i have just purchased a 58 chevy apache as a project truck and i am trying to find engine specs on my 235 straight 6 and if anyone has any ideas to get over 200 horses out of it

Thad

There used to be all kinds of stff available for the Chevy 6s. Try Clifford Research. I believe they are still in business.....

http://www.cliffordperformance.com/home.htm

__________________
Home Handyman Forum I Shade Tree Mechanic Forum

okay so if I wanted to put a v8 in it what would i need to change?

Thad

put a newer landcruser head on it,I had a 59 and was told this made an improvement,do more research on that,mine had a aluminum intake with a twin one barrel setup and it had a dual exhaust header and was close to that,with the sock head. One thing to remember,those should be built to produce low rpm power because they have inferior mains for high revs,not like the 194,230,250 292. You get crank whip. Torque on!

The V8 was an option, if you want to go that route. Should bolt right in, with the proper mounts.

Personally, I would stick with the 6

__________________
Home Handyman Forum I Shade Tree Mechanic Forum

The 235 did not share the same bell housing or mounts as a small block chev,the next gen 6cylinder ones did,194,230,250,292. Find the mount setup and bell housing from a v8 version and its a slam dunk.

was there a weakness to the 235 6?..would I beable to get 200 horses out of it? Im new to this old school trucks

Thad

I'm working on a '58 Apache myself, rebuilding a 283 for it.

head to www.chevyduty.com They are a good source for products as well as have a good forum board for early chev trucks.

what engine did it come with?

Thad

They arent a bad moter,dont get me wrong,they just are a dated design. They werent designed to do much for power,they dont have as many main bearings as the newer 6cyl ones I spoke of do ,so that big long crank has a lot more room to flex,not a good thing for higher rpms. They make better low rpm torque moters.Toyota bought the design and spruced it up a bit,I dont know the particulars of that but its a improved version I guess. I do know a lot of guys put chev v8s in landcrusers and if you dont want to swap everything around,maybe you could find leftovers from a swap. You will never realize the power,price, and dependabilaty of a 350,the old 6 is nostalgic thogh.

Option of a 283 v8,that bolts up just like the 350

Thad,

My '58 had a stock 283 in it, but that died a long time ago before I came of age to take an interest in it. At the time then, my father just replaced it with another 283 that was a little newer, I think it came out of the 1960's.

V8 of those times, used motor mounts at the front of the block, Those can be a problem now-days as those mounting holes are used for bolting up misc engine parts and the motor mounts are on the engine sides, you can pick up kits to then on the sides if you wish.

I kep the fron motor mounts though, liked the look and kept a little history in the truck.

Is your truck a stepside or fleet?

Just something to think about but, if you go with a V8 and later model automatic, you will need to use the later style SIDE motor mounts. The later style auto's mount at the back of the trans so hanging the motor off the front of the block and the back of the trans puts to much stress on the trans bell housing and it will crack.

Here are a couple of shots of the current setup on my '58 you can see the fron motor mounts and also the transmission crossmember. Tranny is a 350 out of a donor truck that was around....can't remember the year of it, I'm thinking later '70s early '80s but i'm not sure actuallyl.

That is true,the newer style blocks had the same mount up for the factory v8 front mount,but also have accommodations for side mounts. the side to side motion was controlled by the bell housing mounts and the front served as an up and down support with the ability to pivot side to side,without that bell housing it will want to move from side to side. If you use a older v8 bell housing you will be fine as long as you choose the right pulley setup that wont interfere with the front mount. They also use suport arms on 4x4s 70s-80s that link the moter mounts to the flex plate cover,they work good for that problem.