New guy with 1960 Biscayne

Long time lurker, first time poster.
This is my 1960 Biscayne 4 door. It just crossed 100x miles. It has a L6 235 engine backed by a Muncie M20 and what I believe to be a 3.55 rear.
I like to do cross-country cruises with Mrs. Fixer_60, and recently we did 1000 miles of I20 in this Biscayne - at about 60mph.

I intended to keep the 235 and put a T5 behind it, but the 235 just got to the point where I know it needs rebuilt. I'm currently deciding whether to rebuild or swap to a 283 or something. I'm pretty sure a 283 rules out the T5 though. We'll see what happens.

 

Hi & welcome. My thoughts are if you plan on needing something like a T5 then the V8 could be much easier to match up but I am not the expert on that change. Your 355 rear sounds correct. If you are trying to make changes that will give you a bit better cruising speed & fuel economy something you can do with your present set up is to increase the rear tire size perhaps 2 -3 tire sizes. Doing this will work great on the Hwy at 65-70 MPH but you will lose low end torque. Like you said, I want mine as a daily driver & one to take long trips in. It will be a lot safer with the new wiring as that old cloth covered wiring did not have much insulation remaining & was getting scary. It will be MUCH more comfortable with the new vintage air unit & it will really be hard to get me out of the car then. It gets hot down here in Texas in the summers. What part of the country are you in. You can add that to your profile so those nearby can make contact unless you just do not want that.
My avatar shows engine in my 46 stock body Chevy coupe with original 3 on the tree. At that time is still had the old Allstate 600/16 Bias tires. It is a 1957 Chevy 235 bored 0.060 with 268 grind cam & solid lifters and all new insides except the crank & it was reground. Has Langdon's HEI distributor & the Clifford intake with 2 two barrel Weber carb's, tube headers. Converted to an alternator & 12 volts. I changed to a 355 ring & pinion & went from 600/16 bias tires all around to 600/r16 Coker Classics front & 700r16 rears.
Last year, right after rebuild while breaking it in I did both the AACA Texas Tour & 2 days later VCCA national southern spring tour. Two tours back to back & almost 2 weeks. While running 50 -55 MPH on the tours it got a bit better than 16 MPG. Now it is well broken it with several thousand miles I know it is doing more than 16 MPG cruising around here at 65 - 70 MPH. Car is down right now getting a new wiring harness & a vintage air conditioner with heat, cool & defrost.
During all the rebuild I misplaced the speedometer cable converter & will be rechecking my MPG when I get it back on the road with my GPS.
At the 65 - 70 MPH range my speedo is reading 11 MPG slower than I am traveling so that is the result of the change from 411 to 355 & the tire size change.
Jimmie

 

Howdy from Fort Worth, Jimmie!

Thanks for the response. Your '46 is really beautiful!

I've decided to stick with the 235 even though the rebuild is a bit pricy!

It has an Offenhauser intake with two Rochester carbs and has been converted to an alternator. It's also been swapped to power front discs. Otherwise it's stock. Maybe during the rebuild I'll swap for a cam like yours and some Fenton headers. Where did you get your cam, if you don't mind my asking?