Howdy all newby here down in the south,got a 57 chevy pickup with the old 235,she runs like a top.My goals for the ole shine runner are fairly simple,id like to get the old girl to bump down the highway at 65 ( its a bit scury doin 55 in the slow lane here in atlanta,the old "merge" game isnt fun) and,if the mood struck,fry a lil excess rubber from the tires. Im fairly sure alot of the limitations are that ole granny gear Saginaw, and the gears in the rear end. Any suggestions and experiance would be helpful.

Thanks for any replies..

Gear sets with lower ratios are kinda hard to come by for those,is that still a torque tube setup? If so you will need another trans to go to Hotchkiss type open U-joints.Im guessing the stock ratio to be 4.11 or 4.56 so you need to drop to 3.55s or thereabouts from a later truck.As far as tire fires are concerned,I would think twice about that kind of abuse unless you like laying on your backside replacing broken stuff.

Thanks for the imput Marc. The 57 has an open drive line,i have been considering dumpin the truck 3 speed,for a bel-airs 3 speed,and i have found a vendor sellin 3.8 to 1 ratio ring and pinon sets for the stock rear end..And well,being young and dumb,and still having a young mans back,breakin stuff aint so bad,hell half the fun for me anyway is fixin it..

Try Patrick Dykes (patstrks@aol.com) and ask for a catalogue; he specializes in just this kind of thing. Since you have the open driveline, it should be less expensive and a lot easier than for the earlier trucks. He generally recommends a Saginaw four-speed and a 3.55 ring and pinion, and has the kits to adapt them.

God's Peace to you.

d

Hey sick,
I am 17 and got a 235. I was lookin for the same thing, here is what I have done so far. The engine was freshly rebuilt about 4 grand ago so that helps. I have flowmasters on it, with a holly webber 2 barrel from stovebolt. Got a MSD II coil on it which made a diffrence. I have a borgswarner t-10 4 speed behind mine. I can't burn out from a dead standstill, but if i make a U turn i can lay tracks. This is with about 9 inches of BFG radial T/A on the ground.
Joseph

A 57 1/2 ton pickup should have 3.90 gears in it now. That was std gears for 3100 seres trucks. You will be happier going to a five speed OD trans than going to a 3 speed. A three speed or 4 speed or your current granny low 4 speed all are 1:1 in high gear. A 3.55 ratio rear will help but you are still going to be turning more revs than you want at Atlanta highway speeds. Leave in the 3.90 rear and go to a 5 speed overdrive then play with your tire size if you need to to get the right crusin speed. With the 3.90 gears you will have good 3rd and 4th gear acceleration for that merge lane.

Gael

well i have found a 3.38 to 1 ratio ring and pinon set for my stock rear,would that help much with the original 3 speed? ive also thought of dumpin the 3 speed for a bel-air 3 speed since my 57 is retired from truck duties...

Sicksix,
The don't really know what the trany I got came out of. I do know what their is plenty of them in good shape. I got my bearly used for 200. It is a borgswarner T-10. Correct me if i am wrong but I think this is the same as the Richmond trany. As for how hard to hook up. She boltes right on nothing has to be changed except for cuttin a hole in the flourboard for the shifter to come up. You have to me a little creative with the shifter lever because it will come out a little under the seat but it is no big deal.
Joseph

Sicksix,
I forgot, you will need to cut a driveshaft to fit, but thats not difficuilt to get done.

SickSix,
No problem bro anytime. The trany is Manual 4 speed. I got a hurst shifter on their and it works very nicely. The rearend is stock. As for the driveshaft I think the only one for the three speed is too short. A guy actully found one for me at the junkyard that fit right in. If you can't find a dirrect fit you can get one at a junkyard that is bigger and take it and have it cut down and balanced. What kinda engine mods. you got, if u are running a Rodchester, upgrading to a holly/webber would be a great start. I love mine bcause its progressive. I can drive good and get about 17 mpg, but If i ride her hard and keep in that second barrel i get about 9-10. Its a mix of both worlds good mpg but still having something left in the pedal when its time to punch it. Don't hessitate if you got questions i'm happy to share, and also curious to what setup u got going on.
Joseph
Joseph

THanks Tio,
Well right now she is bone dead stock..lol i still even got the garbage old spiral shocks on her..but engine wise still runnin a rocky single,later this month Langdons will be shippin me out a ton of goodies,the Holley 2bbl,a set of fentons,and the heat plate so i can run teh stock mani,didjah use his linkage kit or fab your own? any troubles with that? Oh and here is good funny,i finally put a timing light to her,and im am down right shocked at how much it opened her up LOL..FNGs right lol..Oh i do have on lil mod,im runnin a MSD blaster 2,and the plugs the 57 shop manual recomended for highway driving,its a touch hotter then the others,she burns super clean and im gettin 15mpg with the stock carb,thinkin of addin in i think its a MSD 6a box,i hear that makes a ton of differance too..

Sick,
As for the linkage I order Langdon's made things a lot esier. the only objection I had was their were no assebally intructions just a picture but it took about 25 mins to figure out so nothing that bad. I got a 55 2nd series that I am workin on which is pritty much the same as the 57 so if u got any questions i might have an answer. As for the MSD 6a box thats electric ignition right. I was asking Tom from Landon's about getting the HEI dis. from him. I heard that people are getting amazing gains from these things. When I asked Tom about it he said if your system is in good shape (which i have a new dis. vac everything) that it truly won't make much of a diffrence. Tell me how those fentons work for ya when u get them in
Joseph