In my younger days my brothers and i had several in our 55 and 56 chevys. One we built was a bada$$ for that time.....then we moved on to 283's. There are couple peculiar things about them but if the price is right i"d take it.
It would be high on the list for restorer who wanted era correct. Low on the list for a V8 swap. Be careful a 55 didn't have an oil filter. Only as an accessory. See that it has a normal oil filter in the normal location. The 265 oiling was not perfected. This is quite a nostalgic motor. All us old guys had them. The interchangeability of Chevy V8 is awesome. You can put 1990 vortec heads on that motor. That's 45 years. I believe a 283 would be nice to have again. I've had a few.
Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. - William Penn
Likewise in '62 you could buy a 327 short block and put the 265 heads etc on, and make that 55 chevy run pretty well but run out of steam at higher rpm.
NORMAL: The same place all Chevy V8's have had. A boss on the driver side rear of motor. Whether a 1956 cartridge canister or a spin on. The 1955 accessory filter was kind of like the 6 cylinder type. Pics are from left to right......56 265, new 350, 55 265, filter. No filter boss on 1955 265.
Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. - William Penn
It will bolt right in to his '59 if he currently has a V8.
If he has a 6-cylinder he will need a 1955-62 Truck V8 bell housing, a reproduction set of bolt-in front V8 motor mounts (available from all the vendors), the reproduction V8 throttle linkage and Rams Horn Exhaust manifolds...plus misc wiring and plumbing.
Mike B
Mike Boteler
1956 Chevy 3100 Resto Rod 1952 Willys M38 Army Jeep 1983 Jeep CJ7 Laredo 1984 Jeep CJ7 +++++ Silver Spring, MD
322 Buick nailhead I'll bet. They were offered in the big trucks from '57-'59. Being a Buick fan, I'd go with a nailhead. It doesn't have to be a 322. The newer nailheads are easier to find and parts are more available.
Last edited by 52Carl; 04/09/202010:00 PM.
1952 5-window - return to "as built" condition | 1950 3100 with a 235 and a T-5 transmission
322 Buick nailhead I'll bet. They were offered in the big trucks from '57-'59. Being a Buick fan, I'd go with a nailhead. It doesn't have to be a 322. The newer nailheads are easier to find and parts are more available.
Carl, you nailed it. Chevy with the 283 need to fill the gap until the 348 came out, so 322 Buick filled the gap.
BC 1960 Chevy C10 driver 261 T5 4.10 dana 44 power loc 1949 GMC 250 project in waiting 1960 C60 pasture art Retired GM dealer tech. 1980 - 2022
GMC has a long tradition of using other engines. Back in the 1930's they used Pontiac and Buick inline sixes in some of their trucks. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Did the 265 have that (optional?) oil filter with the separate skinny little gasket? Placement of that could be screwed up and result in a pretty good leak as I remember.
34 Years. Now with a '61 261, 848 head, Rochester Monojet carb, SM420 4-speed, 4.10 rear, dual reservoir MC, Bendix up front, 235/85R16 tires, 12-volt w/alternator, electric wipers and a modern radio in the glove box.
I am interested in the oiling problems eluded to with the 265. I had someone tell me that the farmers had a lot of main bearing problems with the 265 in their trucks. They used to power equipment from the power takeoff at low RPMs.
The original equipment oil pump on the 265's had very little reserve capacity, and the Melling high volume pump didn't show up until the mid-1960's or later. When the 55 -57 engines got enough wear to need rebuilding, Dad's shop did a few "in the frame" ring and rod bearing jobs like was a routine fix on stovebolt sixes. Almost every one ended up with a flickering oil pressure light at hot idle, particularly on automatic transmission vehicles. He finally rigged up a remote oil pump in a 5-gallon bucket, removed an oil pan and put a big catch pan under the engine, and had me run the pump with a drill motor while he and his partner watched where the oil was going. The worn cam bearings were squirting massive amounts of oil. After that, they refused to do any more "in frame" rebuilds- - - -pull the engine and do the whole job the right way the first time! The load on the cam bearings on the V8 was causing wear that the sixes didn't experience, and that was causing the low oil pressure.
Another quirk of the 265's was the distributor. It had a flat spot machined in the housing that allowed oil to get past the distributor and fill the valve lifter galleries. If the distributor was installed in the wrong position and the plug wires were walked around the cap to compensate, the housing would cut off oil flow to one bank of lifters. Later model distributors had a full-circle groove instead of a flat spot on the housing. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Well I went to look at the 265 guy said it was running when it was in a car when I got there it was all apart. Well good part was I got out for a ride. Thanks Steve
Another quirk of the 265's was the distributor. It had a flat spot machined in the housing that allowed oil to get past the distributor and fill the valve lifter galleries. If the distributor was installed in the wrong position and the plug wires were walked around the cap to compensate, the housing would cut off oil flow to one bank of lifters. Later model distributors had a full-circle groove instead of a flat spot on the housing. Jerry
In high school & college breaks I worked for a guy with a small shop in a town of 180. He bought an old boring bar, built a hot tank & quit sending that work to the machine shop 60 miles away. I installed the o.e. now .030 over 265 into `56 pu & no oil to the rockers!
Ground flat on new cam to match the original.
Last edited by BC59; 04/13/20201:49 AM.
BC 1960 Chevy C10 driver 261 T5 4.10 dana 44 power loc 1949 GMC 250 project in waiting 1960 C60 pasture art Retired GM dealer tech. 1980 - 2022
I'm in the process of accumulating the parts to build a super-small Chevy V8, like 250 cubic inches or so. I'll start with a 305 block and a 265/283 3" stroke forged crankshaft and a set of thick wall main bearings to make the crank fit the 305 block. I'll destroke the crank to 2 7/8" using a set of NASCAR tool steel connecting rods with 1.850" diameter connecting rod bearings. I've got a super lightweight Excalibur roadster frame and fiberglass body to put it into. With a few other go-fast parts to keep the valves from floating like a roller can and a rev kit, that engine should turn 8K+ RPM all day. Then I'll go hunting Corvettes to embarrass! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
We just smell that way! A couple of my former high school auto mechanics students are running a car at the Nashville Fairgrounds round track where I used to sponsor a car back in the late 1990's. I'd love to loan them an engine like that for just one race, let them set a lap record, then load up the car onto the trailer and head for home before the track officials got a chance to open it up and inspect it! LOL! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
