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Hi all,

I've been kicking around replacing the tired 360 in my 71 Power Wagon (Moby Dick) with something a bit more stout. The factory 318 is long gone, so I don't feel too bad getting something that wasn't in the engine bay to begin with.

I've got a line on a pretty rough 67 PW that has a 383 in it. I had a 69 PW with the 383 that I really liked. My question is, are there any differences between the 67 383 and the later 69-71 383s? I know that I will have to find a mechanical bellhousing, but will the motor mounts, etc. be the same?

Thanks for your input!

Dan

Basic size and shape are the same. The water pump changes sides on the lower hose.

digdoug wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 12, 2019 11:07 pm

Basic size and shape are the same. The water pump changes sides on the lower hose.

I assume you mean the pump housing.
Which one goes which way?

Wildergarten wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 13, 2019 12:08 am

digdoug wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 12, 2019 11:07 pm

Basic size and shape are the same. The water pump changes sides on the lower hose.

I assume you mean the pump housing.
Which one goes which way?

Ah, once again you have caught me in a senior moment. Both 68 and 69 water pump housings would exit on the left. I think we would be dealing with a 400 by the time the B block changed to the right.

Thanks for keeping it real, Mark!

digdoug wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 19, 2019 2:01 pm

Ah, once again you have caught me in a senior moment.

Not my intent. I'm professing ignorance here. But thanks for noting that I care about details.

The housing for the pump itself (bearing, seal, and impeller) on a big block is small and round with no inlet or outlet. It is bolted to a cast housing that is itself bolted to the front of the block, what I'm calling the "pump housing." So to change the side of the inlet on the pump housing from the bottom of the radiator, change the housing, not the pump itself.

I'm putting a power steering pump on the driver's side of a big block. I have reason to suspect that I might be better off with the pump inlet on the passenger's side. As I am going to a four row radiator, I do have the option as to which side I want to put the radiator outlet. Having looked on eBay at water pump housings with passenger side inlets, for reasons I don't understand, most of them curve downward. Any information anyone has about how that setup might work out would be useful to me.