll fit dual quad but not tripower.