The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Engine pool for a 55 chev 6500

I'm looking for a newer powertrain for big Berta here. The 261 will not cut it and I'm missing too much parts to be worth working on it.

Now. In a perfect world I tend to go to a BBC 454 carb n.a. with a 5 speed Manuel pull out of many C10 of the 70s.
Or
Replace the in line 6 by an other one. Like a 6bt 5.9.... I know, I know I feel the hate, non Chevy party in a olddys. But any Diesel( because I want a truck to use it) that Chev used was no good or too big. The Cummins is easy ish and mecanical.

My plan is to use my big bolt for tow rig, lumber yard run, and Sunday drive.

So BBC or 6bt

What truck? Any Chevy or GMC that came with a 235 or some such will be overwhelmed by the length of a 6bt, 4bt is OK.

Ed

Why not use a well built small block, pretty easy to set it up since the 265 V8 was an option in '55. As long as your thinking about a different tranny you wont have to worry about the bell housing issues between the old and new V8's. I would think a 383 would give you as much torque as you could need and you wont be doing high speed anyway.

I don't know how he pulled it off but a neighbor of mine a few years ago had a '58 chevy Viking 2ton tandem with a 20ft grain bed. He was well know around here for slice and dice work when it came to making things fit but he had put a 409 in it with a 5 speed tranny. Like I say the 20 ft bed was somewhat of an overload as it would rounded up hold about 600 bu of corn. He used it for years but I know several times he had to replace cracked heads as it tended to run hot and not start good when warmed up. Think the cab finally rusted off the truck and he scrapped it. He once told me that he could put a 366 in my '49 4400 for me. As tempting as it sounded I think I would have compromised a lot of my trucks original integrity . If your '55 was mine I would tend to lean toward hopping up a small block chevy as it will fit right in. Still tho I've always wanted a big block in one....thanks

I would agree with 78Buckshot on the small block. Your rear end ratio (assuming the 2-speed) is pretty low. My 1958 6400 (same rear, I think) 1with 9R22.5 tires spins the engine at 4200rpm at 70mph on the freeway. 3600 @60mph. I am running the tires 327 that came in it. I use it for towing my 35' travel trailer and everything else. I don't think you are going to want to spin a diesel that fast so, if you go with a diesel, you may need to change the rear end out as well.

Try to find a 472 or 500 cubic inch Cadillac engine and a Turbo 400 transmission from a mid-1970's Caddy. It's only slightly larger and heavier than a small block Chevy, but it's got more cubic inches than even a big block Chevy and it's a close match, torque-wise to the Chevy big block. I've seen a few conversions into hotrods with that setup, and the results are very impressive. There's also a fair amount of aftermarket go-fast parts for the old Caddy engines, such as intakes, headers, roller rocker arms, etc. There used to be a pretty fair supply of those engines, but they're probably a little scarce these days.
Jerry

A stovebolter "Dakota" who lives in South Dakota, not far from Canada, had a 500 Caddy engine for a project that never developed. Check his profile for a contact email or PM. I think he still has it if your interested.

Thanks you all.

I never thought of the 500 cady.
i did some recherche and measurement. I think the Cummings is going to be too much mod for me.
The problem with it is so dam long and, well between the inter-cooler rad and the rest of the accessory I'm will have to fun into the firewall. Bad idea.

The 454 is still a good option, fining a 80-90 1 tons truck, only problem is to cool it down, not much room for a rad in there.

As far as rear-end will I'm not keeping the old one, for those reason.
Those multi pieces rims are not legal here, and don’t want to fight it. Since I'm out of rims.
That rear end bolt pattern is a nightmare to find something, with the old dual piston drum and hard to find parts I'm out on the rear end, as the from end if i change the rear to a modernize one, and changing the front to match well I'm going to trow a Dana 60 front and Dana 70 rear all disk and trow a t case being the trany, instant 4x4

I'm keeping the frame and up, the power train will be more this century just without computer , also i be adding power steering and power brake to it, this will make it easy to put back on the road.

Here in New Brunswick Canada, we have a yearly safety inspection, and once a car is out of the road and put back on, it need a engineer inspection, more in dept that the safety one. Make the engineer happy by having a good drive train and component, not some fixed up wire together deal