The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Need Help on Engine Identification

Good evening all , I have a Chevrolet engine that came out of a 1954 -1/2 Ton Chevy Panel Truck. The number on the cylinder head is stamped #3835913 GM19 which i decoded it as 1954. The serial number on the block (the ledge by distributor ) is no.# F54Z which decodes as a 1954, it also has O6II762 on that ledge to the left of it real close. I dont know what the letter Oand then 66 eye eye 762 mean ??? In the 1954 3rd generation engine decoding chart it says that chevy 235 Truck engines in the yer 54 was gray and the car 235 engines where blue (blue flame Im guessing) ,so my engine block is blue, so do I have a truck engine or car engine in a 235 ??? According to my cylinder head number stamping I have a truck engine,but why isnt my engine block blue then ???? Hope someone can clear this up. Also is this 235 engine (1954) a high pressure engine and not the babbit engine ?? Thanks for any help on this.

I would go with that the numbers say and not the color. I have a blue motor in my 55 truck. I figure the PO just painted it that color.
I think that the 0611762 number is the sequence number, so subtracted 1000 from that number 610762 tells you what number that truck was at that production plant.
Please correct me if I am wrong.

According to the Technical Service Bulletin at the beginning of the 1954 Chevy Truck Data PDF, the engine serial number "F54Z" was for a 1954 Regular 235 installed in a 2 or 4 door passenger car.

The casting number on your head "#3835913" was used on 1954 235's and was not truck or car specific. That engine serial number and head casting number matches the 1954 235 taken from a Chevy sedan by my grandfather that currently resides in my 1951 3100.

Being from a car means it was definitely painted blue. Yes, to your question about a high pressure engine with insert bearings. To fully confirm, locate the engine block casting code number and casting date codes on the passenger side of the block and post them here so we can confirm.

Here is 10 pics. of the engine that came out of the 1954 Chevy 3100 1/2 Ton Panel Truck believed to be the ORIGINAL Engine. Thats what we are here to decifer. From all the info. ive been able to read and get so far says it is a 1954 Chevy 235 Engine with full pressure - high pressure (whatever the correct term is ?) instead of the babbit bearings (poured) and dipper type of oiling, and I read in a section here where a fella sent me a link to the 1954 235 engine and in that section they list one number used on 235 for the cars and another number #3835913 GM19 for trucks. I will post the article showing that afterwhile. Meanwhile , here are some numbers that you asked on the passenger side (starter side) of the engine. I removed the starter and found it behind it on the block.

There are two more numbers you need to look for- - - -the block casting number will be near the oil pan rail on the passenger's side, close to the fuel pump. There will also be a stamped (not cast) number on a machined pad just behind the distributor. Both of those numbers should be able to let one of our resident number crunchers do a deep dive into the origin of the engine and it's original vahicle application.
Jerry

Thanks alot Jerry I will work on getting that now.

Here is the pic I took on passenger side towards front of engine close by fuel pump # 3835911 , and also a pic. of the ledge that has the STAMPING letter/numbers combo .on it. O6II762 space then F54Z . so,the F54 followed by a Z says on the decoding chart that it is a 1954 235 TRUCK Engine ! Also the decoding chat says block numbers used on 235 ci Trucks are numbers # 3701481,3702436,3835911 ( and thats what my block number is ) . Also it looks like according to the decoding chart ,in 1954 235 ci. car engine used a block number # 3835911 for the Corvette and maybe a # 3701488, both using a head number of # 3836241 for the Corvette. I have the right block number (3835911) and the right head number (3835913) to be a 1954 235 Truck motor but for some reason my Engine is Blue . In the chart Trucks 235's where gray and pass. Cars 235's where Blue,the BLUE FLAME Engine. I just wonder at some point someone had painted my engine Blue ????? Go Figure ???

You never know what happens to a vehicle in 70 years. Engine color is only circumstantial evidence. Someone may have just liked the color. I painted the engine in my '66 Mustang Ford Blue instead of correct Ford Medium Blue because I liked it better.

A friend who ran a transmission shop near me painted all his rebuilds a really ugly shade of turquoise. Everybody in the area knew it when they saw a Keith Shoup transmission. For a while, I painted all my round track race engines MOPAR "Plum Crazy"- - - -a really distinctive shade of bright purple. Of course, I called it "Statuatory Grape"!
LOL!
Jerry

Yes I realize someone could have painted the engine blue, but my question is this : with the head numbers and the block numbers and all the other numbers I mentioned above can I say this engine is without a doubt a 1954 235 Truck Engine ?? I think I can probably saw YES to that question ,because all my numbers match their (in the charts on this site) numbers and they list my numbers as a truck from what im reading on those identification codes,and the fact that it did come out of a 1954 chevy panel truck that the fellow i got it from believed so. Now I know anyone can change anything at anytime but I think its safe to say mine is the 1954 Chevy 235 Truck Engine out of the 54 Chevy Panel Truck it came out of. Id like to know what those other letter/number combination behind the starter that I had posted up means ?? maybe someone here can decode that for me. Thanks for any help,and let me know what you guys think. have a good evening everyone.

Call it "George" if you want- - - - -it's your engine. Nobody will know (or care) whether you're right or wrong!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArNz8U7tgU4

Jerry

The numbers behind the starter are the casting numbers there are a few sites that show imformation for the numbers here is a picture that showed Deves site and shows the numbers you have match up to a 1955 235.there may be other sites that show more imfo such as solid lifters truck or car applications.

