Currently i am in the process of swaping my 216 for a 235 and i was wondering if anyone knew if it is possible to put in the 235 without taking the transmission out. thanks in advance
I removed the original 216 from my '37 Chevy coupe and installed a '61 235 and used the original trans. That was about 18 years ago and I put approx. 45k miles on it since then with no problems.
Absolutely, man..did that in my '52...took 216 out, left trans there, put 235 in and away I went. Only thing I'd suggest looking at when you're picking up a donor motor is to get one with the side motor mounts.
Are you talking about a stick shift transmission? Either way it should be a bolt in. The only problem you might have are the front engine mounts or the length of the water pump, depending on what year engine you are using. The 55 and later 235's had a longer water pump and pulley. What I've done is used a shorter pulley (I found a Ford six pulley that was shorter) and pressed the pulley mounting flange back on the shaft and then cut the excess part of the shaft off, to be able to run the later motor in the earlier car.
My 47 Chev has the front mounts, under the harmonic balancer. I think that all of the 235 engines had the same front mount, but some weren't drilled; IIRC. If you end up with an engine that doesn't have the correct mounts, some new mounts could be fabricated fairly easy. Everything else should work with no problems.
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