Chuck, what's the condition of the hi-comp 351W?

 

Turn the engine clockwise.

I have a 54 with the 223. An unloved engine. I pulled the engine and left the bellhousing and transmission in the vehicle. I reinstalled it the same way. I recommend pulling the fan and radiator off before horsing around with it.

The 223 is not a powerful engine, but it works well with the light 53-56 chassis. Trying to adapt another engine besides the 223 or a 272/292/312 is tricky business.

You live not too far from a real 292 freak; Tim McMasters in Valencia, 75 miles away. Tim is a machinist who loves y-blocks. Check out the y-blocksforever.com site and ask about building a 292 for your truck. The 292 will fit very nicely in your truck and I think you'll be pleased with the end result.

 

Thanks very much for the advice, but I'm specifically intending this truck to be an economical work truck, this truck is no wheres near restoration, and has a few more years of work-horsing before it'll be pampered to performance wise.

How hard was it to pull the engine out without the trans? That IS what we're doing, but I heard we'd have some trouble with the output shaft. we've taken a lot of stuff off the engine and out of the bay.

Any advice or help about my specific situation(it seems as though you went through this, did you not?) would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much.

 

I'm happy to help. Yes, I pulled my 223 and reinstalled it and pulled it again. No difficulties. I had the hood off and I use a engine crane, and it all went together without drama. I had lined up the clutch disk on the flywheel by eye and I must have gotten it right because it all went together nicely. I'll be reinstalling it again soon.

There's not much advice I can give you. I suppose the only problem that might occur is if you don't get the clutch disk centered on the flywheel close enough to allow the engine's bolt holes to line up, too.