I have a 235 cid bone stock motor everythings bone stock even the vacume advance! what are a few cheap things i can do to make this motor faster? carb, headers ect? i have the 6 into 4 exhuast and the 6 into 3 intake dont forget that much lol mind you, i am 20 years old work at the home depot, i know how to hot rod, but im no billet guy and i cant afford chrome lol, so dont send me down the route an old man would go...
Go to: http://www.stoveboltengineco.com/ or call 1-586-739-9601 and ask for Tom Langdon. (He was the Chief Chevy Eng. for development of the straight 6's through the 60-70's) Has impressive set up on his personal ride. Has helped me numerous times with his knowledge on these motors. Hope that gets you started
I just did some nice updates to a 235, that were cheap to do and really improved the engine quite a bit for very little money. That's the car in my avatar. BUT, I'm 60 years old so I guess you wouldn't want to hear about it. PS I was going to tell you to go f---- yourself, but that's no way for a senior to talk!
ha an old fart in a choped rod is an old fart i would drink a beer with, i just hate everytime i get on the hamb(other sites mostly though) asking about something like this and next i know im being told to buy a blower and a holley carb ect lol i wouldnt mind if someone told me a larget stock style carb or a cam size to go with its the "old farts"(billet trailer queen builders(oops i mean buyers) we all know they take thier stuff in) im talking about. lol your the kinda guy i will listen intentivly for hours just because when i say hot rod you know what im talking about, not that 49 merc the guy spent 90k on and maybey spent 10 min under the hood telling the builder what he wanted it to be able to do. get ma drift?
Sort of, but there's a LOT of lame young guys out there too. When you get my age you get sick of hearin' young guys who've never been there or done that telling me how it was or how it should be done. I've seen too many posts lately from FNG's criticizing people who they see as old farts, a lot of those guys at the show in lawn chairs (lets face it when you get older, you do slow down) could teach you a lot, if you just get over yourself and pay attention. Even the so called "gold chainer's", after all money is not a sin.(wish I had a more)
It's a 235, it's never going to be a race motor... well I suppose it could if you spent big money on it. But they like a dual or triple carb setup and a split exhaust, and you can get the stuff to do that for not a ton of money. Running a T5 behind it will help, too.
I'm 52 and tired of that "you old fart" shit from a bunch of young guys you describe too. You said it perfectly roddinron......... anyhow, the answer us old bastards are trying to say is that to do it on the cheap do the intake, exhaust and ignition and call it good. Then ask us later how to do it "more" and we might tell you.
im that punk kid that comes up plops his ass in the chair next to ya tosses you a beer and askes how you got that grill looking like that, lol i thirsty for knolege, but i worked at a hot rod shop and half my customers were billet queens and you dont learn much doing that, i want real knolege about old skool hot rods from the guys before Kustom Kulter was the "cool" thing to do, I LOVE the fact that my boss thinks my 62 chevy stepside is a rust bucket cuz he dont know what it is or could be i see a diamond in the rough lol
wow where the heck is this coming from, i like the old hot rodder i hate the billet queen owners, almost all of my knolege is from old timers and what not lol i meant billet queen guys, but now you say intake, is there upgrade intake manifolds for this engine or am i better off fabricating them? and what type of carb would you recomend>?
Put 12 1bbl's on it would be easy if you get the intake for it, time it to about 18btdc, put some 6- 4' straight pipes out the side and you'll be rockin.
after advance at full throtle just as it sounds like its ready to go to plaid.. thats 12 one barrels if you can find the manifold or make one.
You didnt say if this is a good fresh motor or a tired one. Hot Rodding a tired engine is a waste of time and money. You would be better off spending your money on a rebuild. If it is a good engine, these engines do respond well to a little help in the breathing department. It depends on how much faster you want to go.
Good to hear you want to learn about getting more from your 235. Here is an article from 1955 that gives a step-by-step guide with dyno results of the time: Frank McGurk's Article from May 1955 Hot Rod magazine. It's about the larger cid 261, but much applies as well to the 235. After all the years, it's still valid info and I have never read a better introduction into getting more from those engines than the stock setup provided. Doesn't matter too much how old or young, or whatever you want to call it, somebody is. Time passed doesn't always mean wisdom and knowledge by default. That said, search and ask around here and you can be rewarded with great insights and details.
You would need to wait a year to drink a beer ,then maybe a couple more to be able to split a case ,while consulting about HOT ROD Building
Back in the day myself I would just swap in a V8 cheaper than buying go fast goodies for a six . But the roundy round stock car guys running in the six cyl class. they would port and mill the head. Lighten the flywheel either by milling or a aluminum one. There are higher lift rockers available. You can bore the engine .080 or get a 261 block. The 882 head is the better choice. You got off on the wrong foot here already. Change your user name and avatiar and come back. Be RESPECTFUL Us old farts dont like deing told that where old. We already know it but old doesent mean slow or dumb. You can learn something from the dumbest person in the world if your not too smart tho learn. OldWolf
I drive a stock 54 every day on a 20mi. commute for 3 years. The biggest inprovement was to put a 55 and later 3spd with a drivshaft and a Nova rear with 3.08 gears. Engine wise my homade split manifold with 2" duals neted the biggest improvement of all. I still run a single carb for driveability. This car will go 70mph all day and has done many 1500mi. road trips at 22MPG. The duals gained me what feels like 50HP, it drives like a different car.
