Hi Joe,
You will not believe the differance between your 261 and previous 216 or 235. With your choise of tranny and rr you will probably be ok so long an you dont put your foot into too much.
But the 261 is hard not too.
In my 40 chev I had concidered using a 41 trans, 3 on the tree with the car bell housing, I was ready to install everything and changed my mind. I went with a 59 Elcamino 3spd, reworked the 3 on the tree to keep the look, truck bell housing stock 11" truck clutch with 57 chev rr with 3:36. Worked real well but I found that I wanted more gears and more perky-ness to go along with what the 261 could do. Two years later I put a saginaw 2 groove 4spd in and now I am very pleased.. A saginaw 3 spd is a very good choise (better ratios)if you can find one, to keep your original look.
Just some food for thought.
