I have a 1965 Chevy Sportvan with the 230 cubic inch I-6 (scooby doo). I am getting tired of dealing with that smelly carb, bad gas mileage, manual choke, and hard to find QUALITY repair parts. To say nothing of the quirky but annoying 3-on-the-tree. The old 230 is burning oil again (valve guides this time)...
So, I'm thinking of sticking in a 3.7 Atlas I-5 with automatic. I'll probably dig up an entire used Colorado, take what I need and part the rest out. Anyway, the "dog house" in the van is a restricted area in terms of width. I think I'd be OK with length as the I-6 is coming out. For height, probably OK, although the I-5 DOHC isn't the shortest thing in the world. Width has me worried. From the pictures, it looks like they stuck the accessories out as far as they could. And why not, they had all kinds of space under the hood to work with...
Could somebody grab a tape measure and give me gross dimensions: length from waterpump to back of block, width across accessories in the front, and height from top of intake manifold bottom of sump (and also to middle of sump where my axle is going to ride). This will help me decide if the idea is completely without merit or what. Thanks.
Most guys swap in a V-8, but this requires the wider '67+ dog house. I'm not interested in hacking my van up for this. Besides, the I-5 gives me everything I need, little better torque, 100 MORE hp, and probably 50%+ improvement in mpg.
So, I'm thinking of sticking in a 3.7 Atlas I-5 with automatic. I'll probably dig up an entire used Colorado, take what I need and part the rest out. Anyway, the "dog house" in the van is a restricted area in terms of width. I think I'd be OK with length as the I-6 is coming out. For height, probably OK, although the I-5 DOHC isn't the shortest thing in the world. Width has me worried. From the pictures, it looks like they stuck the accessories out as far as they could. And why not, they had all kinds of space under the hood to work with...
Could somebody grab a tape measure and give me gross dimensions: length from waterpump to back of block, width across accessories in the front, and height from top of intake manifold bottom of sump (and also to middle of sump where my axle is going to ride). This will help me decide if the idea is completely without merit or what. Thanks.
Most guys swap in a V-8, but this requires the wider '67+ dog house. I'm not interested in hacking my van up for this. Besides, the I-5 gives me everything I need, little better torque, 100 MORE hp, and probably 50%+ improvement in mpg.
