still in the undecided phase , my Bud is pushing hard for a 235 open drive swap while I say maybe just the 235 engine + stock drive train would make more sense, we're not talking cross country jaunts here , but 150 mile trips max are possible , If I go all the way for an open drive train, may as well go V8 right? all things being equal that is as I have located but not bought a good 235 and a sag 4 spd , I have the 57 rear as well as a fresh 305 4 bbl v8/T350/57 RE question is this- will a 235 live w the stock 4:11 RE or should I just make the jump to a V8??? cost wisse they are about the same for the V8/RE/Trans mount kits and 6/sag4spd. if a open drive is in the cards I am definately going V8, I am not all that impressed w a 235 performance wise,BUT if it will live at say 65 MPH for 150 Mi trips I will go that way ??? I definately want a plan B4 I start tearing into this car-- no more false starts
You will never match the performance/economics of the smallblock chevy, BUT, the cool factor of the six cannot be denied. One of the greatest sounds in rodding is a stovebolt six with split manifold/dual exhaust. Could you do 150 miles at 55 mph? Also it might be possible to use the rear end from an early fifties chevy car with a powerglide, they came with a 3.55 ratio which is just about perfect for that engine. I can fax you an old article by Pat Gahnl on how to build a floor shifter that eleminates the cranky vacum assist shifting that came stock on those models. Another thing about the six is you can bolt it in and be on the road and Then make upgrades as you go, not have the whole thing torn apart all at once. Just my humble 2 cents. Best of luck.
I haven't been on too many long trips yet, but my 235/t5/55 chev rear goes 75 with traffic with no complaints. stopping is a bitch though whoa-pedal
I thought about that 3:55 swap. I don't think the rear will fit,too bad too, that would also give me five hole wheels ,Anybody know for sure??? but the gears will , problem is no one around here will touch a job like that , no shop w experiance on these old cars is around anymore and none of my club buddy's will touch it, the fact of work on it while you drive it is VERY appealing to me though, hence my even considering the 6 swap in the first place, that + I too love the sound of those split manifold sixes,have had a few, my 40 has no vacumn shift so I would be ahead there,but a floor shift would be cool , no fax here though , email??
I usta have a 60 Chevy longroof in the early 70's that had a 235"-3-speed-Overdrive and it would do "freeway speed" all day long but freeway speed in the 70's actually was 65-70 mph. These days people are doing 80 mph regularly around here and the 235 will be weezing and geting old fast with a 411 rear end if you try "freeway speed" and not the 65 mph you claim. But so will a V8.... What is the ratio of the '57 rear end? (as far as I can tell you only gave the ratio for the stock one.) If you can really contain yourself to 65 mph (I sure couldn't) you sure would have an easier swap with the 235 and it's a good engine. I'm keeping the 235 in the '55 pickup I'm working on now with a 411 rear but it's just for a grocery getter and around town and I have a near bolt in High-Po '57 283 in the garage if the 235 complains, and it went over 100,000 miles with an even higher ratio rear in it with it's first owner. But a V8 isn't a bolt in in the '40. The biggest problem being exhaust routing around the steering. I think I'd base the decision on whether the car(?) is getting a frame off rebuild with all new chassis gear or not. If it's just getting the hood, radiator and maybe the core support and fenders pulled, put the 235 in it, and get it on the road! A lot of guys around here like to use 235"s and 250"s just to keep the cool inliner look even in 40's cars with Camaro clips!
Mike, Ill get back to you on the fax/e-mail thing I've got several articles you might find useful. got to beg the wife into showing me hoe to use the scanner.
Now that i DO have a cure for , 49-54 spindles w 53 up brakes up front help OR you can go discs w the speedway kit using those same spindles , I figure going open drive would help a TON w drivability but its economics again , swap kit for v8/auto/RE w all extra's needed $329-driveshaft built $125- givin i have 90% of it here right now just sitting- benifits- easy+ power-CHEAP detractions- cookie cutter - snore 235 motor $400 installed ,sag 4 spd $100 w shifter open drive re swap labor $300 drive shaft built $125 misc parts for swap about $300 up for new flywheel, cutch pres, plate,rear trans mount $56 misc parts $100-200 benefits - WAY freakin KOOL, detractions- SLOW- poor back in the seat feel costly
235, 100 bucks all day t5, 100 bucks, have shifter already rearend, 50 bucks new ds made in 1 day, 210, clutch disc for 82 jeep 30 490 plus things that broke while doing 350 rebuild 300 different radiator 100 350 turbo 250-750 ds 100 junkyard motor mounts 150 dual exhaust 200 fab a ne w trans xmember 100 1200+ for the whole deal, unless you have parts in hand
I drove my '53 210 2 door to Carlisle (225 miles one way) on Route 81, going 65-70mph the whole way with the factory issue 3.73 gears, and an internally stock '58 235 with a McGurk dual carb setup, '54 Corvette dual exhaust manifold, and an ancient Mallory dual point. It ran down the road beautifully and surprised me by getting exactly 20mpg. The 3.55 gear would be nice, though. As long as you've got a full pressure 235 in good shape under the hood, reliability should not be a concern.
