M37 repower with 250 straight six chevy

[desert demon]

The old 230 needs rebuilt.Got a 250 chevy straight six really cheap.I was wondering if there is an adapter plate to use the origanal transmission with this motor and what would be the best raidiator to use and the best way to do motor mounts?

 

[desert demon]

One other thing.If regular transmission wont work would a Muncie 4 speed two wheel drive with granny low be my best bet?

 

[GUNNY 155]

The old Chevy 6 is a great engine. Back in the day I rebuilt quite a few and worked on a lot of them. The M37 radiator should be fine cooling capacity wise. Make sure you retain the fan shroud and pay attention to the distance the fan is from the radiator. You may need to make a spacer to go between the water pump and the fan blade. Motor mount will be hand fabricated. As far as an adapter plate my guess would be hand fabricated too. Good luck.

 

[Kasper31]

You might like to use the Chev. SM-465 4 speed tranny with the "granny' low first gear that will bolt to the Chev. engine with its normal bell housing.
You may then need to fabricate a short shaft to adapt to the Dodge transfer case. This is a really nice set up. Another thought is to use the Chev engine with the
5 speed trans that has the 5th gear that is an overdrive and that will give you much more road speed and still be able to crawl around in 1st gear.

 

[GUNNY 155]

I like Kasper 31's idea. The over drive 5 speed trans would be a bonus and make life better for the Chevy 6.

 

[Kasper31]

Desert
I did that mod to one of my trucks several years ago. If you use the Chev. 250 or the 302 straight 6 engines it will allow you to use the
Chev. truck package and use the 5 speed 5th overdrive NV-4500 trans. you can then use the hyd. clutch assy. and the only real item you will
need to make up is the short shaft that goes between the trans and the transfer case. You could even go farther and get one of the NV-4500's
that has the mating transfer case., however I liked the divorced trans n transfer set up, it makes for easier repairs in the future and if you get
a rear axle out of a WC Dodge then you could go to the 205 transfer case that is quieter and all the gear boxes are in line.

 

[desert demon]

Thanks for the replys on my ideals.Here some progress we have made so far

 

[armytruck63]

Another engine to consider is a Ford 300 six.

 

[desert demon]

Got her primerd with corraseal need to get t case in then finger out the motor mounts

 

[desert demon]

Got a sm 420 for trans.