The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 1935 Chev 207 to 235 swap

I am in the beginning stages of restoring a 1935 1 ½ ton Chevrolet truck (157 in. wheelbase) and am pondering the likelihood of swapping the truck’s original 207 for a 235 engine. Does anyone have experience with this or comments regarding the problems I may encounter?

I’m keeping the original mechanical brakes and am wondering if the bell housing will at all interchange between these motors (the pedal linkage is an integral part of the 207 housing). If they won’t swap, what options do I have? How about the motor mounts on these two motors – are there any major differences that will affect the installation?

I don’t yet have a 235 but potentially have a circa 1951 that would work. Any thoughts against using this motor versus a later one?

Any thoughts, leads, suggestions are much appreciated.

John Larson
Hoquiam, Wash.

Hey John, another washington state bolter! The 235 is shorter than the 207 so you shouldn't have any problems getting it to fit. I know a few guys who have done this swap. I have a 207 w/non synchro 4spd sitting on a skid in my shop right now out of a 36 1-1/2 ton (some hacker parted it out not me!) Anyway, I would be happy to set it along side a 51 235 and compare over this coming weekend if you like.

Check out Ron Brazell's 1936 suburban in the gallery and see if you can e-mail him for the details on his swap if you want to talk to someone who has done a first class job.

Ken

Thanks Ken for your offer to compare engines on my behalf. I'd sure be curious just how close the 207 and 235 are and especially how those bell housings compare. I appreciate your help and look forward to hearing back from you.

John

I would suggest a later 235 with full-pressure oiling. 53 Powerglide cars and starting in 54 everything was full pressure, no dippers and spray nozzles, or babbited rods. A 54 or later 261 (from 2 ton truck) would give your 1 1/2 ton even more grunt. Good Luck with the resto.

Whoa-up there a minute, fellers...

I have onwned two '36 Chevies which had both had their 206 engines swapped-out for 216 & 235s...
in both cases, previous owner (that guy sure does get around ! :p ) took a hammer and cold chisel and did a hell of a lot of chopping to the cross-member under the bell housing to accomodate the later engine - basically they cut the top and bottom flange off of the "C" channel, making it an"I" channel in the middle.... it was an ugly (and weak) looking thing!

Before doing this to a truck, I'd suggest checking our Stovebolt vendors to see if there's a replacement x-member available to replace the stock x-member, rather than chopping the heck out of it.

A while back (8-10 years ago?), one of the west-coast outfits (Patricks, Stovebolt Engine Co, one of those guys) published in their catalog a list of "what bolted-up to what": engines, flywheels & cranks, trannies, etc.

If you're sticking with mechanical brakes and the 17" wheels, then I'd suggest rebuilding the 206; you might "overpower" the stock mechanical binders with a 235....

The swap can be done, but it "doesn't just drop right in"...

Frank, did your converted cars have open or closed driveline?

(I wrote this for a 34 but a 35 is the same)

The swap can be done:
1. The 235 is about a 1 1/2" shorter than the 206 so you will need to make a plate to move the front mount back.
2. The rear of the 235 has a different bolt pattern so you will need a bell housing from a 37 to 47 truck which will fit the 235 engine and the 34 trans. and will also accept the 34 mounts.
3. You will need a flywheel from a 42 to 54 pass. or truck if you use a 6 volt starter, or 55 to 62 if you use a 12 volt starter(55 to 59 truck use foot start). Use clutch parts including clutch fork from a 1938 or later( they will need to match flywheel clutch size).
4. The exhaust is center dump on a 235 and rear dump on a 206 but that should be an easy fix.
5. You will need a starter from a 38 to 54 if you use a 6 volt flywheel or 55 to 59 truck if you want 12 volts and foot start.
6.You will also need the front bearing retainer from a 38-47 truck 4 speed to accept the later throw out bearing.
7.THIS ONLY WORKS IF IT IS A "MASTER". If not all bets are off.

