All right, I'm getting a 235 for free, I have a 770r4 and a 9 inch. I want to crise at 80 and still have a little more umph around town. Will eventually be in an A. What can I expect out of at venerable 235. Any tips on what to do, what not to do. Any neat **** I can look for e-gay on. School the Newbie dumb***.
I take it you meant to say 700R4. What sort of gears are in the 9 inch? There's a reason stock 235s came with gears in the 3.55-3.70 range; just make sure you're not going to be turning 1200rpm at 65, or the 235 won't have enough grunt to pull it. 700R4s have about a 30 percent overdrive, so even 4.11s turn into 2.87s in O/D.
I don't know what the gears are, I haven't cracked it open yet. I did mean 700r4 but, I can probably switch to a t-5 if need be. I was looking at Patricks 3/4 Rumpy Cam and a dual carb set-up. I figure about 200hp so in a 1600 lb car, it should work out fine.
Chances are if you got it for free it's going to need a rebuild to be ready to cruz @ 80 ( pretty ambitious for a 235). Not cheap to rebuild so before you start buying parts you might want to see what the builds gonna cost. I've got one in my shop truck because that's what I wanted, but if your planning on using this cause you got it for free I'd suggest you look for an old sbc. Much easier to accomplish what you want and a lot cheaper. Terry
I like the look and this one does turn freely. I know it needs and overhaul but this is a program for down the road, I've got the time.
i have seen some fenton dual exhuast manifolds that i think would be cool on the motor. also there is a lot of intake manifolds that can be bought new. for the speed. find some auto math equations online. plug in the gears and tire size. this should tell you how much power in the motor you'll need. there more of a work motor than a performance motor
235 + t5 + 55 rear end (guessing 3:55) 205/65r14s and 80 is no problem. steering is loose, but 80 is no problem. the automatic will eat up some of the power and the adapter will cost more than the speed equipment. btw, i run a ****** 2 bbl (holley/weber) and a stock exhaust, stock points.
Don't bother with the 700-R4...especially if it's from a donor car and needs a computer. T-5 (the right one) with a gear in the mid- to high-3's or a Saginaw/Muncie 4-speed with a low- to mid-3's gear is much better suited for the 235.
I have a Saginaw 3 speed and a 4 speed and debated on those. I would like to go with the 5-speed. I like the look and sound, judt need to be able to put it on the Expressway once in a while.
I'm running a Tremec behind my 235 with a Dana 44 (3.71) and I can run 80+mph without revving the engine out of the 2,000s rpm-wise.
not necessarily. I've had my stock '55 235 in my otherwise stock '50 Chevy up to close to 80mph without any complaints. It drives comfortably at 70. I'm pretty sure a previous owner swapped in a 53-54 rear end with 3.7 or 3.5 gears though.
There are cl***ic speed parts available on a regular basis on that auction thread.I've got working carbs in the $40.00 range,lots of cool old name intakes, Sharp, Thigstun,Edelbrock,offy show up regular. Be patient wait for the right deal.I got a split 54 corvette exhaust manifold listed as a 54 truck exhaust last month for the price of new fentons. If your in no hurry cl***ic stuff is still out there.I can cruise the freeway at 65 or 70 all day with my 235.Wouldn't want anything else.
I'm not seeing it. A 235 is an under powered POS and won't get out of it's own way. Have you ever owed one? I don't see using this motor with all the 700r4 and 9" behind it. Things just don't match up. If you have to have a 235, why not use a PG ******? They'll bolt up and give you better performance for cruizing. Your going to be very disappointed when you spend a couple grand on this motor and get a whole 150 hp out of it. Don't forget that the 700r4 has a TV cable that has to be exact in order for the ****** to work properly not to mention pump pressures and rpm, etc.. If it's not perfect, you'll burn the ****** up in about 30 minutes. I've never understood why anyone would build a 50 year old six banger for a hot rod. No body is going to run up to it and say "...WOW, look at that bad *** 235!" On the back end, nobody is going to buy it because of the bad *** 235 either. I had them and couldn't wait to get rid of them. If your only building it because it was free you may want to think again. However, if your hell bend on a bad *** 235, knock yourself out! Sorry, if I hurt your feeling but, you asked and on the HAMB we'll level with you, not BS you just to agree. Look, either way I wish you luck, it's your project and your the one who has to live with it everyday.
not a good powerglide, but a 600 lb cast iron pos. with a 5 speed its so much nicer then the old non sychro-ed 3 speed. it won't run 10s, but it will cruise fine.
