The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Building a Hi Po 235

What year would be the best to use? I have a line on a nice 56 I would like to build.

What are your goals? What kind of mods are you considering? Do you have the engine that you plan to work on? If not, I'd suggest trying to find a 261. Its the same exterior dimensions as the 235, but with more power. Hard to beat cubic inches.....

The '56 would at least be a full pressure oiler which is good. If it's from a car with the cast iron powerglide it'll have hydraulic valve lifters, not solids. If it has the "848" cylinder head the stock compression will be a little higher too.
You can do lots of internal mods to increase power some, but don't expect any huge increase. There's an old Hot Rod mag article from '55 I think,that explains a lot to be do e. Just depends on what you want to spend.

There is a limit to what you can get out of a 235 ci. The heads seem to be the limiting factor. There are still parts available such as twin carb manifolds and headers. Look at http://www.stoveboltengineco.com/ and
http://www.cliffordperformance.net/
they have performance parts for these engines. The performance will not come cheap. After looking into this, I have decided to run the truck stock for now and will reevaluate after putting some miles on it.

Ive been looking at doing a 50's/60's kind of gasser on another project,may be a 40's truck. I've always liked the way they look. The 235 I can get is out of a 56 1/2T. Not looking for loads of HP, just a little fun. Sounds like the one from a car would be it. Whats the years on those cars? And did'nt the 235's in 60's trucks have hydraulic lifters too? And I'd like to stick with a 235, theres more around plus parts for. I will trick my 292 out one day, but not now. thanks

. . . And did'nt the 235's in 60's trucks have hydraulic lifters too? . . .

No 216 engines had hydraulic lifters.
No 235 engines up through 1949 had hydraulic lifters.
No 235 and 261 truck engines had hydraulic lifters.
1950-1955 Powerglide car engines had hydraulic lifters (except in a Corvette).
All 1956 and later 235 car engine had hydraulic lifters.

261 Canadian Pontiac 261 engines had hydraulic lifters.

All 1958 and later 235 truck blocks (and, I think 261 truck blocks) were drilled to accommodate hydraulic lifters.

The above information notwithstanding, I am not sure if 235s used in trucks with a factory Powerglide transmission had hydraulic lifters (I would guess that they did).

According to the '60 Truck Shop manual, trucks used solids with both manual and automatic trans in the 235.

Was the Powerglide ever used behind a 235 in the trucks? I think not. I've only seen one 283/Powerglide truck that I'm pretty sure was factory original, a 65 model shortbed fleetside C-10.

SPS, if you're interested in using the early block (235 or 261) I'd suggest a 261 with a big overbore and an offset-grind stroker job on the crankshaft, using 292 rods. You can get the displacement up around 280 cubic inches or so, with enough compression to support a custom-grind, very radical camshaft, lots or head porting, and multiple carbs or a good-sized 4-barrel. You'll have a race-only engine, but it should crank out some pretty impressive HP and torque numbers. On a job like that, remember the old hotrodders' saying "There's no substitute for cubic dollars!"
Jerry

Jerry, just checked the '60 manual to be sure about it, as I was thinking the same thing about Powerglides behind 235s in trucks. Oddly enough, it does show the Powerglide as being used in the '60 trucks, with both 6 and 8 cylinders. I can't see it being a common option, though.

A fiend of mine's father had a 62 step or box van that had a powerglid in it. I'm shure because I used to work with him and thats what we used. His legs were bad, couldn't use a cluth. That was in the late 70's. Later I got the motor and had it rebuilt to Blue flame speks and put it in my 53. Man did that motor run. Got 10mpg no matter what. Had a 3 speed with 59 1/2T rear in it. Drove it out to Colorado Springs in 79. Crused 70-75mph. Any more the front would shake. My poor wife had to sit and hold the floor shifter so it would'nt pop out of 3rd, and she was 7 mo. pregnant, what a girl! It did have solid lifters, because I now remember ajusting the lash on them. You had to do it running. Guess I answerd My own question. It's hell getting old. You can use 292 rods in a 235,I would have never thought. 261's are in the bigger trucks? I know were a 57 2T is, but I don't know whats in it. If they used solid lifters in the vett, I would think thats the way to go. Thanks again every one, man I wish I had this site back then. How do you tell what a 261 is?

There's a tech article somewhere about using 3 3/4" diameter Cadillac pistons and 292 rods in the 261 with a stroke increase by offset-grinding the crankshaft to the smaller-diameter 292 rod journal size. One option is to simply grind the center of the journal, leaving a partial shoulder on both sides for rod centering, while another option involves welding material onto the stroker shaft to give a narrower rod journal with a full-circle flange. Either way is expensive, but the resulting dyno numbers are pretty impressive.

