Rattletrap 52,
I built a hot rod 235 in 1963. Here was my recipe; Bored .030 over, McGurk domed aluminum pistons. Offy 3 carb manifold with ?? BXVD carbs. Isky medium race cam with chilled iron lifters, tubular pushrods, inner/outer valve springs, cool red anodized aluminum spring retainers. Cloyes aluminum timing gears. Mallory dual point distributor. Lightned flywheel. Fenton headers. I ported the head myself with carbide burrs. The engine was balanced.
This was in a '54 Chevy hardtop which I ran at the dragstrip in F-gas class. The upshot of this tirade is that the main bearings would fail after about a year. I got pretty good at changing them. I was told this was because these engines had a skimpy lower end...too few main bearing and small ones at that. The bearing failures were blamed on the forces created by the high compression pistons. I don't know if this was true but I know I spent many hours staring up at the oily bottom end of this stovebolt.
There is a great book called "how to hotrod the Chevy 6"..out of print but available.
There is also the in-print book on how to hotrod
the 261 engine. The latter is hard core. To end this novel, research your parts availability, watch your pocketbook and above all, have fun!
Stuart.
