Aloha!
Bare with me please, OK I am/was looking for a 261 so i called a local guy that builds engines asking if he had one, he then went on and explained that the 235 is a better engine and I'll try to describe here as best I can what he said so you more knowledgable than I engine guy's can confirm or contest what he say's. "any new piston's you buy are .020 below the deck "in the hole" of the block at TDC, all of them, i don't care where you get them, chevy's specs call for .005 to 0 below the deck, I put the pistons .005 ABOVE the block by shaving the head and the block, this increases the compression ratio and gets you more horsepower but you are not running with a thinner cylinder wall as in a 261" Also mentioned not being happy with the stroke on the 261 and you can basically get to 261 by overboring the 235 but thinks it's silly. thats it in a nutshell, but absolutely thinks a 261 is a waste of money, he does have several 261 blocks available so he wasn't trying to sell me machine work on my 235, just strongly recommended the 235 instead.
What do you guy's think? And I mean engine guy's please, all due respect but I'd like to hear from guy's that build or that has documented the differance, not just installed a 261 and are comparing the differance from before to after, unless it's been dyno'd, nothing personal, this guy was pretty intense and very adament about the subject and I wish I could relay more accurately what he said but i think i got it close enough above.
OK many mahalo's
A HUI HAU
