55 chevy 2 door hybrid??

[TWISTER]

My dream car has always been a red and white 55 chevy but I bought a GN 10 years ago instead and never looked back ,so for Valentines day my wife bought me a 55 chevy that needs a complete resto. Well I always wanted a sbc 4 speed car which it was but needs gone throu. Now Im thinking to buy another GN and use the drivetrain and interior for the 55. I think it will be cheaper than the v8 and all new interior. Besides the fact everybody has the v8 4 speed it seems.Will black and grey int. on a red and white car look funny? Also am I just stupid for thinking of this? I need to start the resto this winter so I have to figure it out. Any thoughts will be appreciated. Thanks Marty.

 

[TURBOPOWERED68]

Go for it dude
it will be nice and when you open the hood it will be nicer
BUT think about thoes colors for at least 1 minute first.

why not go with a late 80s and or early 90s OE EFI 350 with some boost.
thats what i am starting late in the fall.
wish me luck.

 

[Grumpy]

I'd go with a late model drivetrain ... then ya can get parts for it

 

[DCVING 6]

I agree with Grumpy! Keep the GN as a fun turbo car. Swap a turbo/twin turbo LS1 setup in.

 

[TWISTER]

I dont want to sink a boatload of $$$$in the drivetrain. Its either gonna be a .060 over 350 4 bolt at about 350 HP(I have this in the machine shop)or a GN drivetrain that I will have to buy a car cause Im not using mine and do the swap. I appreciate the comments. The color combo Is what Im worried about also. I guess maybe something could fall into my hands and go that way too. Such as an F body drivetrain but who knows. I never thought about part availability thou. Good point.

 

[STG2LTD]

I took a look at doing this when my dad had his SB Chevy out of the 55' a couple of months back. I mocked up my spare 87 turbo motor with the cherry picker. I quickly came across a problem with the oil pan and steering linkage (Basically the pan would sit on top of it. I didn't tinker with it enuff to determine if maybe notching the pan would help. After seeing this the SB went back in. Now i'm considering doing the swap with my 66 el camino.

I'm sure you could get around this problem by notching the fire wall and moving the motor back, but this wasn't going to be an option with this car as its too nice to cut up.

Hope that helps

Jason Hall

 

[TWISTER]

Thanks for the heads up on that one,I think Im gonna stick with the sbc and 4 speed but maybe go with a interior out of a late model to save $$$ hopefully. Wife only wants a bench seat so she can sit by me, Thats all. Everything else is up to me.

 

[Pronto]

I'd go with a 5 speed for that overdrive gear. You can then use 4.11s or lower and still drive somewhere.

 

[TWISTER]

That would be great but I already have 2 Muncie 4 speeds that came with the car.

 

[steve hughes]

I've owned a few 57 Chevies. I can tell you it will be much cheaper to go with a sbc. Everything is a bolt on. If you do the 3.8 everything will have to fabbed. If you can't weld and make parts you'll have to pay somebody to do it. Now you're talking big money. You can build an earlier model 350 dirt cheap. If you want to modernize it a little you can put a factory throttle body injection on it fairly cheap and easily. A 200R4 tranny would make it a nice driver too.

 

[olds443]

I agree, go with something not as hard to find parts for as the LC2. If you already have an engine in the machine shop and want to save some cash it sounds like the way to go.
As far as the GN parts car, do you really want to hack up a GN? And think about it for a second, all the publications/collectors have been hyping these cars again so your not likely to find one very cheaply.
As far as parts availablity goes, go to your local parts store and try to get some gaskets, not even turbo specific, try an oil pan gasket. I bet they don't have it and will have to order it. Tha's how it is around here anyways.
Good luck with your project. I do think the GN engine would be cool however.