As you may recall, I have a 57 Chevy pickup with 235, 3-speed, Fenton headers and dual exhaust with Flowmaster 40's, Offy intake and 2x 2-bbls and other upgrades.
About 2 years ago I had the 235 professionally built. It lasted about 100 miles before the mains and rod bearings spun. The shop claimed the problem was caused by fuel in the oil. The reluctantly rebuilt it. They may have been right; I never could get those carbs right. Last summer I re-installed that engine and still had trouble getting it to run right.
I sent the truck to a speed shop last fall and they worked on it. It ran better, but not right. I decided to sit the winter out. I had taken it out a few times over the winter for a short 'around the block' drive and it still wasn't quite right. I was getting a lot of lifter noise and at operating temp it wouldn't idle.
I let it run awhile yesterday and the lifter noise seemed to subside. I decided it was time for a road trip so I asked my wife to follow me around the 60-mile loop around Indianapolis. (Good move on my part.)
About 5 miles into the trip I noticed the oil pressure dropping and thought I was hearing the lifter noise come back. It's difficult to hear much in that truck (thanks Flowmaster). By the time I had gone 10 miles, the oil pressure had dropped from about 20-30# to about 5# at 60 MPH. I also kept losing power and then it would come back.
My theory is that the shop didn't look at the cam bearings on the second rebuild and they're bad. That's the top end and and oil pressure issue. I believe the loss of power is caused by the carbs flooding.
Oh; when the truck stopped, it would barely turn over. I assume the temp was up a bit (but not hot; in fact I didn't notice any increase in temp during all of this) and the timing may be off a bit. When it cooled a bit, the truck started and ran ok (by its current standard).
It took AAA 4 hours to pick me up and haul the truck to the shop. That's where it was handy to have my wife behind me. At least she had heat in her car.
What are your thoughts? I like the nostalgia of the 235 but it's getting old. I thought those things were bullet proof. Oh; this is a 62 hydraulic lifter engine. I'm running the original 3-speed on the column and have converted to 3.55 open rear-end.
