How to Swap a Big Block Chevy into a 1960-1966 Chevy C10 Truck 

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Hey buddy I’m not no professional by any means but I do a lot of checking. I am putting a punched out 454…468 now. I’m putting it in my 71 GMC C15. You might have been able to avoid the cutting and notching by putting in bbc perches . Haven’t done mine yet but getting closer. YOU GOTTA LOVE DA BIG BLOCKS!!!😁✌️

Sounds great. Looks good.

My dad and I did a 454 swap in my '66 back in the 90's. Your's and our was very similar. The differences were: I used a TH400 with the original 3spd crossmember. We simply notched the cross member the full width of the trans mount and all the way front to back. Welded the new lower material back in. I think we dropped it about 1.5". We used the original factory 6cyl mounts but modded the towers to drop the engine down. In our case, we used the factory exhaust mainfolds and still had to "shave" the frame rails about 1/4" on each side. No notching. Used balljoints, spindles and disc brakes and proportioning valve from a '75 C10. The '75 balljoints bolt right back in where the originals came out. Altogether, it was a 454, power brakes (discs up front), power steering (used a frame adapter kit from Rez Engineering that spaces the steering box out from the frame to clear the hump on the side of the steering box, also reinforces the frame for the added torque of the pwr unit), TH400, tilt column from a '91 Suburban and 3.08 diff from a '68 Olds Vista Cruiser wagon. The only firewall mods I had to do was using some channel locks and a hammer on the pinchweld seam where the firewall meets the cab cowl. Just rolled it toward the rear of the truck some till it no longer hit the bell on the 400. It was a screamer!! Working on a '64 C10 longbed now. Have a 5.3 LS to build for it but really want to go back with another BB Rat! Great video!! Keep it up!!

Interesting video but my experience with this swap is a bit different. I have a 496 inch stroker that uses the rectangular port aluminum heads. These heads are MUCH larger than the peanut or ovals. Also using the RPM AirGap 2 Edelbrock manifold for the rectangular port heads and an MSD HEI distributor and Holley EFI fuel system. With these heads in place, the engine will NOT FIT without a great deal of cutting/bending of the firewall. In fact it may require so much bending that I end up giving up the space I was hoping to have under the dash for an air conditioner but not absolutely sure about that. I also have a roller cam set up and this requires the use of larger valve covers as the shortys won't generally clear the rockers. I have the tubular engine mounts and bolted them to the rearmost position and had lots of firewall interference so I moved the mounts forward to the other set of holes in the frame. That placed the engine so far forward that the water pump shaft (without fan installed) was sitting where the second row of radiator fins would be if it was installed. In order to fix that I would have had to move the radiator mount forward but that causes other problems such as the inner fender wells won't attach to the support. Based on what experience I have with this, you are probably OK if using peanut or oval heads as they are much smaller than rectangulars. I don't have that option so I am looking at getting an LS3 for this truck. Oh, one other option I considered was to make 3-4" high, 3" diameter aluminum spacers to go under all 4 cab mounts and bed sills. This would lift the entire sheet metal system up to provide clearance for the engine but again, believe the LS is a much better option. I will look for a 67-72 or an 88 or later truck to put my 496 in. Just as an FYI, my water pump is a long shaft high volume unit and the radiator I am using is a 3 row aluminum with an attached electric fan. There is simply no room to attach a flex fan in addition to the electric fan. This is the same radiator I used when I installed the engine on my break in stand and ran it. If someone has other experience with my engine/truck combination I would love to hear from them. Thanks!

Thanks for the video, and the good info.I am doing the same to a 62 long narrow plus replacing front suspension, donor truck is a 81 with a 77 454 auto.

Thanks for the info good job 👍🏿

Thank you for this im about to swap my 66 so this helps a lot

When you made room on the firewall, did you have to heat it or just form with hammer.? I have a 63

I see you used the original location for the engine mounts. Would it have helped to move the mounts to the front 2 frame holes? or would that crowd the radiator with the big block?

I currently have a 350 with a 700r4 behind it (rebuilt about a year ago). I am buying my buddies built 454 he claims about 600hp, which I believe, do you think it will survive a decent amount of time behind that? Or will I need a th400?

Man, you just saved me a lot of time and money on that info about the headers. I just started this swap on my 64 and was lost on what headers to try. I started out with a small budget but that quickly went out the window. My son-in-law put a 496 in a 71 short bed Chevy so I had to go bigger. I'm going 540 with a turbo 400. I ordered the tubular motor mount stands and transmission cross member so maybe I won't have to do much cutting on the important stuff. All that for 3 questions - Does your truck even remotely hook up? And does the frame seem to twist very much under hard acceleration? Is the rear-end out of the donor truck the same width as the one you swapped out? Thanks for posting the videos. I do have a couple of BFH's and a hot-wrench and ain't afraid to use 'em so this should be easy peasy. LOL. NOT.

I'm in the middle of doing this swap as far as the rear end goes did you keep that all stock the differential specifically.

I have a 65 with the same fitment issues

Is there a header i can use that won't require notching the frame? I'm pulling the 454 with Auto trans out of a 74 Corvette and it's going in my ,66 C10

Did you use factory motor mount from the 60 model truck

hi putting in a 454 in my chev step side didn't come with any brackets; power steering, alternator ; i have air need bracket for pump ; ant suggestion where i could get them no junk yards around here thanks ray

What would you say is the ideal make/model for someone's first restomod project? Make/models to avoid?

I have a 66 c10 that I'm going to do the 454 swap with but my new engine came out of a 93 or 94 454ss truck

hi i am puttting a 1966 396 big block in my 1964 GMC 4x4 3/4 ton pickup truck it originally had a 305 v6 so it ha no cross member only pearches what do i need

Hi...i have a 1963 with 305 block on it....but once i step on that gas it shakes alot..do you know why it does it

i am currently swapping a 454 into a 65 with a muncie 4 speed.

did u use the original rubber mounts mine are off a lil idk if I should loosing the bolt going to to block

How much money it was in total?

I have the same transmission, is it still holding up? Lol

Part number for headers??

What about the weight difference