I appreciate all the good advice so far. I had previously discounted the idea of using my early 235 cores thinking that I would never find main bearings. I think I need to pull apart the lower end of one of these to visually see the pinned main bearings and imagine the fix for using the later bearings. Hope I dont need an 80 year old motor rebuilder to make the switch. At this point, I think I need to pull the heads off all 3 cores to examine the bores to check for future boring. If I choose the 59 powerglide engine, I think I should replace the cam and hydraulic lifters with solids even though it wan smoothly on the stand, just smoked. One final thought: My first core of choice is one of my first series 235's. I bought this motor from the owner of a low mileage all original 55 first series pickup. He had brought it to a restoration shop that I was working in in the summer months. He wanted us to instal a 350 small block. I ran the 235 before I pulled it and it sounded great witn no smoke. When I took off both radiator hoses, I figured all coolant had drained sufficiently. Three years later after the motor had been stored in my garage, I pulled the plugs and lubed the cylinders with mystery oil and cranked the motor with a breaker bar. I was surprised to reach a stiff spot in the rotation followed by coolant being belched from number 1 sparkplug hole. I suspect a cracked head. I must have been wrong in assuming that all coolant had drained by merely pulling both rediator hoses. Will probably need to resleeve #1 cylinder if choosing this block.
