Since this year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of Chicago's legendary J.C. Whitney, we're back with another peek inside old-timey J.C. Whitney mail-order catalogs. Today, we're opening up Catalog #297N, from 1971, and we're going to check out the stuff available for engine swappers of the time. We're talking about some pretty odd engine/vehicle combinations, from a time when vehicles were simpler and cross-marque cross-marque swaps weren't considered (quite so) heretical by brand-loyal purists.
1932-52 Ford cars and trucks were still all over the place in 1971, and J.C. Whitney was there to help when the ol’flathead gave up.< p
Dropping modern (for the time) overhead-valve V8s into cheap old Fords was still a popular swap in the early 1970s, and Ford Y-block engines, Chevrolet small-blocks, early Buick Nailheads, and Cadillac OHVs were getting good and affordable by that time. Here's a nice assortment of adapters, with bonus Ford MEL-to-1953-66-Ford-truck and small-block-Chevy-to-Jeeps-and-Scouts pieces. Keep in mind that the $24.98 adapter would be close to $150 in inflation-adjusted 2015 dollars— still a deal, but a little more real-world.
This engine-to-transmission swap matrix will make your head spin.
For those with Random Car A on one side of the garage, Random Engine B on the other, and a need to get to work cheaply, J.C. Whitney offered this bewildering array of engine-to-transmission adapter hardware. Buick 425 into an International Harvester Scout? Easy!
There’s more to a successful swap then just attaching the engine to the transmission.< p
Of course, you had a lot more to do once you had the ability to connect your mismatched engine and transmission, so J.C. Whitney offered all sorts of helpful pieces. In addition to the adjustable crossmember and vibration-damping motor mounts, the '71 J.C. Whitney catalog had 6-to-12-volt conversion kits and other time-savers.
Trucks must keep working! Quick, find an engine!
If you want Pontiac V8 power into your World War II-surplus Jeep, look no further. Those telescoping engine-swap motor mounts looks useful for the swap-hungry truck owner, too.
Convert your car to a real
Want your '55 Chevy to be like the one in Two-Lane Blacktop (which, probably not coincidentally, was released in 1971)? Here's the big-block swap kit you need. We can't think of any movies of the era with Corvair-powered Beetles, but here's the swap kit to make that happen as well. Actually, we're pretty sure that dune buggies, not stock-bodied Volkswagens, got most of the Corvair engine swaps back then.
