I am doing a resto–mod on a 53 Chevy 3104 P/U with a ‘56 235 hi-pressure engine and 3 sp. transmission. The truck will be used primarily for vintage touring. The suspension will be restored per 53 standards with the exception of front disc brakes. The open drivetrain (trans., diff. & driveshaft) will be rebuilt and a new ring and pinion set installed in the diff. for street use. The performance options should be those that might have been used in that period for upgrades.
Current plans for the engine include:
HEADS:
Offenhauser dual carb manifold w/ 2 Rochester B 1bbl carbs
Fenton split exhaust headers
New exhaust valves and hardened seats
4 or 5 angle grind on valve seats
Matched ports, intake and exhaust
Cc’ed chambers, matching chamber to gasket and cleaning up any hot spots around the plug threads
Replacing valve train parts for new cam
BLOCK:
Re-use what I can and replace what I can’t
Clean up the cylinders and re-fit rings and pistons as req’d.
Inspect, clean up, shot peen and balance rods
Balance pistons
Mild upgrade on cam, ~260° duration
IGNITION:
Electronic module in stock distributor or stock appearing electronic distributor (no external box)
Stock appearing but higher performance coil
First, I would like your comments on the modifications planned for the truck. My experience is with high revving, small displacement race engines so this truck and touring are new concepts.
*Since increasing compression is cheap horsepower, how high can I reasonably go with regular gas and how is it best to get it? Pistons? Shaving heads or decking the block/or both? I’ll be taking a skin cut on both during the rebuild.
*Any recommendation on the cam? Grind and mfg/supplier?
*Jetting recommendations for the dual Rochester carbs and is dual and Rochester 1 bbl carbs the right answer? Where can I get calibration info on multiple carb set-up?
*Can you recommend a good “How to Rebuild and Modify Your Inline Chevy 6” book for the one (or two) questions??? I may have missed?
And thanks for any help you can supply.
