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Fitting a BBC into a '72

thatK30guy

thatK30guy

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What did you guys do? Any tips or tricks to fitting a BBC into a '72 K10? Not changing crossmember either. LMC Truck says "no, won't fit/work". What did you guys do? :confused:

Something about the throttle linkage hits the valve cover? What say you?
 
thatK30guy said:
What did you guys do? Any tips or tricks to fitting a BBC into a '72 K10? Not changing crossmember either. LMC Truck says "no, won't fit/work". What did you guys do? :confused:

Something about the throttle linkage hits the valve cover? What say you?
Click to expand...

if that is why they say it won't fit then just swap to a 73 and up pedal and cable instead of the pedal and rod like the pre 73's.

the ones I have seen swapped either hammer the firewall or slide the motor mounts forward to clear the valve cover and distrubitor against the firewall
 
I cant give any advise on the truck, because i just stuck another SBC crate in mine, however when i did my 77 vette a SB only car i had a couple of issues:
1) I went through 3 oil pans before i found my mildon that would clear all the suspension (with a lift kit this shouldn't effect you).
2)I had the crane roller rocker which require the tall valve covers so a brake booster wasn't even close to fitting. I converted to manual brakes. (if you have a body lift this wouldn't be an issue either).
3)Unlike the truck i really didn't have any firewall issues, and i've heard you have to modify the firewalls on these early trucks.

Really those were the 2 biggest issues i had. I had to play with the radiator a bit and converted to an electric fan for clearance reasons. The fan shroud was out of the question.
Oh and i couldn't get the hood closed :D




361391_39_full.jpg
 
You have a few different options when putting in a bbc. As you research this, you will find some people have very little difficulty swapping in a bbc, while others, like me, have major firewall issues.

You can move the whole drivetrain forward a bit to get firewall clearance but you give up a bit of front driveshaft angle and your fan gets close to the radiator.

You can also use a body lift and some firewall mods to help get the bbc to fit. On my 69 I had pretty significant clearance problems on both sides of the motor - the heads/valve covers were contacting the firewall. I ended up cutting the firewall and made pockets for the clearance. You can go to my website in my sig and see the problems I had and the way I modified it. I used the stock sbc style motor mounts.

If you use the stock crossmember with a truck bbc oil pan you will find there is little clearance between the crossmember and the oil pan. A good solution is to use a 73-up crossmember. This is what burt4x4 did and he had minor firewall issues. I wonder if the 73-up crossmember sits the motor a little lower. Not sure.

My 69 has the older style throttle linkage - the hard rod. I just used a longer rod and it all worked out.

Good luck. There are quite a few of us here that have done the swap and a few over at 67-72chevytrucks.com also. Be happy to help with any questions you have.
 
Well, just figured out a possibly easier way to get BBC's into the pre-'73 engine bays.
After checking here and reading others moving the mounts forward and drilling "36 holes", figured whats the point of wasting time like that?
So, we moved the mounts down from their current holes by 1". Yep, made spacers and got longer bolts and just dropped them down 1".
No drilling or moving, just dropping. Haven't done anything to the t-case crossmember yet as we don't know if we need to. The carb sits just fine with the drop in front. If it affects the carb performance, then we will drop the rear down to level it back out.
 
I've been kicking around dropping my bbc a bit too (to get rid of some of my body lift), but was thinking I would have to have a custom engine crossmember made to do that. Never thought about just using spacers and longer bolts :doah:

I'm running outside right now to take a look and give that some thought . . . I better grab a beer!

This just might be a "why didn't I think of that" moment!
 
Mine uses a custom tubular crossmember and the engine is set back 6 inches.I have all the room I could ever need for the bigger radiator and fans as well as the highsteer.The driveshaft lengths are closer to being the same and the overall balance is better.I dig it.Lot's of guys here have big blocks in their 1st Gens.
 
destinbeachman said:
Mine uses a custom tubular crossmember and the engine is set back 6 inches.I have all the room I could ever need for the bigger radiator and fans as well as the highsteer.The driveshaft lengths are closer to being the same and the overall balance is better.I dig it.Lot's of guys here have big blocks in their 1st Gens.
Click to expand...


Do you have pics of your engine set back 6"? That means you had to move your firewall behind your engine back as well, right?
 
CDA 455 said:
Do you have pics of your engine set back 6"? That means you had to move your firewall behind your engine back as well, right?
Click to expand...

(X2)

:eek1:
 
two steps:
take off front clip:
bbc2.jpg

Stuff in 454:
bbcin.jpg

Re-assemble and GO WHEELIN! :D :D

It seams evey SBC to BBC has it's own little tricks and mods that are needed...so just GO FOR It and we will give opinions along the way and you will BBC powered in no time! :bow:
 
Burt4x4 said:
two steps:
take off front clip:
bbc2.jpg

Stuff in 454:
bbcin.jpg

Re-assemble and GO WHEELIN! :D :D

It seams evey SBC to BBC has it's own little tricks and mods that are needed...so just GO FOR It and we will give opinions along the way and you will BBC powered in no time! :bow:
Click to expand...


Cool, thanks for the pics.

And I like your Led Zeppelin 4 banner :D :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: !!
 
Thanks, I got that banner years ago :D

I have alot more pics when I did the SBC to BBC swap...my club's site is down right now so I can't get to my pics and that is also why you see red X on my pics now..hopefully it will be up soon :doah:
 
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