Need Info on slant 6 to V8 swap

37fleetwood said
thanks for adding the few extra things I forgot to mention. my power steering hose has a tight 90degree bend right after the fitting so I didn't need the brass 90 fitting that came stock, in fact it would have been difficult to use. I also didn't do anything with the drag link, I used a stock 273 pan and it fits tight but doesn't rub or touch steering lock to lock so I left it. if in future I have to do something with the pitman or idler arms I may change it while it is apart. my /6 pump wouldn't fit the stock V-8 pump brackets the clocking of the holes on the back of the can wouldn't allow the bracket to fit. check this before you spend on the pump, you could always make custom brackets, I used all factory stuff so I changed the pump. I'll post a photo or two of my setup.
another thing to quickly mention, you will need matching pulleys for your water pump. because of the difference in depth between the aluminum and cast pump the pulleys from a 318 will not fit your 273 and vise versa. the brackets on your alternator will have the same issue, you won't be able to use 318 brackets with the 273 stuff or 273 brackets with a 318 setup.
the major benefit of using a 318 aluminum water pump is that the outlet is on the same side as your /6 radiator, if you use the 273 cast pump you will need a different radiator. easiest is to rob everything off a newer 318 doner car, still bunches of them show up in junk yards out here.

The '67-9 small blocks (273, 318, 340) without A/C all used the same pulleys and brackets on cars with the same options. Just use them as a set....you can't mix and match with '66 and earlier or '70 and later. There are many A/C setups but there again, whichever year you use, get all the brackets and pulleys off the same engine so everything will line up. The advantage of the '67-9 is that they are fairly easy to find and you can get the Saginaw pump those years and use the smaller diameter return hose. The '66 and earlier are all Federal pumps with the hard to find large return hose. If you run across a complete '70-up setup, by all means go ahead and use it but keep in mind the it makes it a bit harder to see the timing marks unless you redegree your balancer and pointer to the other side. You'll have to redesign your raditator no matter which setup you use. The factory /6 had a curved lower hose connection so none of the stock V8 lower hoses will fit right anyway. Just have your radiator guy pull the tanks, rod and repair as necessary, and install the correct hose nipple where ever you need it to use a stock hose.
Thanks, Mark