Thread: 348 in a 37 chevy truck

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I'm going to pull my 305 out of my 37 and I was thinking of putting a 348 in it's place. As you know there not much room in the old trucks and measuring the engine I would have to cut the firewall 3" and move it back to fit the engine which is no problem. My problem is my knees will be at my chest level since I don/t have any room in the cab. I don't want to extend the cab but I can't think of any other options.

Originally posted by Streets
My knees in the bucket rub on the steering wheel all the time..

That aint rubbin bro, thats an old school steering dampener

Well one thing you could do is put a 350 in it and bring the fire wall in some and then it will be too small for you so you can give it to me since that is my dream truck. Damn your such a lucky guy to have that truck. Is it true that only 300 of those were made? I wan't one so damn bad but can never find one and don't count on finding one any time soon. Well I did find one that was 29,000 bucks.

My 37 Dodge Pickup/Hemi project is pretty much the same situation. To avoid moving the fire wall back (I'm going to have to rebuild it anyway as the previous owner butchered it before I got my hands on it) I'm doing the following:

1. Moving the radiator foward into the grill. I'm using a custom radiator thats a little narrower than stock, but with the barrel shaped nose I have it will still leave me room for the AC condencer.

2. The firewall on my truck has a recessed section in the center that allows the distributor (the rearmost part of the engine) to sit back farther, but still keep the drivers and passenger firewall in the stock location. Another option that might also give you a little more room is a smaller distributor such as a Mallory UNILITE.

3. I'm using the stock seat simply due to the fact that it's about the thinnest one that will work and thus provides a little more leg room.

4. I'm 5'9" and this seems to fit the truck pretty well. As a last resort, you could have the appropriate amount surgically removed from your shin bones.

Personally I think it's a great Idea if you can figure everything out. (A tri-power setup would be neat too). Keep in mind you will also likely need to upgrade the front springs for the extra weight.

Nice looking 37. What size is that hemi and are you running all carbs or just three. As far as not moving the firewall in my truck, yes I do have about 2" of clearence for my distrubutor, but the radiator your talking about is out since I just put a new one in. With my 305 in there now, I only have 3" from water pump pulley to radiator so I have to run front mounted electric push fans. If I go with the 348 or 409 block, I'm not going to have the room I have now. I'm 5'10" and there not much room. I have a tilt steering wheel which helps, and I might be able to move my seat back another 2" but would have to take out sspeakers I have mounted behind the seat.