Edit: There are several ways to identify 261's, but the most obvious difference is a set of parallel bars cast into the block near the starter, and a similar set of bars on the passenger's side near the oil pan rail about halfway back on the driver's side. They're often called "captain's bars" because they resemble the military rank markings. 261's were used in heavy trucks, school buses, and some "Pontiac" passenger cars in Canada in the late 50's and early 60's. Their major claim to fame is a 3 3/4" bore size, with the same stroke as a 235 engine. "There's no substitute for cubic inches"!
Jerry

Yes a Powerglide is listed in the 1960 Chevrolet Truck Data Book as being RPO-17 with the standard 235 engine (3.36 rear axle), as I posted and as described above by others.

I could not find documentation about solid lifters with that truck Powerglide . . but, the Corvette 235 with Powerglide also has the more robust (at high revs, I guess) mechanical lifters.

Thanks,

As Pre '68 Dave has recently posted, the Captain bars are also found on some 1953 235 blocks

Claims to fame regarding the 261 depend on your perspective: they used the same modified lift cam as was used in 1954 and later Corvette 235 engines. And, from 1958-1963 the USA Chevrolet truck 261 had a full-flow oil filtration system.

All truck 261s had mechanical lifters and the Canadian Pontiac 261 had hydraulic lifters.

The stroker is a very expensive way to get power - it's not quite 5% larger than stock.

Thanks for all the replies, there all a lot of help. I'm probably not going radical with this. I still want to drive it on the street. A 235 is still the way I'll go unless I find a 261. I still have a lot of time and research before I'm going to do it. I'll build the motor first and then find the body. Alot of great ideas though. Maybe a rat rod could be done, I always thought they were cool too. I'm going to find out what lifters they used back then, seems like they might be solid ones. The vetts point to that.

then there is the fella somewhere on here fuel injecting these engines, one other fella was talking about turbocharging one as well. Apparently according to the guy at ross pistons forced induction of these engines isn't all that uncommon, at least for cars used at bonneville in certain classes. I still can't see getting an incredible amount of power but you never know.

There is at least one car with a 235 going forward, don't known any details.
The problem is the class: the XO (vintage OHV engines) class allows 325" which is impossible for a stovebolt to get near. The largest I know of is 261 + 1/8" with 292-based stroker = 292". It must run heads up against much larger Buick L6 and GMC L6. This means no records will be made, someone has to want to do this for fun only.
If a 12 port head is used, same problem: too small for the class, and up against the GMC.
If you run in pushrod (not vintage) you're up against V8 engines of the same size - no chance at all.

Back in the late 1960's the local 1/8 mile drag strips in Middle Tennessee were being dominated by a fiberglass T-Model roadster on a home-built tubing frame running a beaned-up 292. He beat all but the fastest V-8 powered cars he ran against. I have no idea how the car was set up, but he really had it going his way for quite a while.
Jerry

now that you mention it, some guy at home was running a 292 in one of the more advanced classes at the local stock car track, as there was a 300 cubic inch limit. Given he was running a 6 he could use headers, I am assuming he had a lot of money into it. All I know is it ran very, very well.

About 3 mo. ago I talked to a guy in N Carolina about my harmonic balencer (for my 292). He said they still race those engines down there as pro stock and dirt track. I wished I had wrote his number down. I seen in the "engine shop", a guy said that ajustable lifters were used on hydrolic engines(235's). Why would that be done. It would be a good way to crush a lifter, or bend a rod if not adjusted right. I've seen some 235's built up, they look cool, I think in a 41 - 46 1/2T, it would look real good. Those 6's look good all decked out.

I't was Pre 68 Dave that made the statement about the lifters. I have never seen or heard of that before.

I would talk to Tom Langdon of Stovebolt Engine co. or Patrick at "Patricks Antiques cars&trucks"about your options.THey deal with 6cylinders only.Very knowledgable.Better have some time to talk;if you call Tom;he oozes with knowledge.
I am working on a 1960 235, dual 1barrel Fenton intake;Fenton headers,264 cam from Patricks&alot of advice from both places!!

Thanks, Sure is a lot easier to get parts for these than the 292. What your building is about what I want to build. I think it will push a 41-46 1/2T pretty good and look cool to. Steve

My 235 has hydraulic lifters. Came out of a '55 First Series and was a Canadian-built motor.

In 1954, the regular Canadian truck 235 had mechanical lifters. No other 1954 truck 235s were listed in the Canadian Truck Data Book as having hydraulic lifters. The 1954 125hp Canadian 235 used in the 1271 Sedan Delivery with Powerglide 235 had hydraulic lifers (a Blue-Flame Six).

Is there information in the Canadian engine serial number that indicates the model of the truck/vehicle in which it was installed?

Maybe later Canadian truck 235s had hydraulic lifers?