Found some more imfo. Shows your engine may be from a car hydraulic lifters

Here is additional information that can be used to confirm the "F54Z" portion of the engine serial number to identify it as being from a passenger car:

Chevrolet Technical Service Bulletin # 291 - Passenger Car and Truck Serial Numbers - Engine Serial # specifics are on page 3 of 5

Inliners.org Engine block casting #s list (3835911 = 1953-55 235 - no specifics as to car or truck)

Your engine casting date code "E 5 4" decodes as E = May (5th month), 5 = 5th day of May, 4 = 1954

Your block casting number "3835911" is found in multiple Chevy Master Parts Books. Below are a few screenshots from some of those books showing this casting code was used in both passenger car and truck applications. The key to confirming what your engine was originally installed in comes from the "F54Z" code stamped into the serial number pad. Per the previously linked GM Heritage Center 1954 resource document, for the engine to have been originally installed in a truck, it would have been stamped with "F54X" for a 3100, "F54XA" for a 3600, or "F54XB" for a 3800 pickup. There is also a screenshot from fellow Bolter Pre '68 Dave's Blog that provides a ton of detailed engine information which has proved helpful to me and a whole bunch of other fellow Bolters.

I hope this helps to further ID your engine. As has been said by many before, the chance of an engine change over the past 70 years is high but doesn't detract from your truck IMHO.

More to come on the head casting number 3835913.

You have a 1954 car engine...

0611762 = unit number starting with 0001001...this makes your engine the 610,762nd engine out of the Flint Engine Plant
F = Flint Engine Plant
54 = Model year
Z = Series 1500, 2100, 2400 Passenger Car, "REGULAR" 235 (235 with standard clutch for manual trans).

The other casting numbers like CON3 (conveyor used in the casting process) and 913, 241, 570 identify the sand casting parts needed to build/mold your head. As soon as the head gets cast and it's sent on for machine work those numbers become irrelevant.

Mike B

Garageguy, As mentioned, here is some added info from both Stovebolt forum posts as well as some other sites/resources to help ID the casting# 3835913 head you have. What I've been able to extract from all this indicates these heads were 1954-55 and used on both car and truck engines. If you would like to confirm when the head was cast, there is a casting date code located nearby the exposed casting number, but underneath the valve cover. Post that and we can decode that if you would like. Enjoy the reading!

Phantom 235 Head, 3835913?

235 Engine Identification

Which Head Is Best

Casting Number Search Results = 3835913

Is my engine original to my 54

Chevy Engine ID 235

What Cylinder head is Factory Original

How much diff. will the 848 head make?

There are a number of details in the pics that you have provided that screams car engine to me.
1) Does that engine have a carburetor with an automatic choke? If so, that carb came from a car.
2) The down draft tube has an extra wide bend in it so that it would clear the threaded side mounts found in cars.
3) The vacuum advance is clocked 30-45 degrees toward the fender. This was done on cars to also clear the side engine mounts.
4) One of your pics looks like someone put the bolts back into the holes where the car side mounts used to be.
5) That blue paint has been on there for a very long time. That looks to me to be the original color used on '54 car engines.

If one were to ignore all of the factory documentation provided to indicate that it is indeed a car engine, the only way to continue to be convinced that it is actually a truck engine would be for one to assume that at some point, someone pulled the engine, removed all of the above mentioned truck parts and replaced them with car parts and painted the engine blue a long time ago.

Ok, here is the 2 numbers/Letters combination thats underneathe the valve cover of my 54 Chevy 235 Engine that you guys needed. Hopefully you can figure this out ?? Also i included a pic. of the Air Filter assembly that was on the engine when I got it. Now I now theres a chance someone could have just slapped that one on there too,but would this assembly have been used on a car,a truck or both ? Thanks everyone for all the info. youve all given me here.

That snowman in the Bugs Bunny cartoon seems to be a direct reference to
Malkovich’s Lenny in “ Of Mice and Men”.
No?

Gdads51, good evening, I posted above those 2 codes that was underneath the Vavle cover that you wanted me to get for you. Hopefully they will help decifer. Thank You.

Garageguy, Your post indicating there were 2 pics of the head casting info doesn't show any pictures. Can you try and post them again please?

Hopefully you can see these two pics. that has the codes you wanted to see underneath the Valve cover of the 54 235 Chevy Engine. Thanks Gdads1 . It read D194, and CON12.

Also here is a pic. of the Air Filter Assembly. Did they use this type on both Cars and Trucks ?? Thanks for any help.

Air filter looks different like this one from e bay Ford ?

Garageguy, Pictures did come through this time! "CON12" stands for the conveyor number that casting came off of at the plant. The casting date code decodes as; D = April (4th month) 19 = 19th day of April 4 = 1954. That's within 1 month of the engine block casting date. A good probability that they were assembled together at the Flint plant.

The air filter looks just like one given to me by fellow Bolter George "Wrenchbender Ret." It has a stamped part number on the underside that reads "91A9600-A2". Turns out to be for a 1939-40 Ferd, so not original to your engine.

There were 3 different "air cleaners" offered for your 1954 truck. Standard (Regular Production) is a dry filter assembly while there were 2 different sized optional oil bath air cleaners (see below screenshot). Pictures of these have been posted by other Bolters in the past. I am unable to snag and post them myself right now, but am sure others will offer theirs so you can know what to look for. Hope this answers your questions.

I had a brain burp and remembered there are a couple of pictures in the 1954 Chevy Truck Operators Manual. Check out pages 25 and 27 to see pictures of the standard production filter (pg 25) and an optional oil bath cleaner (pg 27). I think the oil bath cleaner pictured is the large 2pt capacity unit, but it doesn't specify that for sure.

Others will come along and add more info/details soon.

This is a pic of the Standard “pancake” air cleaner found on 54-55.1 3100 trucks. It may have come with other 54-55 models.

Second pic is from 54 Truck Operators Manual.

Does the engine being discussed here have hydraulic lifters? Seems like you all have it ID’d as a passenger car engine and the type of lifters would help nail it down.