I'm thinking of pulling my dads old 55 chevy out and getting it back on the road. It's pretty rusty and it did run a few years back but now the engines seized. The engine in it is the original 235ci 6 cylinder with a 3 speed standard on the floor. I was wondering if a small block 350 or 305 or something would work with that tranny or not. Does anyone know anything about this? I have no clue what would work. I would like to keep it a standard so i'm hoping that I can keep this tranny and throw something else in place of the 6 cylinder.

You can get just about any Chevy engine into one of the old tri-5's. a mild or even a wild 350 would be a good choice and relatively easy to do. I would suggest you find another manual trans if you intend to do any real driving. those old 3 speeds were not the easiest to drive back then and finding parts to get one fixed might not be worth the bother. You can pick up a saginaw for not too much $$ and it will work fine if you don't abuse it. Good luck.

Yeah I wasnt to sure about that old 3 speed in there, but I just want to get it running and back on the road for now. I thought it would be cool to have it back on the road since it was my dads first car and it hasn't left the yard in 30 years.

The old 3 spd will work , but won't take much abuse. My dad used to break
them with little 283's. If you change the trans you will need a different
slip yoke I think. Them old transmissions had a course spline out put shaft.
A little more info. To put a v8 in you will need to locate some front motor mounts. They used the 4 holes at the lower front of the block down by the oil pan. There is no trans cross member there are rear mounts on the bell housing. Also you can not use a large 8" balancer it won't clear the motor mounts. Or you can covert to side mounts with a kit. http://www.totalcostinvolved.com/productdet.cfm?prodID=977
About half way down the page here http://www.chevychevy.com/pages/55_Chevy.htm are the front mounts and the side mounts.

The old 3 spd will work , but won't take much abuse. My dad used to break
them with little 283's. If you change the trans you will need a different
slip yoke I think. Them old transmissions had a course spline out put shaft.
A little more info. To put a v8 in you will need to locate some front motor mounts. They used the 4 holes at the lower front of the block down by the oil pan. There is no trans cross member there are rear mounts on the bell housing. Also you can not use a large 8" balancer it won't clear the motor mounts. Or you can covert to side mounts with a kit. http://www.totalcostinvolved.com/productdet.cfm?prodID=977
About half way down the page here http://www.chevychevy.com/pages/55_Chevy.htm are the front mounts and the side mounts.

I don't plan on driving it hard . I just want to get it back on the road so I'm hoping to try and get away with keeping that 3 speed for now. At least I got a better idea of whats involved in doing this. Thanks for the info.

if you are really on a budget, pick up a used 350 and a saginaw 3 or 4 speed. The combo I am sure can be had for under $750.

Absolutely get it on the road. That is one of my favorite cars, and I am hoping I am an owner of a 55 or 56 some day.

the radiator suport will need to be cut and fliped around(stright down at both sides of raditator,i thank) for a v8 an the frunt motor monts can be notched for a 350c.u."most likey the factory rear will already be low for a six cy and if it had over drive it should have a 411 pose

lets see some pics dude! I love those cars :)

Bret you will need a V8 bellhousing, they were different back then.
http://www.trifive.com/forums/

Bret you will need a V8 bellhousing, they were different back then.
http://www.trifive.com/forums/

I'm a member over there too. I like that site.

you can bolt a SBC in place of that 6. The front engine mounts on the 6 can be reused but put in different holes for the SB.
There are differences in the bellhousings and starter though. I'm not sure exactly what.
Your radiator will be fine there, if you're running a mech fan, you may wish to add a spacer to bring the blades closer to the rad., as the 6 was longer, and therefore had the rad mounted in front of the support as opposed to the V8s which had the rad mounted behind the support.

You could also find another 6 banger for nothing, or damn close!

PICS PLEASE!

11043

Here she is. I got no other photos at the moment. It actually looks descent until you get up close. Its out at our farm under a big shed right now. I'm hoping to do something with it this winter.

Looks like a nice car!

Haha yeah. Good from far, but far from good.

I'm a member over there too. I like that site.

Here's another good site
http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/index.php?

Here's one
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1955-1956-1957-Chevrolet-V-8-Manual-Stick-Bellhousing-/190428832407

Make sure you don't get one from a 60s? truck with rear mounts on the bell. They have one bolt on the mount to the bell. The Tri five car has 2 bolts, as can be seen in the Ebay link.

This is an easy swap, don't over think it though, as it was done thousands of times in the 60s by kids with very basic tools, a tree or pipe tripod, and no Kazillion $$ aftermarket industry. So much easier now, as someone makes, just about, anything for everything. LOL.

Haha yeah. Good from far, but far from good.

Don't sell yourself or the car short, as it looks a lot better than a lot of guys start with these days.

Those were the fun, easy days with simple, cars to race, work on. You could change a trans, or a clutch, hell even rear gear ratio, between rounds.