My friend and I just got down pulling out his 283 out of his 65 Chevelle. He had a 350 built for it and bought a used 350TH for it. I wanted to know what ftlb the water pump, and headers need to be tightened to. This whole project is so overwhelming because it is both are first time pulling a motor and putting one back in. Also should we put his headers on before we drop the motor in or after.

 

I'll have to wait until I get home, but I can look up the torque rating for the bolts. I would put the headers on after the engine is in the car, but I like to bolt the transmission to the engine and the install that as one big piece.

 

Good luck getting a torque wrench on the header/exhaust bolts! Tighten them until they feel good and snug and don't leak. That's about the best you can ask of them. I have found that it's sometimes a lot easier to use a variety of header bolts for ease of access- some 6-point heads, some that take an allen key to tighten. Just getting a wrench of some kind on them to to tighten them down is challenging enough without worrying about exact torque. Go back and recheck them periodically (after a few hours of run time then every few weeks) to make sure they're not loosening up on you. Many people will tell you installing headers is as easy as unbolting the stock manifolds and bolting on the headers. UNTIL THEY TRY IT THEMSELVES FOR THE FIRST TIME. You'll see. Trust me. Oh, the JOY of installing headers!

Water pump bolts? Medium tight. Again, exact torque is not required. Tight enough to seal it up and you're fine.

The only bolts that it's really important to get exact torque on are inside the engine- main cap bolts, rod bolts and head bolts. It won't take long before you start to get a "feel" for torqueing various bolts down and don't even give it a second thought. I like to call it my "calibrated elbow."

 

I have more questions for the experts. Since we are switching trannys from a 2 speed powerglide to a 3 speed TH350 will there be any problems we will encounter like linkage or mounting(his car has colum shift. Also he needs to order motor mounts and we didn't know if we have to get special mounts since 350ci motors didn't come in 65 chevelles or is the 283 block the same as a 350? Thanks for the help on the buildup. When we finish I'll post some pictures of the beast.

 

The 350 mounts shouldn't be any different than those for a 283, as long as they are for a '65 Chevelle. However don't quote me on that one because I've never actually seen them. As far as the transmission goes, I imagine the linkage may be different as well as the length of the transmission. You may have to get the driveshaft shortened or lengthened, but you could just put the transmissions side by side and easily measure the difference. Most shops in your area could probably tell you where to get the work done to the driveshaft.

Edit: Here are several different transmission dimensions. It looks like you'll most likely have to have it shortened.

 

We measured the trannys and they are the same sive in lenght. I was woundering if we need to make it floor shift since his colum shift only shows low and high because it was a 2 speed. Now that we are putting in a 3 speed TH350 it will be off in the column shift or he will never know what gear he's in unless he counts the clicks every time he moves the shifter into gear. Should we just buy a B&M shifter or will the colum still work.

 

Only difference in the motor mounts is the later ones are "safety mounts", the bolt pattern is the same. I would get poly.
Yes, you will need to put a floor shifter in if you want to manually shift gears. Your column shifter should work if your only going to use "drive".

 

Thanks for all the help, I'll keep you guys posted about the car. Hopefully we'll get it finished in a couple of weeks and then I'll post some pics of it.

 

Hey, by the way, it's a WHOLE lot easier to lay the headers in the engine bay against the inner fenders and hold them in place with some coat hanger wire while you drop the motor in than it is to try to wiggle them into place after the motor is installed. Trust me. Since the motor's getting swapped this can save hours vs. doing it the hard way.

 

I'm going to have to try that next time my engine is out. Never even thought to try it that way!

 

If that 283 is the original 65, don't chuck it. 62 up 283's have good blocks that are the same as 327 castings, just with smaller bores. So they can be bored out to 4" and make a 302 with a 283 crank, or a 327 with a 327 small journal crank, which are all forged steel.

To verify that it's a good block, check the bottom of the cylinder bores. If they are round = not the good one. If they are scalloped for 327 crank counterweight clearance, it's the good one.

The short tail TH350 is a direct swap for the PG, same lenght, mount type/distance, output yoke. Only the linkage is an issue.

 

Just wanted to let you guys now we got the motor in today. It was so easy, the only problem we had was trying to lower the engine in place with the headers on already. We took them off and coat hangered against the inner fender; worked awesome. Next we have to still put the tranny, radiator, pulley's, carb, distributer, and everything else. Any tips on putting a tranny in. Do we just jack the car up really high and slide it underneath. how should we lift it in place(where should we jack it up from).

 

SHoulda said you were putting in a new tranny, too. It's easy to bolt the tranny to the engine and slide them in together. Now you gotta do it the hard way- on your back.

Get the car as high in the air as you can. Jackstands, please, not floor jacks. We don't want to see you end up as a pancake.

Put a floor jack under the engine oil pan (use a block of wood under it so you don't crush or dent it) so you can move the rear of the engine up and down some.

Drop the tranny crossmemeber- sometimes you can just let it down some, sometimes you have to take it out completely to get the tranny in. Put the tranny on your chest and roll under there on a creeper.

Somehow, some way, you have to get the rear of the tranny on top of the crossmemeber and get the crossmember to hold up the back of the trans- just roughly holding it in place for now, jsut holding the weight. It's also possible that you could use a floor jack to hold up the back of the trans in the right spot so you can line up the front of the tranny. You're going to have to play this by ear- see what's likely to work and do it that way. I don't recall ever doing this on a 65 Chevelle, peronally. Having friends helps, regardless.

Final step is getting the tranny bellhousing to line up and slide forward onto the 2 big dowel pins sticking out the back of the engine block. Once it does you can install the tranny-to-engine bolts (6). Then install and tighten the torque converter-to-flexplate bolts (3). Then hook up your linkages, etc.

 

Do you have to pour tranny fluid inside the stall converter, I wasn't sure about this? Do you bolt the torque converter to the flexplate first, then slide the tranny on to it? His 350ci didn't come witht the flexplate, can we use the one from his 283, or should he buy a new one. Thanks for the help guys.

 

The trans. and torque conv. have to go in together. Put fluid in the torque conv. and put it on the trans. Make sure it's fully seated (all the way back/aft). There should be about 1/2 to 1 inch back from the mount face of the bell housing.

Don't remember what size(diameter) the 283 flex plate is. But my quess is you'll probably need a different one for the 350.

Some one sells an adapter for the floor jack that makes it a mini-trans jack. Might be able to rent one?