strictly an under the hood deal and I have to hire that out , no more frame offs for me , but now that I am thinking about it, the 3:55 rear might work nicely as the car has a good running 216 in it now ,smokes a bit from sitting unused for so long ,prolly clean up w use, but a nice quite runner, I mostly drive OFF freeway except to BTT50's , no choices on that trip,the freeway is the only way in, its mostly state hwy's (55-60) to other shows/cruises, me? i have no problem nailing it on 65 and letting faster trafic pass ,let em go, I get so many thumbs up from passers that I kinda like it , I get the occasionall bird, but mostly grins from young n old alike , besides I HATE tickets $$$$$$$$$$ -I have places to "wring" out a car when i want to the v8 swap kit I planned on using is CE,they say that rams horn manifolds or shortie headers fit well , I talked to their tech guy several times about the details of their swap kit, any problems and what donor parts are needed.
so it looks like maybe just a 235 engine in place would do the trick for me, as of now , I can always go to a V8, though I would like to get that stuff out of my way, I want to use it up on something and thought this would work. so i need a 41-54 pass up belhousing , 41-54 up starter (6volt) and flywheel or did I miss something in my last post on the actual swap?
need 55-up bellhousing, flywheel, starter must match, 6 or 12 works, s10,jeep, or astro disc, depends on diameter of the old pp.
My lil 46 Chevy coupe: 292 truck six, S-10 5 speed, and GN rear, 3.73's. Works out to 2.90 to 1 final drive. BIG kool factor, damn quick, decent mileage, and easy highway running. AND you can't beat the sound of a straight six with dual steelpacks, with a stick!
I think to mate to my stock 40 tranny I need a pre 55 setup don't I ? Its in good shape, I have driven it , the damage that this car does have is from sitting, it was gone through a long time ago and sat for some 15 years or more,even the brakes are new, I am thinking of just keeping it 6 volt for now
if you are leaving it torquetube, all 54 and earlier parts can be used, and the motor mount swap kit for a 235 is available. At this stage, adding an overdrive might be worth considering .02
naw, hopefull reading , the 54 back belhousing parts you mean, now i have to find that stuff , an OD tranny would be kick but where the hell would a guy find THAT,rare as dinosaur shit,as too mounts , i thought the timing cover mounting flange was the same from 37 to 62 + have to swap out the front mount bracket from my car
You should get in touch with 48dreams,he's selling everything off of a 235, and we just yanked out his torque tube rear from his 48.We are probably going to be taking out the 216 and trans soon too,the only trouble is the shipping,we're in NY.
at this point I am only needing the swap parts , the motor is a fairly recent build at 12k miles and your right shipping on the bellhousing stuff would be a killer
So let me throw this out here. 55-57 Chevy rear (and probably all the other rears that will go into a 49-52 Chevy) is supposed to fit into a 46-48 Chevy, bolts in but the pin hole needs to be relocated to center the wheels. So I'd think a '54 rear also would work here. So if the 40 springs are so different that you can't just bolt in these rearends, what about using 46-48 rear springs instead? They can't be that much different where they mount - can they? Seems like 40 through 48 are pretty similar under the skin, 42-48 near identical to each other.
Thats my thought , it may be in the torque tube itself where the problem area might be, might just be time for the tape measure, though its cccccold as SHIT here right now, someone must have tried it B4 w all the 39-54 swapping going on and 6's coming back. just looking the springs appear to be the same to me .
The problem with that 4:11 is when the motor is wound out, you're going 15 MPH slower than if you had a something in the 3:55 range.
just did some checking omn the stovebolt tech page ,seems this is a popular swap w the truch guys ,all have the same F-F width , 41-48 axle shafts swap out for 6 bolt hub
found out a bit more info , you can put a 51-4 rearend in them , BUT you have to shorten the TTube 4" and move the mounts , a bit more work than i want to do,might as well just go all the way then, BUT you can also replace the 6 bolt axles and drums w 49-54 axles and drums to get five hole wheels with minimal machine (grinding) work on the ends
I have a 3:27 rear gear and an S-10 T-5. I've had a few folks say they had to run 85-90 to keep up with me on the highway. It's a stock 235 and gets terrible gas milage and has very little power. I like to drive this all of the time, but can't afford the poor milage and lack of horsepower, so I will be changing it soon. r
I don't doubt the lack of power; in 5th gear, your overall ratio is probably around 2.45:1. That's asking quite a bit from a stock 235. The lightest gear I've ever seen from the factory in a 235/3 speed car is 3.36.
Recognizing the fact that you could use more coins, I'm in that boat too. But, what's the alternative? The horses it takes to break the wind at 90 mph in the car you now have will use the same amount of fuel energy to do that with any other motor..........Use 4th gear when passing or climbing, 5th when cruising like downwind and on the level, it'll use less gas. If it's a weak motor, most likely a valve job and tune-up would improve it.
Mike.....if you decide to keep the stock 4.11's, do like I did with my 41 Poncho. Put a tall tire on the stock 16 inch rims. A good pair of used radials for a 3/4 ton pickup will go on your skinny 16's and if you want, use some later, wider 6 hole rims from a later chevy 4X4. I chose to stick with the original wheels on my Pontiac so I could use my stock hubcaps... The tall tire will gear you up substantially....plus, I liked the look of the tall tire. If I'd known you were gonna run stock stuff, I'd saved the old tranny from my 40 coupe but it's gone now..
I am just exploring my options at this point , theres sop many ways of doing these cars , "I am so confused (hands to head)" LOl, I am thinking that knowing me , I will tire of a 6/stick fast just not enough seat of the pants power ,no matter what ya do to em their slOOOOw,either on top or dogs out of the hole ,ya can't have both w these old sixes,(been known to do some tire smoke stuff) I am seriously thinking just going the V8 route and be done w it , I know i will eventually anyway
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