The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 235 motor swap

Hello

Looking for possible soultions. I got a 51 1 ton with a 235 motor, which currently has some serious vibrations ( broken rod-??) anyway I have invested some time and $$ doing brakes and what not and now face engine issues. is there another straight six that i could swap with the least amount of trouble or conversions?? (292-??)
I have a great work truck and would just like to get a few more miles from it, with out worrying about being "original" or doing a lot of conversions. I have already realized any work on this truck is expensive, and one must be patient.

By the way the motor issue was like this, it started and ran fine, reved up, no vibration, put it in gear and reach a certain speed say 30 mile an hour and a vibration came out of the engine area and seemed to vibrate the whole truck-?? the motor seemed to sieze after this, it was started again by a mechanic who had no answers or guess's on how to proceed.

sorry for the long question, any help, comments, suggestion would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
Battlefordguy

The easiest swap is a late ('54 and later) 235 or a 261. These will be a direct drop in replacement, using a front motor mount plate and short shaft water pump. A 292 would take the same amount of work as a V-8 swap (side mounts and crossmember, different tranny, etc.).

Thanks Fab

I just wasnt sure if there was an easy option to upgrade to a more modern engine.
any thought on clutch replacements. - jim carter-?? how could I determine what the original thickness was for the clutch-??
thanks again.
Battlefordguy

I just put a 292 into a 54 6100 which ought to be essentially the same as yours. The transmission bolted right up to the bell housing without any trouble. I took the motor mount perches out of a donor truck with a torch, used my engine hoist to suspend the engine bolted to the transmission in place, cut the perches to fit and bolted them in. Yes the engine was longer but the PO had previously cut up the radiator brace to put in a 235, so I just bolted everything together. Much better performance and, a big surprise, better gas mileage. I haul 11 or 12 thousand pounds everyday with a considerable amounts of uphill pulling. Great low speed torque. I have a 2 speed rear end I'm going to put in as soon as i get the the control lever for it. Redcoat

Have you looked the vibration damper/hormonic balancer for damage. All engines have a vibration at a rpm, the damper is used to engineer this vibration out of operational rpm.

I would first diagnose the actual problem. I'm not convinced that it's an internal engine problem that you have.
Scott

I have not checked it out as of yet. It would be at the base of the crank next to the outside of the block. -? funny thing is I had it in a shop, maybe they did not have the time for it, and not too interested in working on it.
it is a pretty awesome work truck, second owner 60,000 miles, thought the motor had it's time.
what I do know is the motor is a 235 from 55-57 chev. #3836233.
I am still learning a lot, so far i am quite familar with the interior,& brakes.
I'm still waiting for it to thaw out some before I try to push it in the garage.
I appreciate the suggestions very much,!!!
Battlefordguy

Thanks for the knowledge, so do you think that with a 51 -3800 I would have to swap out the rad & mounts- any other conversions?? I came across a decent running 292 and thought maybe it would be better??

However I will be checking to further diagnose my vibration / no start condition. However if i had issues with the harmonic balancer, would it be indictative of larger issues or a minor fix.?

thanks so much for the info.
Battlefordguy

I had a bad vibration that I knew was in the trans. It would happen at a specific rpm but that changed over time. The mechanics who rebuilt the engine and trans gave me hell about it. FINALLY, I went to their shop, jacked the back of the truck up and removed the rear wheels. The mechanic got underneath while I revved the engine with it in gear. He immediately saw the problem. It was a bad output shaft bushing!!! I can't tell you how long it took me to convince this guy that there was a problem with the trans that THEY INSTALLED!!

Check that bushing....