The 6 cylinder Corvette was mostly hype and advertising, not "performance". Chevy used a 53 Bel Air sedan frame and suspension system, cobbled together a 2-seater fiberglass body, and used their then-new 235 engine with insert rod bearings and a 2 speed Powerglide automatic transmission to market a "sporty" car to people who wanted something to enhance their social standing. They used the camshaft for the 261 cubic inch medium duty truck engine to give the 235 more torque to overcome the power loss caused by the Powerglide trans. The 3 carb intake was mostly eye candy- - - -it gave a little bit of a power gain over the single carb at wide open throttle, but it was horribly expensive, and it was an absolute nightmare to keep in tune.
Yes, there will be a slight improvement in low end torque and a small, but measureable increase in horsepower over the standard 235 camshaft- - - -assuming you can find one to install. Right now, that's about as likely as finding a chicken with lips, unless you get someone to do a regrind. I'm not even slightly interested in playing the numbers game on some theoretical engine built on the drawing board. There are plenty of other people here who like to play those silly games. I like to hide an extra 30+ cubic inches inside these old engines and leave the exterior looking original. A "216" becomes a 258, the 235 goes to 270, and the 261 approaches 300 cubic inches.
Jerry
