I Shoud've Had a V8

My truck's previous owner must have had his heart set on creating an unassuming "sleeper" capable of leaving all his buddies in the dust.  Why else would he have removed the wonderfully simple and reliable stock, in-line 6 cylinder engine that came with this truck when it rolled off the assembly line?  Nope...he definitely was thinking, "this beaut is just beggin' for more horsepower...if I can somehow wedge a gigantic V8 engine into this, I'll be able to beat everyone off the line."  Whatever his rational, he certainty wasn't going to let something like a transmission or frame get in his way.  Nooo Sir....whoever modified this truck didn't hesitate to retrofit and jerry-rig a huge 1956 Pontaic Strato Streak V8 engine into this innocent little truck.

As you can see, there is a lot of stuff going on with this engine (not the least of which is the fact it is covered in rust).  How the salvage yard I bought my truck from got this engine running I will never know, but it didn't take more that a few minutes of close inspection to realize that this engine was at best destined for a complete rebuild and at worst doomed to wind up on Craig's list.  I once again turned to Google to learn more about this particular engine...I did a search using the casting numbers and strike numbers on the engine itself:

After a little bit of searching, this is what I learned:

• This engine is not original to my truck (Duh! Although some '55 & '56 GMC pickups did roll off the line with Pontiac engines)
• This engine was originally in a Pontiac sedan
• The carburetor is a "Rochester 2GC" carburetor (which is also original to a Pontiac sedan)

Before I go on and tell you what I decided to do with this behemoth, I should probably clarify my intentions for this truck.  As you may have seen, there is a page link above called "The Goal" which depicts a beautifully restored '54 GMC pickup truck.  What this page does not explain, is exactly just how committed I am to achieving a historically correct restoration.  In short...I'm not.  Don't get me wrong...while the idea of a 100% historically accurate truck (i.e. EVERYTHING original from the fenders to the engine) is alluring, so too is the prospect of having a reliable truck that I can take to work everyday without having to worry about mechanical problems.  Consequently, my preference is to update the drive train and other major mechanical aspects of the truck with modern components while having the body and cab's interior original.  In other words, I'm a total poser.

Basically, I want the look of the original with the reliability and driveability of a 2012.  I'm sure most restoration experts are cringing at this prerogative...but hey, I bought the truck and you didn't!  If you want it done your way, I'll sell it to you for $10,000...just make the check payable to Fry-Pan Jones.

That said, most in the automotive world would describe my plan as making a "hot rod."  But for some reason, this term makes me uneasy.  I'm not looking to burn rubber and drag race...I just want a mechanically reliable cruiser I can actually drive and share with my family and friends.

So after weighing the pro's and cons, I decided against keeping the Pontiac V8.  First and foremost, the engine is so old I would be hard pressed to get a transmission for it (did I mention the current transmission is roached and won't even go into reverse?).  So even if I could free this V8 of all its rust and successfully rebuild it, I would still have a non-functioning transmission and a truck that only goes forward (sort of makes getting out of the garage tricky).  Second, I don't want a "sleeper."  After all, I plan to let my daughter drive this someday....so the last thing I want is to put her behind the wheel of a ridiculously over-powered pickup truck that wasn't designed for an engine of this size.  Finally, I'd like to think that there have at least been a few advances in engine design since 1956--so if the truck's engine isn't going to be stock, it may as well be modern.  So with the guidance (and I use that term liberally here...he actually did the lion's share of the work) of my close buddy Jim, we pulled the engine a few days ago:

In total, it took us about 3 hrs to get the engine out--we had to disconnect all the wires, hoses and motor mounts.  We rented an engine hoist from the local equipment rental outfit ($16 for the day...certainly beats spending a couple hundred bucks on an engine hoist I'll probably only use twice).  Here's another shot of the engine on its way out:

By the time we got it out, I was ready for a V8 of my own.