The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 235 swap / compatible

FINALLY! I found a good 235 to swap into my truck. Urban DC is not zactly a hotbed of AD activity!!

My question. This is a 1951 4 spd with 216. The engine is from a 1957 passenger car with slushbox.

What issues will I have? Swap bellhousings etc. Exhaust matchup? Also, can I keep my much loved floor starter?

The 57 transmission will be a cast-iron case Powerglide. It's heavy, and pretty obsolete. Getting one repaired would be a real hassle, so I wouldn't reccomend installing it, with all the modifications necessary to do so. If you can find a 62-64 aluminum-case Powerglide, it would be a better swap, but the drag racers and roundtrack racers have snapped up most of those transmissions. I don't think the later 3-speed automatic transmissions will bolt up to a 235 without some pretty extensive adapting. You might be better off staying with a standard trans, as the standard shift bellhousing will accept several more modern transmission options with a minimum of tweaking.
Jerry

If you use the flywheel and bell housing from the 216 you will be able to keep your foot starter and 4 speed tranny. You will need a short shaft water pump. Carb linkage is a bit different. The car used side motor mounts, but with the old bell housing and the front mount off the 216 you should be okay. Patricks has a page on the conversion. It's not that difficult.

One more item since the 235 was hooked to a powerglide. You will probably need to put a pilot bearing in the crankshaft, the shaft of the tranny sits in it. The crank should already be machined for it.

Hey TT,
I was gonna tell you that your 235 might already have the front motor mount plate, but I can't verify the 235 I have. I pulled it out of a '60 wagon w/62K miles that had sat for over 15 years and it was a sidemount motor w/front plate on it. The # on the distributor pad is FI223A which I couldn't find on the Inliner's web sight. I will keep looking.
Oh, I say stay with the standard tranny for an easy swap.

OK. short shaft WP (source??? where can I get that? Pilot bearing...that should be easy.

I def. want to stick with the nice 4 spd. currently in the truck.

I'll look at the Patrick's site and see what else I have to do. Glory! Am just dyin' to get it back on the road....I even miss the smell!

Short shaft pumps are available at most any of the online vendors. Patricks sells them, I know.

i used a 57 truck engine,[235] and it had the flange in the front under the lower pulley to bolt the mount to, but the holes had to be drilled to fasten it to the mount. maybe the car engine has the same provision. i think the flywheels might be different, so watch for the diameters, and the crank flange bolt patterns. i was still able to use the foot pedal starter.

I swapped a 58 car motor into my truck when the 216 died. I drilled the front mount and it's working fine. Here's a diagram I made for someone else who was working on the same swap.
[img]http://www.mongosgarage.com/tech/235mount.jpg[/img]
The pilot bushing from your 4 speed should work fine if it's in good condition, I just reused it. Also you'll want to use the flywheel and starter off your 216 in order to keep your floor start.
You might also want to consider dropping the pan, pulling off the timing cover and drilling the threads out of the metal piece that the two bottom bolts thread into, then thread the block so that you can put bolts on the outside, this way you don't have to drop the oilpan to get to those bolts if you need to in the future.
Good Luck,
MONGO

Thanks boltheads Thinking I have enough info. to get myself into trouble. Turns out I will have two 235 engines to work with...so lots of parts. I am going to have a local shop do the rebuild. Wish I could have found a running really good local 235 from someone I trusted. That'd save a ton of $$s...but no way I'm going to drop an "unknown" engine into the truck. Better to do it right. Now if any of you are sitting on a really really good complete 235 and are in my area SPEAK UP before I pay city prices for a rebuild (GRoooooan).

Have the shop set the block up for a full- flow oil filter.

http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/full_pressure.htm

Gettin closer. I got a quote of (gulp) 2,000 to do a complete rebuild with my core 235 from a very reputable engine shop and it comes with a warranty incl. cost to pull it if there is a problem with their work.

Do I need to supply them with my engine mount plate from the 216 or is the 57 mount plate a match?

compare the 2 plates for bolt hole locations and see. AFAIK, the '57 engines I've seen had the holes in the front plate, just dont know if they're in the same location as earlier engines. The '57 engine is a a good unit as far as 235s go. Should have later style main brngs, rocker arms, later style oil and water pumps, etc. The only thing I dont like about '55-57 235s is their "swivel style" oil pump pickup. It moves and has some slop and potential for air leaks between pump pickup screen assy and pickup line to oil pump. I used a '60 "non swivel" pickup in my '60 motor with a '57 pan. I had to massage the bottom of the '57 pan to clear the '60 pickup.