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I'm thinking of using my original 59 for parts since the 58 I just bought is in better shape and has a running v-8 283,so the question is, the smooth running 6,thiftmaster worth anything?I would sell it with the working 3-speed column shift with spare head and exhaust manifold.what would this be worth? I live 1 hour north of the dakota border in Canada.-would use the cash to fund the other truck,please make note thet I'm only considering my options and any feedback from you professional bolters would be appreciated.

Well you know how it is when you ask for opinions; like something else, everybody has one.
Here's mine: Inline Engines Rule.

A good 235 engine/tranny combo is worth at least $250 or more depending on condition of course. And your "283" is perhaps a 265 if original to the truck. I'm not sure what year Chevy made the switch to the 283, could have been 58'.

well the #s arent matching in both trucks and I was asssuming the guy waz being honest .,,hahhaaha,anyway will do engine # search and find the truth,he called it camel heads!!!whatever that meansthank you for the input.

We had a 1957 Belair all original and it had a 283 with powerglide.

You 235 will sell fast and easy for around $250, but I weould seriously consider seling the 283 instead.

Boo

I got $500 for my 235. It was detailed & tuned.I,d run the v8 especially since it is already in there.

You mean to tell me you guys would prefer to drive a 6 cylinder over a V-8? Why?
Scott

More expensive to maintain, parts harder to find, less power, being different. You know - all that normal stuff.

-ftyler

I hear ya,
Scott

The 283 came out in 57. I don't remember if the 265 was available for a while, but I don't think so. Any V-8 from 57 to 61 was probably a 283.
Jerry

Jerry - the 265 was the 'standard' V8 thru [most of] 57, w/ the 283 being an option that was the standard 'big truck' V8 for 57 - 265 was dropped after 57

I'd keep a 235 too, if I had an extra, if only for a spare [have both myself in my current 2 trucks] - for the one 'in progress' I might put a 235 if I had a good one handy, but will rebuild a 283, which I have lots of

Bill

People are astounded when you open that huge hood and they look in and they can see the ground.

andre, the "camel heads " refers to the shape of the patterns cast into the end faces of the heads used to roughly identify the attributes of the heads.[the shape is propably similar to camels' humps, a popular performance head].

Gasryg,when I loked at them they didn't have any curves so maybee he's ful of .... and the chrome heads had chevrolet imbedded in em so i'll go with283 until otherwise.any wayt with all the discussion and it only being worth 250,i'll just keep it in her and maybee give it to my oldest.it runs ,drives,stops great,just alot of canadian cacer,,,,,
thank you all for your all input!!!

tell ya what. give me a 235 with a 4 barrel clifford intake, and headers, hotter coil, and lighter vacuum advance springs, and bring yer 283 on! gimme a 292 set up the same way and make it a 350! near the end of a 1/4 mile you ought to be gaining on me, but not enough!

se if you guys can find a link to "spears and hamilton" who ran an opel g.t. in the 70's with a 292 in it. i think it ran the I-gas class. lot's of people hated the thing, and for good reason. they saw alittle more of the back of an opel than they wanted to. this country never put the time or effort into inline engines necessary to really make them into what they could have been. it took the japs and 4 bangers to do that. (too bad really). guess i'll hear about THAT remark!

the thing is--i have raced on and off the street as a kid, and believe in 6 bangers. i still do.

why else be here?

Koolkar, if the 283 has a four barrel and hotter cam too, you might be in trouble!

...and for all of those uninitiated out there who have no understanding or appreciation of Inline engines, a friend of mine holds the current world record for a 6 (SIX) cylinder inliner at 8.97 & 168mph. Put your 283, 327 or your 454 up to that!
:p

p.s. the 283 did come out in 57' but 265's were still used in PU and in standard stick shift cars. So many of you think that ALL 57 V8's were 283 cid but not true.

I would ask, why are you even on The Stovebolt Page. Doesn't "Stovebolt" refer to the old Chevy inline sixes?