I'm not understanding what a 206 or 207 is? I was thinking the standard six was first intrduced in 29 and was basically the same engine, only bored in 41 to make the 216. This isn't true? It is a longer block? Trucks up to 46 have the pedals on the b/house, right? And they have a smaller trans holes/mounting? The early side mounts for bhouse should work on later ones, until 54 when they used ears on b/house and angled x-member? I had a 41 engine from a car and it was this way. Why not use the trans from later year truck and bellhouse for it to get synchro trans? Seems like a b/house up to 46 would work with your old trans, and still mount pedals. The old b/house don't mount to the newer engines? That's odd to me. And the 235 in a 51 is still the babbit engine, don't see any advantage to using that, might as well re-build yours as it FITS! Not until 54 do the trucks have full pressure oiling, 53 for automatics in cars also. That is insert bearings then also. Maybe if 206 is longer, you could find a good GMC engine to drop in and not have to worry about it being longer and hitting radiator? Have no idea on the bellhousing for those.

Not much help was I? I'm outta here! :rolleyes:

Chevy sixes are thus:

1929-32: 196 cu in, only 3 main bearings; downdraft carb from '32 on.

1933-'36: 206.8 cu. in.; still only 3 mains!
(This engine resembles the '29-'32 unit and will swap)

1937: "All-new" six: 216.5 cu.in; now has 4 main bearings. Shares no parts w/ earlier six.

1940-'41: Some improvements to 216, mainly concerning crank and flywheel mounting and # of teeth on ring gear & starter drive. Switched to 10mm spark plugs -1940-1948.
1941-'4? Trucks: a "235" cu .in. six available in larger trucks- basically a bored-out 216- still a splash-oiler.

1949: 216 returned to 14mm plugs; Rochester "B" replaces Carter W-1 carb.

1950: Hydraulic valve lifters on 216 equiped w/ power glide.

1953: Transitional 235 introduced: same bore & stroke as the '54 unit, but a splash-oil version.

1954: Full-pressure 235 introduced...You all probably know the rest from here...

Chiphead: both my '36s were trucks- one was a 1/2 ton pick-up, the other a 1& 1/2 ton Cab & chassis, 136" WB, I think.
Both were torque-tube all the way from trans to rear end from the factory, but the 1/2 ton had gotten a '53 235 splash engine, a '41-'46 crash-box truck 4-speed (& steering gear), and some how they had rigged up the original rear (with its Huck brake backing plates still riveted to the axle tubes!) with an open drivehaft yoke and bearing & seal on the pinion shaft (perhaps they changed the whole pig's-head).

JB Larson,

Sorry I didn't look closer at your original post and realize that you're working on a big truck before I made my remark about the 17" wheels (I was thinking you were working on a 1/2 ton pick-up!)...don't know if they did full torque-tube on the longer wb trucks; the pre-'54 3/4 tons had a short torque-tube from the tranny to the center carrier bearing, then were open-drive back to the differential.
My '41 1.5 ton dump is open drive all the way.

Mechanically, the trucks kind of group like this:
'29-'32;'33-'38; '39-'47; '47-'53, '54-59 and so-on.
If you found a '37 or '38 1.5 ton chassis to scavenge goodies from, you'd get your x-member for the 216, juice brake goodies, and so on...

Unless you plan on upgrading the brakes to hydraulic, I would be cautious about a outfitting the truck for a larger, later engine.
I don't see any advantage to a 1951 engine over rebuilding your original 1935 unit- it would still be a splash-oiled engine w/ poured rod-bearings.
Unless you spend the money to have the rods machined and converted to insert bearings, you really don't gain anything... you could have your 206 rebuilt with insert bearings... and not have to go through the "fun" of all the chassis mods.
If you're going to upgrade the running gear but try to "stay faithful" you might as well set-it up for the '54-62 235; that way you get a full-pressure engine- no more babbit-poundage!

Ultimately, how do you want to use the truck? Light use, parades, fairs, light bopping around town? Or heavy work or lots of driving on high-speed roads?
This truck likely has a rear-end ratio in the high 5's or low 6's, which means it won't do much over 50 (if that) with your foot to the wood.
It's probably happiest cruising at 40-45mph; and the brakes are suited for just about that.
If you're going to have an historic plate on it (which in most states means you'd better not get caught hauling a load; big fine!), I'd vote to stay stock....

Somewhere on this site, someone posted their saga about driving an unrestored '36 1.5 ton truck from the west coast back to the east; it'd be worth looking-up.

Good luck with your project; I like the earlier "high-cab" look of the '33-'35 trucks...check out all your options before you break-out the torch!

Here's the story of the coast to coast 36 Chevy flatbed trip.Jim is a good friend of ours.... Coast to coast