The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk engine size ?

I have a 55 1st series pickup with the original 235 engine(RV cam, fenton headers, 500 cfm 4 barrel) and a 700r4 transmission with the 390 rear end, all of which is running good. At some point we may use the pickup for long trips and I was wondering if another size engine would be better suited for power etc. MPG is also a concern for long trips. Someone suggested I should switch to a small block v8 crate engine but I would like to stay with the 6 if that would work. Any ideas? Thanks, Mark

I like the sound of your setup, esp the 700r4. I would try it on a trip and see how it all works, you my find you will like it. As for another eng, the 26(1 the 235s big brother), gm 250 or 292 all i6

Run it! If your happy with it now, why would it change over a longer drive?

I have a 261 and wouldn't hesitate to drive it cross country if I had the time. I hope to someday.

Mark , I have been driving my '40 with the original 216 for 16yrs and done huge miles in it. There are many on this forum who do the same.

If your truck drives nice now , what are the chances of it having a problem tomorrow?

I think using it as it is and monitoring its performance ( ie. listening to the special sounds it makes , feel the way it is on the road ) You should expect great pleasure and economical use, no point dumping more money into another engine that is actually unlikely to be any more reliable than that which you already have.

Just remember it is old and treat it accordingly.

Happy travelling

I have driven my '54 Suburban with a 248 and OD to Phoenix, AZ, South Bend, IN, Kansas City twice, El Reno, OK twice and the Lone Star Loop 1000 mile cruise twice. You don't need a V8 to hit the highway.

I took my 53 with a 216 from sandiego to Kalispell Montana, horribly overloaded, (it weighed 5300 lbs with a nearly empty gas tank and the wife and baby were in the bathroom.) didn't miss a lick. Took it from Montana to seattle. I drove that engine from 1984 till about a year ago. in that time I put a head, cam, water pump, 2 fuel pumps, and king pins in it. You will be just fine, just don't expect modern V-8 power, you will be very disappointed. But then again you would never get the attention in any modern vehicle like you do in the truck. I can't leave the house without someone saying something. Its kind of neat, I actually had someone knock on the corner window at a stop light once, it was a fireman in a fire truck wanting to give me a thumbs up. I thoroughly enjoyed that.

All of you guys are right on. Thanks for all the input. Hope to see you down the road. And Brokenhead - yes we love all the attention we get in our truck!

I'm running a 500 inch caddie in mine and plan on driving every day,I can understand if you drive the truck as a daily but if you drive to local car shows and occasionally drive to a long show more than 500 mi can't see changing it .
In 76 when the gas crunch happened a few of my friends took the v8 out and put in a 6 cyl and never went more than 100 mi all year To save gas money
Run what you want I think that 6 will be fine.
Frank

Dad had a '69 suburban with a 250 in it that we put half a million miles on it driving all over most of the 50 states towing a travel trailer (first a 20 ft then a 33 ft). We just enjoyed the higway views longer than most of the other traffic.

250's and 292's as well as all GMC 6's are about 3" longer than 235/261's, so keep that in mind. GMC moved the radiator to the FRONT of the core support to account for the extra length.