Had a 235 souped up in a 61 Chevy Impala Conv't. would run fast against 283's stock. There is so many options to old 6's How much do you want to spend? If I had one motor to build ("old") tho it would have to be a straight flathead 8. Now we are talking. popcorn The Truth is Out There (V8's are easy and cheap to build)

The inline 6 still has some life left in it...BMW has been using them for years, and GM recently released the new Vortec inline 5s and 6s. My 2001 Jeep Cherokee has an inline 6. It might not be the most compact designe ever, but mmm......torque.......

The only reason the "Stovebolt" era trucks didn't come with small or big blocks is, they weren't available yet. The V-8 engine is progress, replacing the weaker 6 cylinders. I understand the affection for the days of old but it's just that, old. I walk on both sides of the fence with having 6's and 8's. The truck that I built to actually work has a V-8 in it and nobody can tell me that a 6 cylinder truck of the same age and size is just as good, I have both.
If you want to race, I could put less money into a small block as one could put in an inline and end up with twice the engine.
I just don't understand why people are down on the V-8's. They do there job and do it well. They can't be all bad if they are still being produced after 50 years.
Let the arguing begin,
Scott

There is a place for a 6 and a place for a V8. Under the hood of my '51 is the place for a 6. Under the hood of my '79 Thunderbird is the place for a V8.

If anybody needs to know what engine should be under their hood, I will be glad to help!!!

someone correct me if I'm wrong, but on a 283, aren't the top side valve cover bolts directly in line with the bottom valve cover bolts, and on the 265, the bottom valve cover bolts spaced a little farther apart that the top valve cover bolts? I could be thinking 307 or 327 valve covers are different but I thought 283 valve covers were different that 265 also?

I don't have anything against the 350 small block - my '77 'Vette has one, and it should be there. However, go to any car show that has a lot of hot rods...and you will see row after row of different makes of cars, all with small-block Chebby engines. It's just rather boring. "Oh look! I've got a 350! I'm just like everyone else here, including those guys driving Fords, Dodges, and Hudsons..." A hopped-up 6 will get attention, just for being different.

Cubic inch for cubic inch, an inline 6 will produce more torque than an V engine of the same displacement and technological advancement. If there wasn't something to the design, BMW and Jeep would have abandonded it long ago, and GM wouldn't be going back to it.

Well -- Well -- Well it looks like the enigmatic Boo Radley is going to have to straighten a few things out! First and foremost, this is STOVEBOLT.COM -- Get it?

Further, any dufus can bolt in a 350 crate motor and pretend they did something. It takes talent and skill to make an old 235 scream at ya, but if ya do it right it sounds like something is coming to kill you and eat your children, and while its making all that radical sound it impresses the heck out of everyone who sees it run!! Pop your hood and show off your six banger and people are craning their necks like they never will to look at one more small block.

If I wanted a modern truck, I'd go buy one, and I wouldn't be hangin' around the STOVEBOLT forum!

Boo

I like the six for the ease of working on it.
I had a stock 350, but the F*#d 302's kept kicking my a%s.
Don't get me wrong, I bleed chevy orange, but for the cubic displacement of a 350 I expected a lot more per each of those 350 cubic inches.
I have a stock L-6 250 and it gives me everything I want from it and more, I get more bang for each cubic inch.
I'm really just waiting for someone to design a 350ci inline 6, maybe something with a 4.20" bore and a 4.20" stroke?
In the mean time I'm still looking for a 292.
INLINES 4 EVER!
My $0.02
Dano
You may now proceed to mock my post! :p

Heck, I have more fun running the old 230. When I raise the hood I get a double take when they see a stock 6 inline, and that's the way my Dad would have want it.

Pakrat, the break point on the offset bolt holes in the valve covers was 1959. After that, all the smallblock V-8's had valve cover bolts straight across from each other. That would make the 265's, and early 283's the ones with the offset bolts. Also, the 1955 model 265 engines did not have a block-mounted oil filter. It's not a big thing, but if you're doing a restoration, that engine is HARD to find!
Jerry

I just love the six vs. eight war.

Its your truck, run what makes sense to you in it. My own feeling is that if you're going to run it daily you just might be happier with modern induction and ignition, and while you can do that on a six, modern v-8's already have it.

