So ; I'm schlepping through a fairly remote Pick-A-Part junkyard doing my Physical Therapy and Lo ! there's a battered but super complete 1959 Apache 3100 with a 1957 Passenger car 235 and the 12 volt pedal starter including all the hard to find correct hardware and tear drop plate , return spring and so on I had to leave it for an entire WEEK and then go ask Sam to pull it off for me and he did and I bought it ($25.00 !) and I have it in my Mercedes , it'll be on my poor old '49 like it oughta be , tromp on the starter button and roar (O.K. : wheeze) that 235 into life ! . By the time I got back to this gem , the good stepside bed & fenders was off and in the front staging area , *perfect* Chevrolet tailgate nowhere to be seen , cab stripped of windshield and all dash knobs, switches , speedo binnacle , wiper motor , so on... Amazingly , the 235 sits there still , Rochester 'B' series carby still on it .
Tressuire hunting The first one whom comes to the mill gets the parts ! This is one of the genuin caracteristics of a person that is named , in norwegian " Skrotkalle" in swedisch "Skrotnisse" means "Scrap Donald". When observing all these parts it gives an exciting feeling of having discovered gold. Finding the excact part fore your truck at the yard gives many good assosiations , there cheap , wurth the money , and if we dont have them in store from before we could need even more of it in our shop ? At the same time real "Scrap Donalds dont trough anything away. At least i dont , because you never know what purpose you can use it fore!! Good luck hunting , we miss such a beautifull yards with old american cars/trucks in Norway. Hope some of the guys need the parts because populair they are indeed. Friendly regards from an real "Scrap Donald". Attach a short film from some famely in sweden , enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfDYN9y2Ji0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKIW5kHkpp8
235 Engine I don't know but not over $250.00 I shouldn't think ~ you'd best get to it ASAP as they flip them over pretty quick out there... A late passenger car 235 is a *very* good engine indeed . The dizzy , fuel pump etc. are all gone now . The " 848 " cylinder head is the very best one GM ever made and is worth quite a bit more if ever you need one .
Oh sensei! Why is this one the best GM ever made? Grasshoppper would like to learn! (Be forewarned, one day soon I wanna dig up an old carby thread and ask why the Carter is better than the Rochester, or was it the other way around?) Josh
The 848 is a better head because it has a smaller combustion chamber which creates a higher compression ratio. They are usually found on the 235. The 261 had a lower compression ratio or a larger combustion chamber and the 216 had smaller ports, But if you shave the head the 261 head will work just fine. I shaved .120 off of my 848 head that I run on my 261 but had to recess the valves and shim the rocker towers to correct the rocker geometry.
Why the Carter is better than the Rochester? I have an short article about the issue.But most off the truck guys have contribute with there vews on this topic wich favorizes the Carter compared with the Rochester ? Martinius.
Because , Grasshopper : The primary reason I prefer it is because over heating caused cracks plagued all Chevy InLine 6 bangers from the very first OHV one in 1929 (that's right , back when Henry was fooling with his FlatHead 4 Banger) and in this particular version they finally got a good handle on the casting so they're *very* crack resistant . They also changed the internal oiling galleries to help top end oiling . As mentioned they also re-designed the combustion chamber so it had a better flame front propagation as well as increased the compression ratio . The very last design series was the ' 050 ' head , this was designed for the 261 engine and so not only had slightly lower compression (the idea being it'd be O.K. to run it wide open going up hills loaded etc.) but it also incorporated cleverly designed " steam holes " witch were 3/16" (IIRC) holes drilled between the head's sealing surface and the water jacket , this allowed steam to escape instead of flashing over and causing pesky hot spots in the rear area of the head's water jacket . of course , this necessitated the drilling of matching holes in the deck of the cylinder block and a special head gasket with the pass through holes.... I hope this helped .
Back On Topic...... To-day I was fondling , er moving around and boxing up (yeah ,that's it) the pedal starter and all that beautiful " Just So " correct originallinkage and hardware , cotter pins , original return spring etc. etc. ~ as it's all covered in 1/4" of dry greasy dirt it might look like junk to others but I'm dreaming of the day I clean it all up and bolt it onto my '49 3100........ I wonder if the original Delco tag is still on it underneath all the protective grime..... Being a Luddite is good in times like these .
