to those who have installed a 700r4 in place of the SM465
 

I'm doing a frame off (or is it frame up?) restoration. just pulled the engine out, so now its a bare frame-ready to clean and sandblast the front half of it this weekend.

I picked up a 700r4 with the proper adapter and was wondering how far forward I need to move the engine mounts. I am not going to leave the engine in its stock position and fabricate a new front axle and cut the rear axle-rather the easier route of moving the engine forward sounds like the way to go. I've heard of issues with using aftermarket exhaust manifolds when moving the engine up, can anyone comment?

how is the position of the engine in a four wheel drive different then a two wheel drive? I think I've read that the four wheel drive is back in the engine bay, but why and by how much?

thanks, Paul

When I put in my 700 I also put in a big block. I wanted to move the engine forward of the stock location so that I would have a little more clearance for the distributor. I moved my engine mount forward 2 inches. Even with this move forward I still had to redrill the transfer case crossmember back about 1 more inch. Keep in mind that I also changed from a Rockwell TC to a NP205 and I am not sure what the dimensional differences are there. Anyway, I did not have to do anything to the front driveshaft so I lucked out there. Also, moving the engine forward 2" put my motor in the right position to use all of the factory BB stuff (2wd) including the shroud.

As far as exhaust manifolds, I used factory manifolds and yes the passenger side would not fit until I trimmed about 1/8 inch from the top rail of the frame.

Good luck! It is well worth the effort. I love mine.