Hello everyone, welcome to The Engine Shop area of Stovebolt.com

We are here to have fun with pre-1987 Chevrolet/GMC trucks and help people keep them running by sharing knowledge about troubleshooting problems and fixing engines when they act up.

Your current Moderator(s) are: Phak1 & Woogeroo

The Engine Shop is the area for: The place to discuss engine items; troubleshooting, rebuilding, repairing, updating, swapping engines.

It is also the area for discussing stock engines as well as the mostly stock setups and assorted bits and pieces. The modification, "go faster stuff or need more power" for engines is generally in The Hi-Po Shop, though of course there is always some overlap back and forth between the two sub-forums.

Stovebolt.com as a whole is a resource and forum for pre-1987 Chevrolet/GMC Trucks(and up to 1991 trucks for the 4x4s - same body style) and their associated bits, parts and issues in keeping them running, maintained, rebuilt and/or restored.

NOTE of Interest: The Engine Shop forum was originally called The Engine & Driveline Shop, so buried back in the old posts and threads in this forum are posts about transmissions and rear ends, etc.. There are lots of golden nuggets of information in those old threads about the Driveline components. The Driveline was spun off into it's own forum in early 2005, so there are informative threads before that time relating to drive line issues within the Engine Shop. I mention this here so you will know to also search here in the Engine shop, before the time of the spin off for some good information about Driveline things as well.

Be sure to peruse the Tech Tips area of Stovebolt.com, scroll down to the Engine section for how to articles about many things relating to engines. There are lots of great Tech Tips about other areas of vehicles, as well.

The best way to get a response to your question/topic, is to write a good and clear question/topic! Stovebolt.com covers many decades of old Chevy/GMC trucks, so if you are asking a question about an engine, the type of engine might get someone's attention. The year will help out as well, if you know it. The topic is the sentence in the forum that everyone will see when you go to make a new post.

"When starting a new thread/topic, be sure to state the make, year, series/model of truck, and any modifications (if they affect the question/topic)."


a few examples:

GMC 228 / shows it's a GMC and the cubic inch of the engine, so the people who have worked on GMCs and 228s will weigh in

1957 235 / shows the year and the cubic inch of the engine, also, changes were made in the 1950s to the engines, that may be relevant to your question/issue

1965 283 fuel pump / shows the year and the cubic inch, which in this case also means it's a v8, they have a question about the fuel pump

1959 distributor / year of truck and engine if it's the same, plus you have a question about the distributor specifically


Some of the members of Stovebolt.com are retired mechanics and thus have a lot of experience with many years of trucks and engine types. The rest of us have limited experience based on the few old trucks we have actually wrenched on and researched. Writing a good topic will get the attention of the people who have the more specific knowledge about your question.

No more car related posts in the Engine Shop or anywhere else on Stovebolt.com but The Greasy Spoon, even if it has a similar drive train as the years of trucks covered on this forum. This policy is in full effect by the Owners/Editors of Stovebolt.com as of May 2023.

If you have questions about old Chevrolet cars and things related to them, see down below for links to other forums that deal with those.


How to report a post:

Common Reasons a post may need to be reported:

  • unwanted commercial postings(SPAM)
  • A new person posted in the wrong area and a post needs to be moved
  • a thread veering way off topic or devolving into 'chit chat'
  • people behaving badly


In the top right of each post box is the date and time a post was made, to the right of there is a tiny flag icon. That tiny flag icon is the report post button. Click on the tiny flag icon and a window will open, where you can explain the reason you are reporting the post. Once you have explained in the text box the reason for reporting the post, hit the Send Report button at the bottom. If everything worked correctly, you should get a message that the post was reported and the forum should redirect your browser back to the area you were in. The forum software will send a notification to the appropriate folks and the post will be looked at.


Parts "for sale" or "parts wanted" posts

If you are looking for engine parts or have engine parts to sell, please visit the Swap Meet here on Stovebolt.com. That is the classifieds area of Stovebolt.com where all sorts of parts are listed for sale for all areas of any pre-1987 Chevy/GMC truck. Do not make "parts for sale" or "parts wanted" posts here in the Engine Shop, they will be moved or deleted outright.


If you are curious about the back story and history of the Stovebolt page, go read about it, here.

If you would like to contribute financially to the Stovebolt page, please visit here to find out how to donate.

If you are new to the Stovebolt page, please visit the Welcome Centre and introduce yourself and your project.

To learn how to do a better search within the forum, please read:
how to search the stovebolt page forums - .pdf file by down2sea.

Adobe Reader - free program for reading .PDF files. [get.adobe.com]


If you need help with computer things or want to know how to do something here in the forums visit the IT Short Bus


If you need more help with car specific Chevy stuff or even newer Chevy truck stuff, we recommend:


ChevyTalk [chevytalk.org] - the place to discuss anything and everything Chevy, old or new, cars or trucks, or just the Chevy engines, if it's a Chevy, this is the place!


The Vintage Chevrolet Club of America [vccachat.org], is an actual car club for the preservation of old Chevy cars and Trucks, tho' mostly they seem to focus on cars. They do have a friendly section on their forum for trucks, but it is small and nowhere as comprehensive as the 'bolt here. Good place to find out information about specific parts and pieces.


Inliners International [inlinersinternational.org] - devoted to all Inline Engines, all makes, all years. Friendly & knowledgeable folks there on the forum.


Antique Automobile Club of America [aaca.org] is an actual car club for all makes and models of antique vehicles. Their Forum is free to use.


We hope you enjoy your time here in the Engine Shop learning and sharing information to keep all of our old rigs running.

-Woogeroo, your friendly Engine Shop Moderator.

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Originally written by Woogeroo, April 2020 (Happy Quarantine)

Last Updated/Edited, 06/04/2023