Thread: New ride for my garage

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I agree with the others that that is a very nice looking car. The old Chevies are so much more roomy than the Fords. They make great rods.

Are you going with a First Gen small block, big block or LS?

That is a very nice coupe! That had to be well taken care of for sure! That's really cool your Dad will get to drive another and relive memories again.

Thanks everyone the car only has 57k original. Miles on it. As much as I would love to V8 and do a hot rod. Style build I just can't because its a great survivor and they are getting harder to find.
My camaro is number matching also I did put that motor on a stand and saved all the original. Parts so it could be put back. Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing there but then I drive it and am glad I did.

You could swap in a late 50's to early 60's 235 or 261 6 cylinder. It would most likely fit without any permanent mods (maybe a set of bolt in mounts). The later (after 54) engines had full pressure mains and rods, so you could drive them at modern highway speeds with no issues. The engine in your car has pressurized mains, but the rods were lubed by oil squirters.

Offy has some cool dress up goodies for them too. A split manifold (Offy) will make it sound killer.

Throw the old 216 on a stand beside your Camaro motor to preserve it.

That's a good idea it does come with a 235 from a 53 Chevy I would like to put hard exhaust seats in the head will it bolt to the trans? Thanks for the input.

Here's a link that might have some good info.

Patricks

Also, I was a little wrong about the pressurized mains statement. It's been a long time since I fooled with a 235.

I believe all the 235's had pressurized mains and rods, but after 54 the engines went to replaceable bearing inserts. Before that, they had poured babbitt bearings. I think some 53's might have had inserts, but only Corvette engines got those. If the engine you have is a common 53, then it's most likely poured babbit.

That's not a deal breaker if the bearings are in good shape, but if they need redoing, you might be better off finding a later engine. Poured babbitt takes specialized tools and knowledge to do. Seems that I remember the engines having shim packs under the bearing caps on the babbitt engines that could be removed to adjust clearance if it's not too worn. I could be wrong about the shims, but for some reason that comes to mind.

It would be a neat project. I drove a 57 Chevy with a 235-6 for many years. Not a power house, but it moved that big heavy car fine at 60+ mph all day long. I raced it against a 6 cylinder Maverick once and actually won! Believe me, no one was more surprised than me. That was the only time I tried that. In the lighter 38, with a little hop-up(3 1 barrels and a split manifold), it would be fun. Good luck.

My brother in law pulled a 216 out of his old Chevy ( don't remember the year ) and replaced it with a 235 so it would be more drive able friendly. The babbitt bearings use shims to get the clearances right. At least they do in old tractors. When they they wear out it goes right to the connecting rod steel,you don't spin a bearing but it ruins the crank .

"My camaro is number matching also I did put that motor on a stand and saved all the original. Parts so it could be put back. Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing there but then I drive it and am glad I did."

Glad I got screwed on my Camaro, he lied about it having the original motor, now I have no guilt about putting in an LS2

Thanks. Put almost 2000 miles on this summer. Still planning on leaving it a survive.
Took camaro to Woodward dream cruise in Detroit was a good time ran in to some fellow hot rod power tour friends. (Drive them we are only their keepers someone else will have them when we are gone enjoy them before they do.)

You put 2k on it already? Wow, glad your having a good time with it. When that car was new It probably took 2 years to put those miles on.

Great buy buddy. Those 38 Chevy drip style!