Some of my trucks have eights and some have sixes. Some are going to change from sixes to eights and none are going to change the other way.

Where were the six lovers when I wanted to sell the 235 out of my '54? It took months to find anyone interested even in having me deliver it. The '54 isn't finished yet, but it will have a small block Chevy V-8 when completed and I'm convinced for the way I want to use it, that's the only reasonable choice.

It's an enigma! I had a 53 burb that I put a screamin hot 327 in when I was just a pup. Now I have a 1970 C/10 with a 250 inline and if anyone suggests a V8 I just look at them with the special look I reserve for people I think must be completely insane
Boo

I must be 2 years older because I have a '55 Suburban and a '72 C10. Of course the '72 is a 350 and the '55 is a 270 (GMC).

Most hot rods and custom cars are running V8 motors. Be different. Remember "V8's are like a-holes, everyone has one". Saw a mild custom AD with a 235, 4 barrel, HEI and a split exhaust manifold. It sure drew a lot of attention.,

I have a 58 fleetside with a 235. alot of the guy's around here tried to talk me into swapping for a 350 with an auto tranny. but you know there are alot of 350's out there and not alot of 235's left, so i think i'll be different and keep it. Besides there are enough mod's i can do to my 235 to make it a very interesting ride.
plus pound for pound the 235 is one of the most reliable engines ever produced.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/Hotrod6/Engine_47_01.jpg[/img]
We don't need no stinking V/8!

Lookin' good, Hotrod6. Very clean engine compartment.

Is that an oil filter mount attached to your manifold or a manifold heater?

Cletis,

Thanks!

That is an oil filter. It is a remote mount/spin-on from NAPA. It is a by-pass NAPA 1320 filter and is plummed with steel line.

One of the steel intake manifold heat lines running from the header is visable in the photo just to the right of the oil filter mount.

Hotrod

the two hump heads are big valve 202s if it was a triangle shape its a for barroll head if its flat or no shape its a 2 barroll head missspelled to late at night

very nice 6,I think I'm gonna hold on to her for a while,your right it is reliable,it hasn't failed me as of yet,maybee I can do something with the rear end to give it better highway speed?any suggestions?

Forget the rear end, just add an overdrive

i took my 54/3100 in to the shop yesterday to have the muffler replaced that a backfire destroyed. plenty of hangers on there, asked what kind of engine i had in the truck. my answer was a corvette. they thought LT1, not so, early corvettes had a 235 (53). just don't let them look. i also have duals so it helps with the illusion. would like to have the new straight 6 for all the air and other improvements. but will stay with the old 235. ron

Well I have the best of both worlds don't i ,,
but a few yaers of work ahead,I heard that s-10 5-speed tranny will fit on the 6 ,is it true,would they fit on a 283?? just wondering

the s10 t5 will fit a 283.but its geared low and is weak.most people use a camaro t5 with a s10 tailshaft.

Andre,
you had a virtual I6 vs V8 war going on there for a while! This is a very active site.

For my own two cents worth, I have found that undoctored V8s tolerate higher rpms a way better than an undoctored I6. The firing order of the I6 is easier to remember for the older memories like my own!

Fred

Yeah, you diehard I6 guys really hate the hotrodder crowd, don't you?

If I wasn't planning on using my truck for towing, I'd bring an inline 6 up to date and run that. But since I'm going to be towing things around the mountains, I think I need more grunt than my trusty 235 can provide.

One comment, 53Moneypit:
You mentioned you have a friend that runs high 8's with an inline 6 and challenged any hotrodders running V8's to match that.
But what I can't figure out is, what's the difference between so heavily modifying a Stovebolt I6 so that it runs 8.97 and bolting in a V8 truck motor? You're still MODIFYING the truck!!! See my point??? It is no longer original.

The point of hotrodding is not necessarily to be the baddest, quickest truck...Model A...T-bucket...Willies...etc. on the planet. The point is customizing a vehicle to your dreams, with as much or as little chrome and leather as you want. If you hate hotrodders, you're really barking up a big tree. That's like going to a Goodguys car meet and picketting with a sign.
What's the big deal???
You drive your truck and we'll drive ours.

