The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop HP of 235

Did some digging in the files and could not find my answer. What is the factory Horsepower of a 1954 Chev car with Powerglide.?

try digging in these files, shop manuals and owners manuals have all those details

Bill

My 1954 Chilton service manual lists the 235 with a Powerglide at 125 HP @ 4,000 RPM. The standard shift 235 is supposed to have 115 HP @ 3700. Both engines show 200 Ft/Lbs. of torque @ 2000 RPM
Jerry

Here are the charts for the engine's Jerry refers to (from the website that Bill links to):

115 hp car 235 - manual transmission

125 hp car 235 - Powerglide transmission

The 1954 Corvette 235 was rated at 150hp

The 1954 truck 235s were rated between 107 and 125 hp

The 1954 truck 261s were rated 135hp

I always wondered about the difference between the truck and car 216 engines. I know cars had 90, then 92 hp at the end, and some trucks are shown also at 92 hp, but the tag on my 1953 1/2 ton says 85 hp @ 3300 rpm....

John

I know with the 216, for some years the truck engines had heavier pistons. At they same time they had slightly less horsepower. I would think that the extra weight of the pistons limited the horsepower.

I think truck engines (216) have a little more torque? 176 verses 172 for cars?? Maybe a slightly different cam grind.
John

I don't know when they completely changed the horsepower ratings, but the original 216 on my 1950 was rated at 28 horsepower. I think that was back in the days when they used REAL horses.

That is probably taxable horsepower or brake horsepower.
John

that would be "AMA" hp [taxable, as John sez], the actual "rated" hp was 90

Bill

Thanks Bill, I was trying to remember if it was AMA or Brake horsepower..... I know the 235.5 was 32. If I remember right it was figured off the bore of the engine. In some countries such as the UK car were taxed on their horsepower. This was the reason many engines produced over there had small bore and longgg strokes.
John

kenparker (original poster):

Did you get the information you asked for?

"What is the factory Horsepower of a 1954 Chev car with Powerglide.?"

The SAE horsepower was 30.4 for the 125 hp Powerglide 235 car engine (same SAE rating as given for the 115 hp mechanical lifter 235 manual transmission car engine).

Your right Tim, where I pulled the 32 figure from..... John
All 235, no matter their bhp, were still rated 30.4 for the AMA rating.
John

For fun Google "brake horse power" and then "DIN horse power" There is a simple formula to calculate Horse Power it has to do with "work" over time. I have often wondered where the standard horse came from....Arabian verses Clydesdale? Any way there have been a couple of "Standard" changes over the years. Some modern ratings are in Kilowatt per hour format. No clue how that relates to our old engines. The door plate on my first truck, 1950 1/2 ton said 80 HP at 3300 RPM. I never saw 3300 RPM from that engine ever. 2500 sounded like the pistons were ready to trade holes. That was time to shift it or slow down. I was 22 and it seemed like good advice to me at the time. Drove that truck for about 8 years with no problems. Good thing cause I was too dumb to fix it then.