Had my old 235 bolted to a saginaw 4 speed from a vega. Wish I'd never sold that car. Didn't see anyone mention this, but the exhaust note from a 235 with a split manifold sounds better to me than any V-8. An idea on getting it rebuilt reasonably would be to contact Inliners International and find some members in your area then ask them for a recommendation on getting it rebuilt.
Keep the six! I'm keeping mine with a mild cam, Fenton headers, and dual Rochesters. It will be mated to a T5 once I track one down.
I think you better keep looking for another machine shop. 3-4k for 235 rebuild is a complete rip off. A rebuild here in Indy with a new stock cam would be around $1,700.
Yeah, I still have the first buck I ever made. But its in that moldy wallet. if I had your money I'd burn mine and use yours. You ever going to sell me that 12 port head? I still have the $200 in cash I offered you last year.
Stick with the 235....heck, it's the motor that came in the car. If it's gone this far it can do it again. The rap is hard to beat and there sure is more to talk about with others compared to an sbc. At the end of the day I can't see it costing much more. Maybe look for a another used 235.....they are just about everywhere for less than $500.
I agree with rtomss, maybe it's different where you are, but around here, you can buy good running 235's for a few hundred bucks that don't need to be rebuilt. Swap your speed stuff onto it and be done. A few days and a few hundred and you're finished. If you're going to spend the money to rebuild a 6, get the 261 to start with at least. But $4K to rebuild an inline 6? Damn, shit costs a hell of a lot more in California. You can buy running big block engines around here for a grand or less.
I would stick with six if it was me , way cooler ! Even if it cost more than sbc Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Had mine rebuilt about 15 years ago for 1300$ new pistons , rods, cam, solid lifters, pushrods,valves,valve springs and oil pump. Only thing reused was the crank, block, head and rocker assembly. All the machining was also included. Looks like I got a deal lol.
Yup! You've not heard nutt'n mon, 'til you heard a "Chebby", wid a split manifold; and twice pipes! Not only that, if you have "deep pockets", and you want to show the guys, who say you go better with a SBC, the short way to the next intersection; get yourself a 302 "Jimmie" six. Unless they've got an NOS hookup, you'll suck their goggles off If you put a later Chevy Six, with the help of a few "mods", you will scare them.
I was originally going to go v8 in my 58 Chevy but money got tight and I had an old hay sweep with a 58 235 that was rebuilt and when I hit the key and it fired I decided no belly button 350s I haven't heard anything much better than that old six. I get bored at car shows going from car to car and they all have Windsors or SBCs Keep the six man some of us have to keep it real
I spent about $3500 on the rebuild of my 261 (like i said in my last post all egge machine parts, every thing new except the rods and crank.plus some extra work (all balanced "848" head drilled for steam holes and fitted crank snout drilled and tapped for a s.b.c crank bolt acid dipped cleaned in and out etc,etc. and about anothe 1500-2000 in bolt on speed parts, offey valve and side cover,dizzy offey 3 carb intake fenton exhaust aluminium water pump pulley hildebrant oil flitter old school chambered mufflers yadda yadda. plus the 5 or 6 extar 235's and 261's i bought just to source all these extra parts. they are not cheap,but super reliable and always draw a crowd and smiles at shows. and they run mint and sound great.
Alright, it may not be the popular thing to say on this site....but i would go with the 350 all day long. Sorry fellas. I had a pos 216 in my '50 coupe when i got it, swapped it for a 235 out of a '54. It pretty much bolted right in. It was an ok motor, had a cool sound, but i wished i had put a 350. In todays modern world, and on los angeles freeways sometimes you need a little extra passing power. Plus when we would go to shows, my car would lag behind, and my buddies would have to wait up for me. I had fentons and dual carbs, but even with speed equipment a stock 350 is way faster out of the gate. Not to mention if you ever break down parts are readily available at any parts store. If you want to keep it semi traditional, go with a 265, or run three deuces or something. .02 Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Ok you already have a turbo 350. it will attach to a v8 or 63 up six. you can easily sell your hedders ect on the hamb classified. Myself I would go for a 250 six. speed equiptment and other engine goodies are available. The 250 is a much better preformer thana 235 or 261. Pictured is a 250 we built an have in a 66 GMC the hooked to a powerglide and 308 rear gears. It cost me about $1000 in parts to build the engine. I got the carb, intake, hedders. valvecover from J C whitney.
It's your car so only you can pick the engine. Sounds like many of the guys like the six. Me too..... So what's your choice?
Keep the 235. I had someone ask when I was going to paint my wagon and put a V8 in it. I said never! Stay old skool!
2 reasons to keep the six: 1) You already have a good one. 2) You like it, or at least don't mind it too much. When I call it a good one, I mean it runs and the rod is not sticking thru the block. How good, or bad, you will know when you take it out and take the head off. If you don't need to rebore and install new pistons that is a big saving. If you take the crankshaft out and it does not need to be ground down that is another saving. With luck, you will only need to get the head freshened up, hone the cylinders, replace the rings and bearings plus a few odds and ends like gaskets, timing chain and possibly the oil pump. You might get away with under $1000. On the other hand if the engine is shot and going to cost a fortune to rebuild another engine makes sense. You won't know for sure until you look inside, but the oil pressure (if it is full pressure insert bearing model) and a compression test will tell you a lot. By the way if it is an old babbitt pounder low pressure job leave it to the restorers.
As others said, it depends on what you want to spend and what you want out of it. I'm a die hard SBC guy but the 235 would definitely be more interesting. I'd keep the 6. If you really want a SBC then I would go with a 265 or 283. Just my opinion. On second thought...keep the 6, build it nice and dress it up.
I'm running a built 292 in my 63 Biscayne sedan, which was originally a 230 car. I love the way it sounds, and it sure as hell gets out of its own way. But, I suspect a move to a 230-250-292 series 6 would incur a bunch of the cost of moving to an SBC. IMO, go find a 261 core for fun factor. Or, if money is really tight, why not put in fresh bearings and do a budget rebuild on what you have?? Posted using the Transmogrifying H.A.M.B. App!
since when is a small block chevy not cool in a chevy? If you want to drop a motor in your car shut the hood and not worry about it again. Go with the sbc. Didn't say the 6 wasent cool.
Before you pull engine, check oil pressure, oil filtering and valve train. You main bearing may have gotten slop from low oil pressure. If you can find the problem first. Then if there is no oil leakage an the pressure is good, then drop the pan an find the knock. I tightened up rods and shimmed bearings and run many more miles. If you want to spend money: Find a 261 builder. Take the 235 and use the parts. Option two: swap for later 6. Preferred choice is a 250 or 292. Many owners of chevs from this era do this. Better platform, cheaper parts. Mores speed stuff. Final choice: forget all I said yank the old beast out and sell the adapter to me and the rat can go to hambers. Spend hours fabing brackets and wedging the SBC in the hole. Oh and the $850 305 two bolt main will cost about 20 percent less. But with all the extras and fab work and pieces, you will end up the same but about 50 hp more. Your choice now. Ohh, price around for rebuilding. 3-4k is on the high side for a 235. What are they selling you? Racing parts? Find a shop that will do the machine work and assembly. Hunt the parts yourself and save the additional cost of their time and mark up. Your sould be able to get good quality build parts for about $1500. That includes forged pistons and clevlite bearings, felpro etc . The machine work and assembly should run no more than $1200 from valve train to crank. All together about $3k. Put the money into cubes if you are going this direction, opt for the 261 block.
Just returned yesterday from a 900 mile round trip, in a Bel Air that 235 would be like riding in an old Cadillac, ok I'll move on now... Cosmo in the '49