...There, I'm off my soap box.

If we all lived in the same color house, on the same street, with the same pickett fence around the same sized yard, we wouldn't have much to talk about would we ?
I just love old trucks; 6 or 8.

are we havin fun yet? well I just brought home my other truck ( finally paid off the remaining amount) ( see pics on page 4-5 on the webshot below,it a nightmare,the guy who attempted to hotrod it ,molested it!more putty than metal and has officially become the parts truck .any body need any parts?
i'm stickin with the six on ol black jack

Hot Rod Dad:
You hit the nail right on the head!

Someone told me that when you have a project truck, you need at least one other truck to complete the parts collection. Now I can't do this because I don't have the space, but it sounds like a great idea.

Actually, I have nothing against rodded trucks. I don't think most of the people here that prefer the I6 to the V8 are anti-rod, but like something that is a bit more unique than a cookie-cutter 350. I don't recall ANYONE saying that it's evil to have anything other than a bone-stock 216...but a vehicle can be a hot rod without a 350, no matter what Summit and Jeg's might try to say about it...

Check out the gallery at inliners.org - those guys have some very cool I6-powered rods. My '54 panel will be a "resto-rod" type of truck - mostly stock exterior, some interior changes, but nothing drastic, and a later model 250 with TBI injection under the hood. Plenty of performance parts are available for both older and newer I6s.

My 'Vette has a 350...when I get around to it, I'm going to build a fuel-injected small block for it - probably a 383 stroker.

If anyone wants to drop a V8 into their truck, go for it! Do what will make you happy with your truck! Just don't be surprised if I spend more time looking at the truck next to you with a tricked-out 302 GMC...

Hot Rod and 66 - I think you got the wrong message. I don't recall any posts in this thread saying that anyone is going to hell for not keeping their truck factory stock...

It's a long-running issue, not just on this thread. Here is another example from 53moneypit:

"Now I know this will upset a bunch of you but that frankly is your problem. Heres mine. This place is about STOVEBOLTS....you know, the SIX CYLINDER INLINE engines made by GM for about 70 years. So why are so many of the things I read in here about V8's????

Duh....?

...just too darn many underage kids with cars comin' in here I guess. "

>>>>>>>>>>>That was nice and rude, wasn't it.
Granted, that's another thread, but it seems to be all that this guy bitches about.
I guess I'm getting tired of that kind of arrogance.

Hello Hotrod Dad
Sorry if you mistake my fondness for Inline engines and support for my argument as arrogance. I assure you it isn't, anymore than I would accuse your misinformation about 6 bangers as being narrowminded. But about your statement that being modified somehow makes your belief correct, all I can say is that tact takes you very wide of the question. Nearly everyone of we Inline guys has V8's in other vehicles, I myself have several and I've absolutely nothing against "hotrodders" and even enjoy being one. But please do not mistake my suppot of inlines as something it isn't. Believe me I learn from everyone, probably even you.

My whole point is that this is a place for Inline engines. Help, discussions, sharing information, and just hanging with others who enjoy them is why I come here. There are so many, many other places I can go for that sort of thing about hotrods, V8's of all sort, etc. that is seems out of place in here. That is my opinion. Whether anyone else shares it or not I cannot say nor have I. Everyone is certainly welcome here I'm sure but it would seem appropriate if they would at least stick to the subject matter w/o making personal attacks on those who do. So if you hotrod V8's that is fine with me 'cause so do I but I brought a 6 cylinder to this shindig and I'm going to dance with her.

GMCpanel:
I meant no disrespect to anyone. I just thought he had an intersting point that modifying a 6 banger is still not keeping it original, just like swapping motors isn't keeping it original.
I think we all should let this subject slide & find something else to talk about besides growling at each other.
I figure a person should do whatever tickles their pickle.
We all beat our brains & knuckles because its fun. Whether you got a 6 banger, V-8, slam it to the ground, jack it up, or keep it all original it really doesn't matter. I'm just glad there are alot of you out there to keep some of these older rigs on the road!

