VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 fitting a 1956 235 into a 39 chev

hi all I have got my motors at last from what I can tell using the engine numbers they look like a 1955 and a 1956 motor I have a few more questions please
these engines didn't come with a starter motor and the gears on the flywheel are closer together my 39 fly wheel will not fit. the mounting to the crank shaft flange is different can I put a 56 starter motor drive onto my 39 starter motor and use this or am I best to get a 56 starter motor
if so will it be 12 volt which I am using

Read the article here, it should answer most of your questions.

http://www.patricksantiquecars.com/antique-car-articles/swap-216-chevy-6-for-235.html

What none of these articles on this swap ever seem to mention is that the rear cross member needs to be modified for the 235-261 oil pan. When a friend found this out the answer to his enquiry was to pound the oil pan with a hammer to get clearance. Naturally he modified the cross member.

The 55 & 56 were 12 volt, so you would need to use the correct starter. The 6 volt starter will not work with a 12 volt flywheel.

I think the starter drive from a 12 volt starter will not fit on the 6 volt one, but I am not absolutely sure. A lot of people use the old 6 volt starter on 12 volts. You would need a pre 12 volt era flywheel for that. My 1940 engine has the six bolt mounting but a year or two later they increased the size of the bolts. Here is a blog that will answer most of your questions. Chevy 235 Guy Blog He shows a water pump relocation plate which he makes and sells. It allows use of the old water pump in the exact location as it was on the 216. This seems to be the preferred solution these days. As mentioned above, the crossmember that holds the reaction mounts will interfere with the pan. Usually one lip is trimmed to make it fit.

hi all thanks for the information all good stuff I read the patricks sheet and I have been able to find a flywheel at the car club that fits and has the course teeth no need to alter drive on starter motor any more and I picked up a cross member which will be altered if needed
my next question is am I best to buy the adaptor plate and if so do i use a pump that has two holes in it and my harmonic pulley and will the fan fit
or should I buy the shorted water pump from patricks and his fan but reading his information on it it may still need a bit of trimming to make the fan fit thanks for info keep it coming

What a few of us have done making this swap is to push the pulley retainer back further on the stock water pump shaft and use a pulley off a 1960s Ford V8. I think they may have come off 289" engines or similar. The bolt pattern is the same as the Chev, The diameter is the same but they are much shallower than the Chev pulley. In other words a bolt on modification that runs the water pump at stock speed and gives good clearance.

hi all if I shortened the water pump shaft or buy one from patricks could I use one of the after market flex fans and would it pump enough air and clear everything thanks tony

which pump does the job better the 1956 235 or is the old pump on the plate do the job ok looks like they fit alright thanks

I have not done this myself but plenty of folks over on the Stovebolt.com have. Sometimes with the short shaft pump the location of the fan becomes a problem. Cooling wise the fan ends up too low and it can cause overheating at idle. The relocation plate puts the pump and the fan exactly where it was with the 216. The plate takes the place of the plate on the back of the water pump so even that dimension stays the same. I believe the old style water pump moves the coolant just fine.

In my case I used an electric fan mounted high on the radiator.

ok thanks for all the information everyone
looks like the plate is a good way to go and it solves the problems of different hose sizes and the fan hitting hoses etc. i see the chev of 40 sell them I will get one
so just to confirm old 216 I use a water pump that had two holes in the back plate which gets removed to fit adopter plate and use my old balancer on crank shaft

That is the idea. It seems to me that the water pump has to be 1941 or newer. You need to check on that. If you contact Dave the 235 blogger he will answer all your questions.

here is some more info on the water pump plate.

http://home.znet.com/r1937/WPump.htm

I have done this several times and it works great.

So the plate that is sold is based on the 41 to 55 water pump. There is no reason that a similar plate couldn't be made for a 37 to 40 water pump.

Also you may find the the throttle bell crank on the block is in a different location on the new block. The 235 blog explains how to fix that problem.

Before you go out buying all these parts I suggest you try using the stock pump with the Ford pulley. There are four of us using this system and none of the cars overheat even on long trips. I forgot to mention that with the Ford pulley you do need to use a spacer so the fan you use will clear the crank pulley.Two of the cars are set up this way. I use and feel the best way is to use an electric fan mounted high on the radiator. Although I agree the fan should be higher using the stock pump neither of the two cars using this set up seem to suffer from overheating and in a cooler climate like New Zealand there should be no problem.

hi all thanks again for all your ideas I'm sure they all work for the people using them
I think I will go the plate way I like the idea of the fan sitting back up high
to 345chevy i like the idea of a electric fan so i will fit one as well as a back up in case I get caught on a long hill or slow traffic and also it could be hard for me to get a 1960 pulley as most of the wreckers only do Japanese cars
thanks all again for help keep any other thoughts coming in