Age, as they say, ain't got nothin' to do with it! Two one barrel carbs and dual exhaust are always a good start for these engines. Times two on Tom Langdon, he's the man. Go to the Inliners International website ( inliners.org ) and try to hook up with a meeting of the Socal chapter. Use the search function and look for the "Who has a six in your hotrod?" thread. Oh yeah, don't use that "old skool" phrase around us old guys; that is so played out, man. Good luck w/ your six. Kinky6
Go fuck yourself. There isn't an old man in existence that would even consider wasting time on your 235. We already know that all its good for is getting groceries and laughed at.
Well heres why, Im a full time student at WyoTech automotive college becoming a automotive technition, the wrenchin is easy to me, i dont mind that, thats why i do what i do, its the electrical knolege of the now adays thats confusing, but lets get this strait (assuming i keep my POS strait six cuz my ass is broke(again i work at the home depot)) lol if i am going to keep it, maybey dual carbs on a 1 into 2 set if intake manifolds? and dual exhuast, 2 into 1? what about that vacume advance? should i keep that? no im not going to get a V8 i simply cant afford it, i drive this jolopy 60 miles a day
#1- Dual exhaust #2- HEI from a 250 w/ vac advance, almost a drop in, simple mods to make it fit, do a search. I also have a Nova rear w/ 2.93's and run a Sag 4 speed with 3.50 1st. I ran a 2GC Rochester on the stock manifold with a home made adapter for years. Drivability was great, mileage about 21 highway. I now run an Offy dual w/ 2 Rochester B's. right now I am tinkering with the carbs to get better mileage and am up to 25 highway and I think I can go leaner. Still drives great. These motors have plenty of torque to pull the higher gears. It will never be a race car, but will be fine for fun driving. I'm an old fart, too, Fuck you
OK, I'm back. You've learned already that a split manifold and a little more carb really helps. Like gas pumper, I'm running a rochester 2v on a cheap slightly modified adapter, a split manifold, and instead of the 250 HEI, I modified a s-10 v6 dizzy because it's smaller, and just looks better, but it's a little more involved. You need to do some machining to make it work. I also converted the oiling to a full filter system. All these mods are cheap and easy. More extensive work would add more power, but truthfully, if speed becomes that important to you, then a V8 would be a better option than expensive head, cam, bore, stroke etc. work on a staight 6 imo. And you hit another nerve with me, maybe your engine is a pos as you called it, and maybe porknbeaner doesn't like them, but there's just something about them I like. I do like to go fast, and won't be able to with a 235, but I have other cars to go fast in (39 Pontiac coupe with a 400v8) there's just something about a straight 6, it's like telling a Harley guy he shoulda bought a Honda because they're faster and more reliable, "If I gotta explain it, you wouldn't understand." BTW, when I was young, I HATED pre 55 chevy's, because they had straight 6's. Now I own 2 54 chevy's, and I'm going to great lengths to keep that 6, when it probably would have been easier to put a sbc in it, since I had to design all the brackets for the powersteering and alternator on the 6. But this car started out as my daughters and she wanted to keep the original six and column shift, after a while, I really started to like it, when I got the car from her, I decided to keep it.
If I was going to do a budget 6, the two things I would go after is compression and breathing. Nice thing about taking meat off the deck or head of a straight six is that you don't have to worry about making the intake fit and the ports line up. Get the compression into the 10 to 1 range before you do anything else...especially giving it more cam. Second big thing is getting the ports to do what you want them to do. A bunch of hours with a hand grinder and an assortment of carbides will net big results. Pay alot of attention to the bowl areas. Don't get crazy hogging things out, just focus on smoothing and blending. Leave the surfaces of the intake with some sort of texture, but polish the exhausts. Talk to a couple of cam manufacturers, give them the specifics, and tell them what you expect it to do. Once you've established a profile, THEN choose what you are going to feed it with based on what the cam is going to want. Attention to detail, bring everything up to snuff. Hand hone it and get yourself some file to fit rings, lap the valves with an electric drill...you can make any engine really turn on with some well thought out modifications and a minimum of cash. Or you could just feed it the hose, right?
Fuck those guys rockogrease, your only as old as you feel. The easy stuff are headers. Shaving the head was a cheap and common way to get more HP via higher compression, but the gas was better then so now you'll ping if you don't use premium gas. Buying dual intake and carbs is not to expensive, but in my opinion they need at a 3/4 cam or else it will be to much carb for your motor, and that will be expensive on your budget. My opinion, drop it, make it loud, and drive it! You might enjoy reading California Bill's Chevrolet, GMC & Buick Speed Manual 1954 Edition Chris
Can't afford a V8, you probably can't afford to do much to the six except keep the oil changed. I mean, a dual intake is $300 or so unless you hit a used one somewhere. For a little snooping you should be able to buy a whole running Chevy V8 powered car or truck for $300. The mounts are $100 or so if you can't make some. Now you have to swap the rearend out too, but if you find a clunker mid-70s Camaro it would give you everything you need including a rearend and you could part out the rest or sell it to a stock car guy when you were done.
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