Sorry...I didn't mean to growl at anyone. Stock is good, hot rod is good, restomod is good...the important thing is to have fun with your truck!

GMCpanel:
No, no, no. I'm real sorry I kinda worded that wrong. I didn't mean that you were growling at anyone.
When I first came to this site I got lots of help (still am as a matter of fact). But all the sudden 1 note someone left has exploded into WW3. I am on neutral ground, I respect how anyone does things even if it's not how I'd do it. Heck if ya get a little greasy and get these older machines going the way you like to have them.....well that's the whole idea here.

Livin in a free country sure is nice isn't it?

What can I say???
I have 2 6's because thats just what they are....I have no idea what you can do to them. I have been told a few times for drivability sake to go to a v8 but not yet . Just curious, what would you guys consider the top three greatest inline 6's ever made (I don't care what how you come to the decision I just want an answer )???

It's really not V8's in old trucks that bothers me. My Dad and I put two in the same 53 burb! What bothers me is seeing the same 350 chev motor over and over and over and over AD NAUSEUM! I would absolutely not choose a 350 to put in an older chev truck. A 283, a 327, a 390 or 472 caddy, a nail head Buick in a 47-55 pick-up; but BETTER YET, a SCREAMIN! HOT!!! 270 jimmy in a 41 coupe!!! Just be creative and AVOID THE BOYD!!

Boo Radley

Yes, diversity is good.

If I had the experience and knowledge that most of you do, I'd love to build my '49 4400 back up with a Cummins (and it would still be an I6 ). A Detroit 671 with a blower and stacks would be really cool, too . Or maybe even a Maxidyne!!! (I'll wait until Peggy lets me get a B-61 for that one, I guess...) But I'll be sticking with the '57 235 that was in it when I bought it. Call me chicken, I guess.

Regards to all,
John

Okay, thanks for your kinder, smoother interpretation, 53MoneyPit. That's an attitude I can live with easier.

Don't get me wrong, I really love my Stovebolt. And I understand how some Stovebolts can be made really really powerful. I read about an early 50's Stovebolt pick up truck with a custom 6-71 supercharged 235 than ran 160-something mph at the Bonneville salt flats. WOW!

I started out with a Frankenstein truck. It's mostly 1952 GMC, but has the cab and gauges of a 1953 Chevy, and the drivetrain out of a 1956 Chevy. Absolutely nothing is original to this truck. It looks original, but really look and you'd see it isn't. I'm going to continue the tradition and bolt on the 4WD out of a 68 GMC under it, with an SM465 transmission...the only thing is, it has a V8 Chevy bellhousing pattern on it. I could either stick a 292 on it and leave it a straight six for awhile, or go ahead and modify it for a V8.

The thing about the venerable small block Chevy is the ease and low cost of building and modifying them. And they run very well.

I would not be the least offended if a Stovebolter took more time looking at the original resto truck beside mine...I'd be right there next to him. I really love the look of the Stovebolt engines, but a chromed out, supercharged 407 small block would probably make my dream truck.

As long as diversity is recognized and the harsh-worded attacks stop, I'll be happy.

I miss the pit crew truck a race team I worked with had back in the late 60's. It was a 55 1st. series, with a Ferarri engine, a Colotti 5-speed trans, and a Jag rear end. It ran like a Fzzzazz, and handled like a pickup! That's a combination that will give you a racing stripe in your BVD's!

Jerry

Jerry, now THAT is a truck that I'd like to drive!

Anyone who uses a SBC with a displacement other than 350 will at least get some style points :p I actually picked up a 4-bolt main 400 block for the 'Vette this weekend...dang swap meets...go looking for truck parts, buy engine block for car.

Different strokes for different folks, your truck your preference, it's for fun right, Zeke

I was going to put a 400 in my Vette too. But I changed my mind and stuck a 427 in it. Seemed like it cost about the same to build.

Good luck with that. I know what you mean. I always go to swap meets thinking I'll find one thing, and buy all kinds of other neat things.