Installing a 302 in the 1936 Ford

Les wants to put a 302 Ford engine in his late father's 1936 Ford to complete his dad's plan for the car.

Hello Doug,
 

I am currently attempting to finish the engine conversion that my father, Phil Diez had started and then suddenly passed away half way through. He was one of the original Tampa Knights and an early pioneer in real steel street rods in the 70s and 80s. I have inherited his 36/ 5 window coupe and wish he was here to pick his brain on how the heck he was going to shovel the 302 he built to replace the 327 that was originally installed.  He had cut the firewall and I have 2 special motor mount flat plates that I believe he was going to use. In a quick mock up placing the engine and tranny into the car , the engine really protrudes into the gas pedal area etc. if the fan is going to clear the radiator.. I have been flying over in Afghanistan and Iraq and am now home for good and want to try and finish the installation. It is a beautiful car that was his proudest achievement. He is a real old school resto rod streetrodder and Nascar sportsmen legend from the Tampa bay area. Cecil Taylor of Hercules Motors was a big help in letting me safely store the car at his shop until I could arrange to have it hauled to North East Ohio several years ago. What started the conversion idea was when Don Garlits was picking on him for not having a Ford in a Ford now that a rear sump option is available. ( They went to high school together) Originally he was going to install one of his old Offy powered flat heads in there but elected to build a Boss 302 instead. He was on Social security disability the last 10 years and had to watch his pennies.  Anyway, I would like to honor him with the completion and take the car to the Tampa NSRA Nats some year in the future so that all of his friends can see that it was possible and etc. I would be very appreciative of any guidance I could receive.

Best regards

Les

Les,

I encourage you to look at shortening the water pump in an attempt to fit the engine in between the original firewall and radiator. Another option is to use a 260 water pump. If you can find one, it will save on machine work expense. You may also need to shorten your fan blades slightly, in order to clear the lower outlet on the radiator. You can also pressurize your radiator in order to enhance the cooling ability. 

Hope this information helps. 

Thanks for presenting you question,

Doug

1937 Chevrolet Panel Truck

1937 Chevrolet Panel Truck shown here in an original photo offered by Darrins Photoclique on E-bay. This is a great photo showing what the custom pickup truck, in my previous blog post looked like before it was customized.

1937 Chevrolet Custom Pickup Truck

This 1937 Chevrolet Panel Delivery was converted to a Pickup Truck, similar to an El Camino. Who knows, maybe it was the inspiration for the El Camino. This original, vintage photo was used with permission from Darrins Photoclique.

1937 Chevrolet Pickup Truck Cross Country Tour

My 1937 Chevrolet Pickup Truck and I made the trip from Seattle Washington area to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and back in August and Sept of 07. This was a solo trip.

The most modern mechanical part of my truck is the 1960 235ci inline six truck engine. The rest of the running gear, and steering etc is 1941 Chevrolet truck. It does have a R-10 Borg Warner overdrive spliced into the torque tube, that was removed from an early 60's Rambler transmission.

The 37 is still equipped with 6 volt system but has been upgraded to 1941 as well. The advancements that were made in those few years were quite amazing. The brakes are basically the same as 37 and they work great. In fact, I can apply brakes at 50mph, hard with hands off the steering wheel! The brakes will lock too, so I am mystified why everyone thinks that they need disc brakes. Mine don't chatter!!

Cruising at the 70mph speed limit in 100 degree temperature was no problem either. I did experience vapor lock when stopping at the rest stops, so when I stopped, I lifted the hood and allowed the air to flow through. That solved the problem.

At one point in North Dakota when I pulled into a rest stop, I ended up driving through a herd of Buffalo. After parking, I found out that they do ram vehicles and charge people. Oops. Well they must have thought my truck looked like one of them cause they didn't ram it.

There was a lot of picture taking along the way when people would drive up along side, going down the freeway, so they could get an image on their camera.

I had never driven across country before, so there was a lot for me to take in, on the journey. I don't think there could be a more enjoyable way to make the trip. I spent a couple hours at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and got a lot of pictures of the vintage race cars in the museum. They wouldn't let me take my 37 Chevy around the track, but we did make the tour in a bus.

Being a pilot myself, Kitty Hawk and the museum there was another wonderful highlight of the trip.

Classic Car Tire Repair Original Ad

Tire repair was easy with So-Lo. Just spread it on with your butter knife.

Tire failure was common in the early years. This was the land of opportunity too, so you could make and market just about anything, as is obvious in this other example of the Glare Shields for Blinding Headlights.

I really don't think you'd want to patch a tire like this and drive any distance or at any speed although, you might be able to limp along to the next repair station if you didn't have far to go. This added goop might just save the inner tube from getting punctured.