Who here would call me crazy for thinking about taking a light-duty domestic truck from the 70's (Say.... A Chevy LUV), removing the stock 4-banger, and putting a 350 small block in the bed?

A friend an I were talking it about it today after discussing the issues of a normal 350 transplant in the LUV. He has a donor '77.

Am I insane for even thinking about it?

no anythings possible

do you wanna do wheelies with it?

Not nessisarilly, but just be able to get a good launch. In a truck since there is literally no weight on the back wheels, hence no grip.

By moving the weight to the bed there are a few problems solved, the front end will not have to be beefed up and the steering won't need to be modified, the larger engine won't have trouble fitting in the bed, and lastly weight distribution will be more even and result in hopefully better traction and overall handeling. Now obviously it's not going to handle like a Porsche, but I imagine it will be vastly improved over what it would be if the 350 was under the hood. Oh, and the fact that VERY few people have mid engine trucks, so it would be something unique and cool.

grip would be the least of your worries..... what does that have for a rear?

Besides now you'll have no weight on the front end and it'll push like a mother fucker.

I was thinking more along the lines of "stupid" and not crazy. Why would you want a truck with an engine in the bed? It defeats the purpose of having a truck in the first place.

... if you want alot of weight in the back, why dont you just get some bags of quikrete from a hardware store and line the bed of it? or a tool box?

grip would be the least of your worries..... what does that have for a rear? The stock rear would be replaced with a Ford 9" rear differential to handle the additional torque.

Besides now you'll have no weight on the front end and it'll push like a mother fucker.Ideally the weight would not all be at the back, but in the middle meaning it would be evenly distributed between the front and the rear. This will take some modification including moving the rear axle backwards.

... if you want alot of weight in the back, why dont you just get some bags of quikrete from a hardware store and line the bed of it? or a tool box?Because that would only add weight.

I was thinking more along the lines of "stupid" and not crazy. Why would you want a truck with an engine in the bed? It defeats the purpose of having a truck in the first place.
The purpose of using a truck in the first place is to just have something unique, not to use the truck as a truck. As I said before, putting the engine in the front would present several issues that can be more easily resolved by positioning the engine in the bed.

Because that would only add weight.

yeah and you could put the engine in the front, but i really have no idea if it would fit and work ok.

The purpose of using a truck in the first place is to just have something unique, not to use the truck as a truck. As I said before, putting the engine in the front would present several issues that can be more easily resolved by positioning the engine in the bed.

You could probably mount the engine on the roof if you really wanted to. That doesn't mean it's a good idea.