68 Valiant Hellcat Swap

Hemivaliant, congrats on you HC choice and purchase! We'll have to start a club to learn about these awesome engines from each other! I bought a Hellcrate back at the beginning of December but haven't been able to touch it until I finish my home remodel and retire from my career in a couple of months. I expect to get started this summer for sure.

Meantime, I'm getting ideas in my head for making things fit with minimal changes to what I've already completed. My changes to my firewall for factory looking, aftermarket heater/AC were all done for fitting an awesome 6.1 / 393 stroker in it with perfect fit and clearance. I use to tell customers "don't change directions in the middle of a project because it gets real expensive" (at a custom shop I use to have) but I'm the new poster child for doing just that with my '69 Cuda project, several times!

Thank you for the pics of the firewall to water manifold clearance (none!). I wouldn't have been able to confirm this until later mockup. Could you possibly post more pics of that area from a couple of angles? I'm now considering ditching the cast aluminum manifold and fabricating some nippled tubing that could maybe exit out both sides. Desperate idea, but dang, I just don't want to re-do my firewall and heater/ac box. The car is literally ready for paint.

What is your plan for water lines, heat exchangers and pump? There's a lot less room in these A-bodies than the cars these engines were intended for! Lolol. Please keep the pictures coming.