I wasn’t happy with the power band and performance of the 4.5, so I returned to my roots and the SBC. I Had a 283 SBC from another swap and installed in with an Isuzu 5 speed. I used an Archie economy kit and installed the engine as low as possible and with a remove mounted water pump. This swap also started my obsession with stainless steel button heads and tweaking the tops of the strut towers.

Things that make this swap interesting:

• Poly engine and transmission mounts
• 1981 corvette factory tubular headers
• Cold air intake
• Remote mounted electric water pump – no trimming of the PS frame rail or wheel well
• Ford style oil filter bypass used and plumbed with pipe vs. hose
• Engine mounted low enough to avoid cutting the bottom of decklid hinge box and dog bone bracket
• 1” hard pipe used for coolant crossover from thermostat housing to DS coolant tube
• Hard lines for the fuel and vacuum
• Strut top rings had engine vent brackets removed and strut tops converted to stainless button heads