I had a 57 pickup with the old blue flame 6 in it back in he late 70's early 80's. Bought it with the idea of swapping in a V-8 when the old 6 banger gave out. Drove that truck all over the west for 7 or 8 years. Took it up to 100 once just to see if it would do it and blew the oil line off the engine. Other than that I never had a problem and it started easier in the winter at 20 below 0 than any of my other cars. When I finally sold the truck to help finance a deuce roadster it still didn't even smoke. Not the fastest thing around, but reliable as hell.
You should've stopped there. Some people do things "just because", and often, those decisions don't equate in the money vs. horsepower sense or even practicality's sense for that matter. Making the most out of something impractical is a hell of a lot more fun than taking the easy way out.
California Bill Fischer got the same HP out of a hot 235 six that he got out of a 3/8-3/8 Merc race motor. Should we ****can Flatties too? Not offended, just asking. Just wanted build advice, not opinions on whether or not it was a good idea. Anuone else?
Right. I've said it before in other threads, but I guess it bears repeating; if all we wanted to do was be the king of the street racers, we'd have to junk 235s, flatheads, A/B fours, early hemis, early Cadillacs, etc, etc. For the money most of us put into vintage, obsolete engine designs, we could each own a 10 second Honda--but guess what? That's not our area of interest. Now that that's over with, another setup for you to consider is a Saginaw four speed with either a 3.11:1 or 3.50:1 low gear and a 3.08 rear end. Even the baddest 235 shouldn't chew up a Saginaw, and they're still plenty affordable. The low first and second ratios will get you off the line in style, while 3.08s will allow your 235 to cruise as fast as the rest of the car (and the law) will allow.
Quote from Aman " Your going to be very disappointed when you spend a couple grand on this motor and get a whole 150 hp out of it." Hmmph. That's almost double the factory horsepower rating. So why would he be disappointed? That's over TRIPLE the horsepower of a stock model A. Sorry, but disappointed he isn't going to be. Hell, if you're gonna run no hood, a good triple would sit up there pretty, and with an open drive 3 speed (bellhousing bolt patterns were the same thru 62) and 3.55's, 80 would be cake. Then again, **** it. Build a SBC. What do I know? Jay
what year is the engine? convert it to full flow oiling, put in some good pistons and with a little head work, it'll scream to 175 ponies! the compression is really low from the factory. inliners.org has a ton of good info. depending on your motor mounts, the repop fenton headers may not fit. 53-54 side mounts in particular.
I know it is a full oil. It has the 4 bolt valve covers. I like Inliners, I need to get a hold of Tom Langdon soon.
not all 235s are full oil, most are the byp*** system, only some gets filtered. the gmcs are the full oil. 4 bolt valve cover only means its a 235. maybe if it was a truck 235 it had full flow filtering.
I've got a 58 235 with 3 dueces from Tom, a hotter cam, S10 5 speed, and a car rear end (I think a 3:4? ratio-memory is foggy). 90 on the highway was no problem, at 65 I think I was right a 2200 RPM, but that trucks in three different barns right now gettin' body work/rebuild. I've got a breakdown of what you need to do to hook the T5 to that motor on my site: http://www.****osgarage.com/tech/t5/index.htm and some pics of the motor: http://www.****osgarage.com/projects/533100/engine/1100_3152.jpg http://www.****osgarage.com/projects/533100/engine/1100_3156.jpg I'm also running the MiniHEI that Tom sells and I've got the factory exaust split to duals with dumps right under the running boards, love that six cylinder buzz... I gotta say when I had that truck on the road, beat up as bad as it was with that engine at cruises, shows, even at the Drags with me parked around really nice stuff with SBC's I'd always have at least 3 heads under my hood checking out the Bad *** Six! Some of us don't build em' to sell, you can't help it, build what you want cause it's what you want. I ain't mad either, to be a true inliner you just got to get used to the persecution. ****O
Huh? I've got a pair of Fentons on my '53 hardtop, and the front header clears the mount fine. They're originals, not the Patrick's repros, but I've had a couple sets of them too, and the curves and angles of them are identical to the pair I've got on my car. The original Fenton headers came out in '52, and were available in two forms--the set that Mr. ****s chose to repro that fits side mounted engines, and a set of castings that both dump straight down that have "1937-48" cast on the backsides. I can see why he chose the second design headers to repro, because they'll fit anything. I guess Aaron Fenton wanted the purchaser to be able to get out of it as cheaply and easily as possible, because the rear header on both the '37-'48 style and the '49 and newer style meet up with the stock exhaust pipe perfectly, giving you half of your dual exhaust system.
I had a '55 2dr, 235", 3spd, 3-1's vette xh, dual point dis, 261 cam, added ring to balancer. It ran like "Jack the Bear". Good enough to surprise a few small blocks and had more than a few people want to see what was under the hood. Build what you want and have fun with it. Go for it.
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