Replace 92 366 chevy with older one

RGMartin · Oct 13, 2015

Any issue with doing so? Neighbor has a low miles 366 in a late 70s early 80s school bus, priced right(get it out of here, he'll even help pull it).

I have a worn out(250,000 miles) 92 Throttle body 366 in my grain truck.

It burns oil terribly, misses and backfires on occasion for no good reason when it does it looses power and falls on its face. It will usually come back to life if you push the accelerator hard to the floor.

I think it is down to 6 cylinders consistently, plus one that comes and goes.

I have rebuilt the throttle body, all new ignition parts.

I need a truck that I am not afraid to take off the farm. I'd like to buy bigger and better, but not in the budget.

Truck has enough other issues to make it not cost effective to do a factory engine, or reman.

rustyfarmall · Oct 14, 2015

Should be a direct swap with the exception of maybe some wiring. If the older engine has a carburetor, use it.

elevatorman724 · Oct 14, 2015

If the engine doesn't have hei distributor swap that
too less trouble than points . We got uhaul truck 89
for flip frt hood and cab for one of our old dump
trucks that had. 350 engine that was already rebuilt.
We tried to sell the 366 out of the u haul truck and
couldn't even give it away here in md ende up
taking it to scrap yard

RGMartin · Oct 14, 2015

(quoted from post at 20:27:49 10/14/15) If the engine doesn't have hei distributor swap that
too less trouble than points . We got uhaul truck 89
for flip frt hood and cab for one of our old dump
trucks that had. 350 engine that was already rebuilt.
We tried to sell the 366 out of the u haul truck and
couldn't even give it away here in md ende up
taking it to scrap yard

I have heard that more than once when I called around looking for a pulled newer(90 to 95 are supposed to be plug and play)bus engine. Was told they weren't worth pulling and keeping by the yards they went right in the scrap pile.

This one has lived a good life. 250K where it has to turn almost 4000 rpms to do 55mph is a lot of revs. If you went rev for rev it would be like 500K+ in a pickup.

They were built to last, and make torque, just not crazy HP and acceleration.

caterpillar guy · Oct 20, 2015

It's a chevy make a wagon out of it, and don't look back. Never had a chevy that would run or stay running. Have had 3 of them, most undependable truck I have ever seen. Best thing we ever did was put a tounge in them and haul them around like a wagon. Or cut them off for a trailer.

DR. EVIL · Oct 20, 2015

Ha-Ha..... The Township road commissioner I worked for the first two summers I was in college had 366-powered C-65 dump trucks. Old one was a '67 geared to run about 62 flat out. The '74 was geared to run about 70-72 mph, but you really had to row your way thru the transmission & 2-speed axle to keep it there. Boss was fussy, 32,000-33,000# gross was heavy enough loads. First year I drove for him He had a '57 F-750 Ford on the spreader box, the old 312 Y-block struggled but did O-K. The '67 C-65 was the dump. Second year the new '74 was the dump, '67 was the spreader, '57 Ford was gone. I took the '67 with a full load of chips for oiled roads over the scale at the feed mill Dad used. Almost sorry I did after I did it! Afraid I was going to break the scale! 40,000#, only 8000# over or 25% over gross. But the '67 was reliable, only problems were driveshaft u-joints and motor for electric 2-speed shift. Truck was run hard, plow snow all winter, haul rock from quarry all spring, pull road drag, haul road patch all summer. The '74 had a Quadrajet carb, not near as reliable as the Holley on the '67, but the rest of the truck being brand new was reliable.

Yeah, unless you peaked under the hood hard to tell a truck with a 350 from a 366 by the way they ran. About '78 or so the township bought a C-70 full tandem axle dump with 427 & 5+2, would liked to have run that truck a couple days.

rustyfarmall · Oct 20, 2015

(quoted from post at 13:17:56 10/20/15) Ha-Ha..... The Township road commissioner I worked for the first two summers I was in college had 366-powered C-65 dump trucks. Old one was a '67 geared to run about 62 flat out. The '74 was geared to run about 70-72 mph, but you really had to row your way thru the transmission & 2-speed axle to keep it there. Boss was fussy, 32,000-33,000# gross was heavy enough loads. First year I drove for him He had a '57 F-750 Ford on the spreader box, the old 312 Y-block struggled but did O-K. The '67 C-65 was the dump. Second year the new '74 was the dump, '67 was the spreader, '57 Ford was gone. I took the '67 with a full load of chips for oiled roads over the scale at the feed mill Dad used. Almost sorry I did after I did it! Afraid I was going to break the scale! 40,000#, only 8000# over or 25% over gross. But the '67 was reliable, only problems were driveshaft u-joints and motor for electric 2-speed shift. Truck was run hard, plow snow all winter, haul rock from quarry all spring, pull road drag, haul road patch all summer. The '74 had a Quadrajet carb, not near as reliable as the Holley on the '67, but the rest of the truck being brand new was reliable.

Yeah, unless you peaked under the hood hard to tell a truck with a 350 from a 366 by the way they ran. About '78 or so the township bought a C-70 full tandem axle dump with 427 & 5+2, would liked to have run that truck a couple days.

I drove a '74 GMC 6500 single axle, equipped with an all steel, combination bulk and bag feed box. It had the 427 with a 5 and 2. It DID NOT get in anybody's way.

stonerock · Oct 21, 2015

have two 86 GMC both 366, 5+2 bought new hauled grain with them and payed for them in 5 years,one at 220,000 miles still factory the other miles unknown has a 454 and runs very strong for a gas motor hauling 450-500 bu of grain. they just haul to the bin now got two semis to haul to town with

Determined · Nov 4, 2015

The newer motor if it has a one piece rear main seal, the flywheel or flex plate will not be interchangeable with the older one as they will have different balance weights on them.
The harmonic balancer would then be different as well.

Depending if you are going to keep it TBI or run the carb a few more things might be a hurdle.

If you are going to run it on a carb, you will have to remove the electric in tank fuel pump, you will be able to suck enough gas through the pump to idle but not enough for full throttle.

If the newer motor has a serpentine belt pay close attention to water pump rotation as this was reversed when they went from conventional v-belt to serpentine drive.

Not sure on a throttle body 366 but on the small blocks when they went to throttle body they changed the center mounting bolt angle for the intake to cyl head, you can work around this but there is a chance it will not be a straight bolt on.

Don't recall if they used a knock sensor on the 92 but if they did you will have to figure a way to mount one on the older block.

Replace 92 366 chevy with older one

RGMartin

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rustyfarmall

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elevatorman724

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RGMartin

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caterpillar guy

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DR. EVIL

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rustyfarmall

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stonerock

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Determined

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