Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Dual exhaust on a 235

I picked up a nice clean original 1957 Chev 210 four door with a 235 and 3 speed on the column. And only 55,000 miles on the car. I have an early set of the repo Fenton headers (bought from Patrick in the late 80's)and a 2 carb intake to put on the car. Couple of questions.....does anybody make a bolt on dual exhaust kit to fit this car or will I be trailering it to a muffler shop? Any suggestions on which mufflers to use? X-pipe or just straight duals out the back? Secondly, also have a Mallory dual point distributor for this motor or much advantage getting an H.E.I. from Langdon's ?

Thanks..

I don't think there is a bolt on kit but there may be. I'm an old tech guy and I would run the Mallory on a street car. If I wanted electronic spark I'd get a Pertronix conversion. Another change I would make would be the 3 speed OD that was used in '57.

I know where you are coming from with the old school. Never thought of a Pertronix conversion, could work well and maintain the looks of the Mallory. Wonder what it is like to get a cap and rotor for these now? I was just thinking of the popularity of these cars for the exhaust system. Good idea on the OD as well. Have you had any experience with these trans? Imagine shorter driveshaft or just a shorter tail housing and a couple of wires to it. But could be a rare item to find in these parts.

If your Mallory is the 2 piece cap they can be pricy but they do show up on eBay and if you are patient you can get one for a good price. There doesn't seem to be a big demand for the 6 cylinder ones. the rotors are the same. I just converted a Pontiac V8 Mallory to fit my 153 4 Cylinder.

I've been playing with the Borg Warner ODs since we put my son's '54 Studebaker together in 2000. I'd run them before but had never put one back together. With a supercharged 300" Stude V8 he was pretty good at taking them apart. The best one for you would be the '67 and later Saginaw OD but they are rare and expensive now. The ones that were used in '57 would be fine. They are plentiful. They are not sincro into low but with the OD that is not an issue. All of the in tranny ODs were Borg Warner and they all work the same. Most were R 10s but some heavier duty R 11s were also common. I'm not sure about length. There would be some wiring to do and a cable to make it work like stock. I'll attach some links that will get you started. These are fun to drive. I'm going to use a Stude BW T86 with a Jeep T90 top shift in my '26 Chevy roadster with the 153.
WIRING OD
TIPS
Ford Link

Thanks for the links. Some pretty good reading there. Just talked to a buddy of mine that has one in his Model A coach behind a NailHead Buick (been there about 30 years) and he has 1 or 2 spares around. Might be in luck yet.

That's great. Good to have someone around with that much experience. Keep us posted.

The SM318 standard 3 speed and the SM319 3 speed with OD are the same length and use the same driveshaft.

The SM318 standard 3 speed and the SM319 3 speed with OD are the same length and use the same driveshaft.

The SM318 standard 3 speed and the SM319 3 speed with OD are the same length and use the same driveshaft.

The SM318 standard 3 speed and the SM319 3 speed with OD are the same length and use the same driveshaft.

That is good to know. I am guessing a much shorter tailshaft to make up for the length of the O.D. unit

My T-10 4-speed was the same length and I believe the PowerGlide was also.
Will Willis

the old non-syncro three speeds for the '55 thru '57 pass cars, the corvettes '55 thru maybe '63, the Chevy lls '62 thru '65, and half tonners second series '55 thru '67 all used the "long" tail housing, which was the same length as the PowerGlides, and t-10 and muncies. The pass cars '58 thru '65 used the same front cases, but had shorter rear housings that required longer driveshafts. The early long case chevy lls had transmissions with mounting pads-the Half tonners, '55/'57 pass cars, and 'vettes did not--but those tail housings would swap--all would swap if you used the mating tail housings and proper tail shafts the three speed 'vettes had 2.20 low/ 1.32 second gears Same as the 2.20 low four speeds. if you could stand them. and could be put into any of those boxes--needed low, second, and cluster gears to do it. The "good" price at the dealer parts counter used to be $75 (in '64).