As some of you may have read on my previous threads, I think my 235 is done, but I'd like to replace it with something with more power, as I do plan to maybe haul a small camper with my truck in the future. The truck is a 61 Apache10, I was leaning towards the 350, but the issues with that are the bellhousing wont work and I'd have to change the mounts. Mounts arent a big deal but finding a V8 bellhousing with the clutch fork opening on the pass side will be challenging I'm sure. 350s are too common and I like to be different. Are 292s common enough to find? And if so, would that bolt up to the same bell housing as a 235? would the mounts match?
No, and no. You would need the same bellhousing as the one used for the V-8, as all the 2nd.-generation sixes have the same bellhousing bolt pattern as the 8's. The side mounts on a 292 are offset, with the passenger's side about 3 inches ahead of the driver's side to make room for the fuel pump. A set of V-8 mounts can be used- - -just offset the passenger's side forward a little.
The smaller sixes, 194, 230, and 250 use the same side mount position as the V-8s, directly across from each other. The 292 is definitely worth searching for- - -it has enough torque to handle a load or a trailer well. It will pass everything but a gas station. Don't expect good fuel economy! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Jerry got it right. I can second him on the 292 doing everything you want. The 292 in my 63 C20, pulled a car trailer with an Imperial no problem. The full size cab over camper did slow it down a might.
IMO you need more brakes first, Disc brakes. If you going to be modifying, I'd work the brakes in there. Maybe look for a donor truck that has a good running motor.
Larry
Last edited by LGriffin; 06/26/20123:44 AM.
I don't own a vehicle that isn't old enough to drink.
Well...if they arent very common I probably wont do it. I had top order pushrods for my 235 from the States, and they took two months to get here. And I thought parts for the 235 were easy to get...apparently not in Canada. Yes I do plan to install front discs. Before I pull a trailer ( I dont even have a trailer yet, ha ha) I will be installing discs. Brokenhead, to my knowledge, 348s and 409s are rare...this truck will be used almost daily, as a truck. I won't be taking it to many shows or anything...want it to be reliable and easy to find stuff for when it does break down. But, on the other hand I like being different...ha ha its a bit of a tough call I guess. I went to a car show here in Calgary last year, and there was a 1960 Chevy that actually had a 409! Way cool.
Ah in this age of the internet, it shouldn't be too hard to find one of those engines. It isn't just up north its hard to get parts, it took me a month and a half to get a cam, I sent them mine, which they promptly lost, and they finally sent me a reground used core, and they are only 50 miles down the road. I'm going to astoria oregon, here soon, they have a fire truck museum, I'm taking a tape measure to see just how big the 503 GMC actually is....That ought to pull a travel trailer.
348's and 409's weren't particularly good engines 50 years ago, and time hasn't improved them. 409's in particular were notorious for cracking cylinder heads due to oddball water passages and hot spots. The low-compression 409 dump truck engines were a little more reliable, but finding one of those engines these days would be like finding a chicken with lips. If you want a big block V8, the 396/427/454 engines would be a much better choice, and less expensive to do a good buildup also. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Ha, definitely don't want a big block. Just want something with decent power, semi-decent gas mileage, reliable and easy to get parts for. The boring as bread SBC will likely end up being my choice.
that may be Jerry, but at least it isn't a 350, If I were to change engines, I'd rather have a flathead ford or a straight 8 buick, or even a V-12 Jaguar, pretty much ANYTHING else. Just something different. Now don't get me wrong, the small block is one of the best engines ever made, and if it installed in an era correct vehicle I don't have a problem with it. But in one of these it just shows no imagination, however I realize that money is generally the deciding factor, and they ARE very effective.
Since I grew up in that era, I got to work on a bunch of the 348's in the family shop. The 409 was pretty scarce, even back when they were new, and the 427 built on the same block was really hard to find. There's quite a history behind that engine and how it found itself installed in cars for the 1958 model year. In 57, the supercharged Ford 312 started running away from Chevy pretty regularly at the drag strips, so Chevy engineers grabbed the new 348 engine they had ready to install in their medium-duty truck line, fitted it with a 3-2 BBL. intake and a solid lifter cam, and made it the factory drag race engine for 1958. They made it an option for street cars with a single 4-BBL. and a hydraulic cam to meet FIA homologation rules.
Just one little problem- - - -the hotrodders were accustomed to 265 and 283 engines with a 3" stroke that would wind to 8,000 RPM with enough carburetor and valve spring work, and the 348 started swallowing valves at just under 6K. It had massive amounts of torque, but it simply hand grenaded itself at high RPM. By the time the 409 came around in 1961, the racers had learned to shift at lower RPM's and let torque do the work. They're real attention-getters at a car show with those oddball-shaped valve covers, and the Beach Boys' song helped the 409's popularity a lot!
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
I couldn't agree more with Jerry. We raced a 60 Impala with a 348/350 HP set up and it was never any good. And a 3 speed was an even bigger headache behind one. It never grenaded but it also never ran in the winners circle and few did. He's also dead-on about the 409's being even worse. I had one of the 409's in a tilt cab tractor and it worked OK but not as well as my 413 Dodge powered tractor. Incidentally, neither the GMC or Dodge cabs were worth a toot.
The next series of engine, the 327 SB was and is a great engine on the other hand.
