monaco75
Senior Member
This one needs to be saved. Very cool car! Wish I could grab it. Other then some metal work, and paint. Look pretty good.
SOLD 1960 Dodge Senaca
- Thread starter C Body Bob
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Wollfen
Old Man with a Hat
My old car...
Wollfen
Old Man with a Hat
Oh forgot to mention, at one stage I had a 392 Hemi in this thing, it marched!
C Body Bob
Old Man with a Hat
Damn Garry. That's awesome
78Brougham
"Chump"
Nope it won't. The block on a 331, has a six inch or so "bellhousing" or overhang cast onto the back of it, for the enormous clutch/torque converter, that was on the fluid drive transmissions back in the day. The 354 and on would though.
C Body Bob
Old Man with a Hat
Yea I know the early 51-53 Hemi's had the cast on bell housings. I don't remember his having those. I would have told him they where paper weights. I think I have read somewhere that in 54 they went to a regular bolt on bell. Am I correct
Yes 54 is the first year for the block without the bellhousing.
C Body Bob
Old Man with a Hat
Ok,thanks. I guess I'll head over to his shop one day & check them out closer.
Please post some pictures Bob. Thanks!
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
C Body Bob
Old Man with a Hat
The one above that Stan posted is the type that has the bell housing cast onto the block. The later ones had a L/LA bolt pattern from what I have read.
C Body Bob
Old Man with a Hat
Oh forgot. She is sitting on MY trailer in MY driveway now. If it ever quits raining on a day I have time to mess with it I will check it out closer. The damn snakes are comming out of the ground because it's so wet. I have seen 2 & my neighbor has seen 1. In January upper 30's. CRAZY
Looks like that bottom half of the bell housing unbolt's.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
Supposedly, there was a way to adapt a normal bell housing after machining off that bell housing.
C Body Bob
Old Man with a Hat
Yep, that what I understand. It can machined. Believe I would just pass & get a later one
I would go with the later model too.
I think the earlier block can be machined, but by the time you spend the money, you're better off starting with a later block. IIRC, they offered a 331 hemi in 1954 and 1955.
The bolt patterns are the same for all the V-8 blocks prior to 1962. In 1962, they changed bolt patterns. The V-8 engines also had a large 8 bolt flange that was about an inch thicker than the 1962 and newer engines.
Basically, it means nothing V-8 pre 1962 bolts together with post 1962 V-8. There are adapters though. You have to first adapt the flange to use a late model Hemi flexplate. At least the bolt patterns match, but the flex plate needs a flange to center on.
Then you need an adapter for the bellhousing and that has to be fairly thick because of the flange thickness.
My memory gets a little fuzzy after this. I looked into putting a 392 in my 1962 truck years ago. Had the engine... had the truck... didn't have the $$. It wasn't cheap to do.
I also have been looking into adapting a 904 to my '53 Windsor with a flathead. That may still happen. I keep getting told that I won't like the fluid drive "semi automatic" in it.
Some of the stuff Chrysler did back in the early fifties was a bit unorthodox and doesn't play well with any other parts from other cars. 1962 was a huge year for change.
The bolt patterns are the same for all the V-8 blocks prior to 1962. In 1962, they changed bolt patterns. The V-8 engines also had a large 8 bolt flange that was about an inch thicker than the 1962 and newer engines.
Basically, it means nothing V-8 pre 1962 bolts together with post 1962 V-8. There are adapters though. You have to first adapt the flange to use a late model Hemi flexplate. At least the bolt patterns match, but the flex plate needs a flange to center on.
Then you need an adapter for the bellhousing and that has to be fairly thick because of the flange thickness.
My memory gets a little fuzzy after this. I looked into putting a 392 in my 1962 truck years ago. Had the engine... had the truck... didn't have the $$. It wasn't cheap to do.
I also have been looking into adapting a 904 to my '53 Windsor with a flathead. That may still happen. I keep getting told that I won't like the fluid drive "semi automatic" in it.
Some of the stuff Chrysler did back in the early fifties was a bit unorthodox and doesn't play well with any other parts from other cars. 1962 was a huge year for change.
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I have a website with pics of the adapter. Adapter Photos | Quality Engineered Components
If you look you can see the bolt pattern is similar to the LA, but the newer bellhousing has a wider flange so it overlaps the engine on both sides.
There's some other interesting stuff on the early Hemi there too. If I do the 904 conversion for my Windsor, I'm going to buy it from him.
If you look you can see the bolt pattern is similar to the LA, but the newer bellhousing has a wider flange so it overlaps the engine on both sides.
There's some other interesting stuff on the early Hemi there too. If I do the 904 conversion for my Windsor, I'm going to buy it from him.
C Body Bob
Old Man with a Hat
Ok. Good info Big. May be eaiser to do a Poly 318 with dual quads
78Brougham
"Chump"
I'm pretty sure you are. I think they dropped the fluid drive after 53' and went to the two speed power flite in 54. However, I will find it hard to believe they would re-cast the block just to match the power flite, unless.... the 354 was nothing more than a punched out 331, which came out in 56. Then they may have done just that. I haven't seen a 54 in person in years.
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