348 Truck Motor => El Camino

[jboatno4]

Hello

I'm building a '59 El Camino and have bought a '58 348 that was in a pickup.

What obstacles will I encounter trying to get this into the Elky?

Is there a way to tell what motor originally came in the El Camino? I know it was a V-8 because of the "H" in the VIN. Is there something else that shows whether it was a 283 or 348?

from jboatno4 in
Central Oregon

 

[Impalaguru]

The 348 should go into the El Camino with no problem! Things should be pretty much easy, being that your ElCam is an original V-8 truck. You might have to move the fuel line, if it was originally a 283, upgrade the radiator, 348 fan shroud and heavier springs, but it will drop in there just fine!!

The H in your VIN designates where the truck was built, not the engine. Chevrolet didn't put engine designations in the VIN until later on. The H stands for the plant where the '59 was built. The way to tell if it was a V-8 or not is in the model number. It will be a the set of four digits after the 9, at the begining of the sequence. I think that the El Camino was associated with the Biscayne, so it would have been in the 1100 or 1200 series. 1100 series is 6cyl and 1200 is V-8. Your VIN, for a V-8, would start off as 912........ and a 6 would be 911.......

I'm not totally sure if this pertains to 59s or not, but if you originally had a V-8 then to see if you had a 348, aside from the crossed flags and V on the hood, you should have a 3/8" fuel line that is routed under the upper A-arm on the pass side. The line comes out just ahead of the upper A-arm. The 283 had the smaller line and it just ran on top of the frame rail.

The reason you may have to move your fuel line is that if you have the small block line, your wider 348 will have its exhaust manifold too close to the fuel line and you'll boil the gas in the line. I had this happen on a 409 swap in my old 63.

Best of luck!

Ross

 

[jboatno4]

Thanks for the info.

I was told at first that the motor was from a '59 car, but later found out it was from a '58 pickup. It runs great (in another vehicle at the moment) and I hope to have it in the Elky next week. Because I just found out it was not what I first thought it was I'm trying to figure out all the things that could go wrong in the swap, i.e., wrong bell housing, wrong motor mounts, etc., etc. I have a small block fan shroud that I understand needs to be made smaller for the 348.

My information (Chevrolet By The Numbers 1955-59) says that the "H" designates a V8 '59 El Camino/Sedan Delivery (later in the VIN is an "L" that designates the plant (in this case Los Angeles). A 6-cyl El Camino would have a "G" instead of an "H" leading off the VIN. My VIN is H59L119764 (only 10 digits and the last 6 are the serial number). I also have a '59 Elky parts car with a VIN of H59L210440. Not sure why there are 6 digits in the serial number as only a little more than 22,000 were made in 1959.

Again, according to my information, the 6-cyl (G) is model 1180 and the V8 (H) is model 1280.

Thanks again for the great information.

Jack

 

[Impalaguru]

HI Jack,

I wasn't totally sure about the VIN. I'm glad you set me straight! I figured there had to be more of a differance between the cars and the El Camino.

If you have a manual, you'll need a bell housing for the 168 tooth flywheel. The orig for a 59 would be the flat bottom style and made of cast iron. The smaller bell housings for the 153 fly wheel won't work with a W-motor. I learned this the hard way!

Good luck with the swap!!

Ross

 

[OldTruckNut]

Jack, you may want to check the numbers on that 348. According to everything I have heard and read, the 348(and 409) were only available in the big trucks, not the pickups. If someone put that motor in the the pickup, it could be the better car engine. Just a thought.

 

[jboatno4]

Thanks again, I'll check the numbers on the motor. Hopefully it's as you say.

Jack

 

[jboatno4]

Back again..... I found out that the motor was as first stated to me - from a '59 car, not a truck at all. It was in an Impala and I was able to obtain the original front clip from that car.

I still do not have the in the Elky ... I decided to do some fun things to it first - like a 2x4 set up and making it stronger on the lower end.

More later

Jack

 

[SteveD409]

You said that the 348 originally came in a pick up--I don't believe that any W blocks ever came in a pickup from the factory.

WHOOPS, sorry, I need to read better! :takethat

SteveD

 

[SS425HP]

348s in trucks

In 59, you could get the 335 HP engine in the El Camino. Saw several of them. The El Camino could be bought with any engine Chevrolet had in the line up. There was a 59 El Camino that ran at Edgewater west of Cincy in 59 that was a tough cat to clean after. His name was Trickle, and it was known as "Trickles Truck". He was a contractor of some kind. I would think he got to the jobs first. It was a 335 4 speed El Camino.

Fred

 

[jboatno4]

You said that the 348 originally came in a pick up--I don't believe that any W blocks ever came in a pickup from the factory.

WHOOPS, sorry, I need to read better! :takethat

SteveD

You're right I did originally say it was from a pickup, I think. That's what I was told. What wasn't said (to me) at the time was that the car (Impala) the engine was in burned and the engine was then put in a '58 Chev pickup, then into a '63 Chev pickup (that's where I got it). I've seen the car that burned and it's really interesting because it only burned from the fire wall back - the front clip is undamaged (I bought it a couple weeks ago), as was the engine.

The guy also has a complete (including rust) '60 El Camino (283), extra '60 front clip and the frame from the burned '59 Impala that all goes as one lot. Last fall he wanted $900 for the lot and I assume it's still the same price (although he is hearing more and more about eBay)....

Jack

 

[jboatno4]

Almost finished with the motor now. Just painted today and will continue assembly early next week.