Actually to me it doesn't look that bad. My brother's 2000 mustang is way more crammed after his engine build. He has to drop the k member to change spark plugs. I would do electric fans
The only real issue I had with it was I just could not get it to run cool. Hindsight being what it is I didn't have a vacuum advance on the MSD distributor and I believe that to be a major reason. The real reason I abandoned the project was parts availability. IE I wanted posi and trying to find an early Riviera posi is like looking for hens teeth. I was able to install a front disk brake kit but that is about it. There is just so little aftermarket support. I can say I have been in quite a few Early Rivieras and mine was easily the fastest I had ever driven. If you have any more questions I would be happy to help if I can. Cliff
Couple of questions. Did you run a cooler thermostat? Also it looks like on the first pic you had one of the heater line plugged off on the intake. Where's the line that goes into the radiator?
Maybe you can swap to a '67 core support to use a '67 style radiator? Of coarse there would more than likely be some fabrication to make the '63 stuff bolt to it but could be an option to stuff a bigger cross flow style radiator in there?
Both heater lines were plugged. I’ve been waiting for the “is that one of those rare 455 s with 9 spark plugs.?” Jokes. To replace a heater core on an early riv is easily an all day job and I live in Florida so I didn’t need heat. Only two lines going to the radiator, the upper and lower coolant lines. Like I stated earlier a vacuum advance would have really helped keep it cool but I have no idea if it would be enough. Cliff
I hear you on the heater. I live in Arizona. There are days that it gets down to 30, but I won't be driving my classic in the freezing cold. Only on nice days.
Glad to see someone doing this swap. I've been planning on doing this to my 63 Riviera too. I'm going more for a drag car then anything though. Whens the last time anyone has seen a 63-65 Riviera doing 9 sec 1/4's ????????? lol.. Look up Extreme Automatics and talk to Lonnie about the transmission. He is the man when it comes to the 200r4.
Let me know how to get a hold of Lonnie. I'm excited about it. This is a build mainly for my wife. She wanted me to restore her 69 wildcat but it was a total rust bucket and I don't really like the cars looks. Would never be worth the 25k I would put into it, but a 1sr generation riv, totally worth it. She wants a 4 speed and I don't blame her. I gotta th400 in my Camaro with 4:10s not fun spinning 3000 rpms at 60. So any help I can get giving her a 200r4 would be much appreciated.
What are your plans with the rear end? The reason I ask is because there is zero aftermarket support for the rear end in that car, you have to search for factory seconds or the VERY rare NOS stuff. With a 200R4 and a 455 you need at least a 3.23:1 rear gear to be able to shift into O/D at around 45 miles per hour, if not the engine will lug with a numerically lower rear gear ratio at that speed in O/D. With a 700R4 trans you can get away with around a 2.73:1 with a 455 to be able to be into O/D @ 45 MPH.
I have one in my '65 Impala and love it! The car weighs around 4,400 lbs without driver and 1st gear pulls like a freight train with a 3.07:1 rear gear, it really pins you back on the couch that is the front seat. Its that 3.06:1 1st gear that the 700 has that even with that puny 3.07 rear gear gets that heavy car moving. (3.07 x 3.06 = 9.3942:1 first gear multiplication ratio! To compare to a TH350 would be 2.52(TH350 1st gear ratio) x 3.07 = 7.7364:1 1st gear multiplication ratio which would be a bit lackluster in a heavy car but wouldn't be to bad if I had a big block in the car) The only bad part about the 700 is the drop in ratio from 1st to 2nd gear but really not that big of a concern with big block torque. It has a .70(30%) overdrive so with my 3.07 rear gear the final drive gear is, 3.07 x .70 = 2.149:1 final drive ratio. I built the sbc 383 that's in it like a hot truck engine with gobs of low end torque(around 490 ft lbs of torque) so even @ 45 MPH the engine doesn't lug in O/D. Like Jim said above, it will need to be beefed up to handle the big block torque the same as the 200 needs. I think they are a bit less expensive than the 200 to modify though? But needs an adapter to bolt on a BBB, which is no big deal, less than $100.(use to be $40 for one but they went up but still under $100)
