Technical 1950-52 International L-series engine swap

Always fun when a newbie resurrects a 9 yr old thread. It would be cool if BigCheese came back on and updated us on what happened to the truck.

MM - People want to do weird things. Swapping one under powered 6 for another doesn't seem worth the headache. Sure it will fit, as I am sure the engines are roughly the same size, but everything else will have to change. Mounts, exhaust, intake, wiring, cables, plumbing, transmission, bellhousing, and maybe even the radiator. If I was paying someone to do that much work, it would be getting a 345 / 392 and a proper transmission. I guess if the check clears, but damn.

 

sold the green 55 formerly posted, shortened the 54 frame to shortbox length, installed Nova stub & rear, it's in the cl***ifieds now.

 

I never found an International, but I briefly owned a '60 Dodge and I stuck with the 230. Now I'm involved in an effort to put a Chevrolet 292 in a '36 Chevrolet panel truck.

 

The '58 Chevy engine would be a 235. The 230-cu.in. straight-six showed up for 1963. The 230 family is more compact than the 235 but I don't know how either compares with the original IHC engine.

 

I'm thinkin any inline six or big block V8 would fit, lot's of room in these trucks

 

A 58 does not have a 230 from the factory, it has a 235. Personally I don't see a 235 as a viable engine to swap into that 50 as there is no power gain or reliability gain. I'd rather see a guy rebuild the stock binder six than swap in a 235.
An actual 230 six out of 63 or so Chev or a 250 or a 292 I could see. A 250 or even 230 with the right trans and rear end gears will run down the highway at most speed limits all day long and pull between 15 and 20 mpg. I pulled 20 with my 48 Chev, 250, 3 speed Saginaw and probably 3.08 gears that made low speed take off a bit touchy but cruised nice on the road.

A 230/250 is going to look like this one with the distributor up at the front rather than in the middle.


A 292 has a deck height on the block that is close to 2 inches taller.
This greasy mess being the one I have to replace the 250 in my 48 once I get the 48 in shape to put it in it. I've got a bunch of work to do to the 292 plus give it and iden***y change.


I can't see putting a later model Binder engine in one at all though. Basic engine parts have always been too ******** hard to get even when I worked for Ryder trucks who had a fleet of thousands of them in the 70's. International never let out permisson to the aftermarket to make much more than gasket sets and maybe piston rings and bearings. You couldn't even get a Radiator hose for a 70 IH travelall with a 292 in it from a parts house in the mid 70's you had to go to IH and pay an arm and two legs. That is one reason you don't see a lot of IH trucks being driven every day like Fords, Chevy and Dodges, the parts to keep them running have always been expensive and hard to get. The bodies are usually as solid as all get out but the engines cost as much to rebuild as a hemi does.

 

nice quick rundown on the diff stovebolt inlines!