The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop 235 Build Help

Haven't posted on here in quite a while... last time I was struggling with a T-5 install. Got it all ironed out though. Had a custom clutch built and it works great! Thanks for the help!

I am ready to move on to the engine. I have a '52 chevy with a stock '62 235. Here is what I am thinking:

I am gonna have the 848 head rebuilt, ported and polished. Any specs I can give the machine shop would be appreciated... I know nothing about it.

Intake: Offenhauser with 2 Holley/Webers
Exhaust: Fenton headers
Ignition: Mini HEI

I was thinking about having a cam put in too... any thoughts/suggestions? Maybe a 3/4 cam with solid lifters? What else would I need for that?

I guess exhaust/muffler choice would be good to mention too. I am gonna run duals with a H pipe and short glasspacks... 2" pipes.

Any advice would be great!

Id run this past Langdon and also Patrick's, but your list so far looks fine. I'm running the solid lifter 3/4 cam from Patricks and it's been great. And if you haven't already, get a Patricks catalog, it's full of tips on your motor. In my 46, now I wish I'd put in that 'high water pump adapter' so my fan would be in the right place, these are on ebay all the time.
Best of luck

One more thing I am concerned with... the 235 is a runner but its old and loose, burns oil, the oil pressure drops when it gets ran hard on the highway then driven in town. I am not planning on rebuilding the lower part of the engine. In the future I plan to build a 261 to put all these parts onto. Am I inviting disaster?

No not as long as you are just going to putt around Hartford. But if you are heading for Maine, get AAA and a cell phone.
I ran an old worn out 216 for years after it had been worn out, one cylinder had low compression but it ran fine, around town.

It seems to me like putting all that new stuff on the top end of a worn out engine is like putting a bandaid on a heart attack. Will the bottom end take the increased power the engine is going to make?
I have an 848 head that we ported. I brought it to my race engine guy and he just ground a lot of material off the short side radius of the ports and just cleaned/deburred everything. He did a nice 3 angle valve grind too. Don't shave much off the 848 or the compression will increase too far to run pump gas. The 848 raises the CR to about 9.5:1 with a stock bore and the head unshaved.
If your valve spring pressure is a bit on the low side (my builder said mine were on the low side considering the cam I'm running) you'll need to shim the valve springs. Harley-Davidson Shovelhead valvespring shims fit a 235.
I have a Langdon's Bulldog cam. It's a dual pattern cam that IMO is superior to the single pattern Howard's M4F. Call Tom Langdon, he can explain camshafts to you very well.
Why not just build the bottom end of your 235? You already own it. I bored mine .080 over and balanced it. If it weren't for the cam lope you could set a glass of water on it while it's running.

If your plan is to use a 261 block later, you might want to have the machine shop drill the extra water holes in the 848 head while they have it. That way you won't have to do anything to it when you change the block except use the 261 head gasket.

hey jthuma,
off the subject completely, ed sherwood, hartford class of 83, also brother bob, sister stayce, sister jessica(elliott), i was on the fire dept, in the mid 80s with ron.
small world, we farmed 2 miles west of town, the folks live in jacobs creek

ed