235 driveability

I've got a 1961 235cid in my '37 Chevy coupe with an in-line (torque tube mounted) Borg-Warner cablke activated O.D. (.73 O.D.) and a 3.73 axle in the stock rear end. It runs great around town and I got an average 23mpg on a 3600 mile trip from Upstate New York to Rapid City, N.D. a couple of years ago. The car hummed along nicely at 70mph down I-90, hour after hour. I don't have a tach in the car, but the RPM's were comfortable.

 

The Raven ran an S-10 5 speed behind his with a 3.73 gear. On the highway he was running in the 85-90 mph speed range most all the time and he drove it for 6 or 7 years that way all over creation.

It would have been a more comfortable ride with a 4.11:1 gear.

 

Here are those 27 inch wheels and tires.


Haven't picked a color for the rims yet. Tires are 215/65R16~27 inches tall. If I went with 70 series instead of 65 I'd be pretty close to 28 inches.

 

My father has several friends who have rodded out tri-fives, I've got him checking on leftover axles. If nothing pans out, I may be PMing you Tim.

2nd High at 45mph should be just under 2500 with 3.73's, and about 2100 in 3rd Low. Sounds like that is about where it should be. This also lets me cruise the freeway at 75 mph at about 2400 rpm in 3rd high, or about 3500 rpm in 3rd low. Sounds like it should work just fine.

Upgrading to an HEI was already in the plan because of the Megasquirt Efi changeover I plan on. I know that's not everone on HAMB's cup of tea, but I'm comfortable with efi and like the idea of building my own system. In fact, I think I can do it for pretty close to the price of a nice set of matched carbs. As I understand it, the reason for heating the intake is to keep the fuel from condensing to much, especially for the already mismatched 1/2 and 5/6 cylinders. Is this correct? If so, shouldn't a dual carb setup help with this significantly? Might be getting off topic.

 

I've got a Hotrod chevy 1931 Sedan with a 235 from -56 and three on the floor and now it's time to hop up the engine. I've got a Howard intake (modified to fit Chevy235) made for 5 carbs but I'm runnin 3 Holley 94's and homemade headers on it. I want a cam that sounds rough at idle and revs good but still got torque at lower revs. I'm thinking of goin with a Bulldog camshaft from Langdons stovebolt.com? Anyone got any experience with a bulldog?