1950 216 truck engine, complete from fan to bellhousing- - - - "ran when removed", plus a torque tube SM420, about 20 miles from my place- - - - -$200.00 cash and carry! I'm supposed to pick it up on Saturday. The picture on Facebook Marketplace shows a torque tube pivot ball still in place, so that scarce and spendy 1/2 ton universal joint for the 420 should still be there! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Jerry, (John here) complete as in we could set it up on a stand with a radiator and run it complete? I say we set it up on a stand with a radiator and run it!
John
~ Peggy M 1949 Chevrolet 3804 "Charlie" - The Stovebolt Flagship In the Gallery "Success comes in 'cans' ..."
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Let's see if that works. Attachment Manager won't cooperate!
I just noticed that it's a short pushrod cover engine- - - - -maybe a 54/55 1st. 235? Or possibly the short cover 216 that's really scarce! Jerry
Last edited by klhansen; 07/03/20269:22 PM. Reason: Added Jerry's pic to the Attachment Manager
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Jerry, (John here) complete as in we could set it up on a stand with a radiator and run it complete? I say we set it up on a stand with a radiator and run it!John
Radiator? I've got a water-to-water cooling tower heat exchanger on the drawing board made from a ring top 55 gallon drum and copper tubing- - - -to be used with my water brake bellhousing dyno one of these days. Maybe all set up on a trailer so if I can ever find a friendlier show venue than Townsend, maybe I can do some horsepower/torque demonstration runs. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
That engine has an unusual breather tube that wraps around toward the rear. Maybe a car setup?
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
That engine has an unusual breather tube that wraps around toward the rear. Maybe a car setup?
I'm going to make a SWAG (Scientific Wild-Donkey Guess) that the block has the threaded bosses for center motor mounts- - - -passenger car and/or Powerglide transmission equipped vehicles from the early 1950s. That would explain the offset road draft tube. It's supposed to be delivered tomorrow, so I'll do a casting number and serial number search once it arrives. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Let me confirm Jerry’s SWAG. My ‘52 3100 came with a ‘59 235 from a passenger car and had the same funky road draft tube. It also has the holes for the center mounts.
I wonder if the road draft tube was replaced at one point for a later model.
Last edited by Phak1; 07/05/202612:42 PM. Reason: Typo
Phil Moderator, The Engine Shop, Interiors and Project Journals
1952 Chevrolet 3100, Three on the Tree, 4:11 torque tube Updated to: ‘59 235 w/hydraulic lifters, 12v w/alternator, HEI, PCV and Power front Disc Brakes Project Journals Stovebolt Gallery Forum
OK- - - - -the engine is a full pressure 235- - - - -center motor mount bosses and low water pump- - - - -with a 3701887 (1953) 235 cylinder head. It's a mixmaster! I haven't gotten around to checking the block casting number or the stamped serial number- - - - -too cotton-pickin' hot out there! The whole works is well worth the purchase price, however! It's got a 216 bellhousing and a torque tube SM420 trans bolted on- - - - -and the shifter came with the deal. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
I found a '58 235 that had 216 bellhousing with stomp starter linkage, AND a 6Volt flywheel for the rare 11" clutch. I'm pretty sure the clutch disk and pressure plate are in usable shape. I think you made a good score.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Phil Moderator, The Engine Shop, Interiors and Project Journals
1952 Chevrolet 3100, Three on the Tree, 4:11 torque tube Updated to: ‘59 235 w/hydraulic lifters, 12v w/alternator, HEI, PCV and Power front Disc Brakes Project Journals Stovebolt Gallery Forum
That's awesome and yes its too darn hot out there. Let us know the results of the block numbers reveal. Inquiring minds wish to know. Stay safe Jerry!
Ron - - Dusty53 1954 Chevy 3604 In the Gallery Forum "You can't dance with the Devil and then wonder why you're still in Hell." "They will forget what you've said, and they will forget what you have done but they will never forget the way you made them feel."
OK- - - - -the stamped number beside the distributor is LAQ37I68 - - - - -which indicates it's from a 1953 passenger car with a Powerglide transmission. Probably a hydraulic cam engine, but I'll need to do some disassembly to confirm that assumption. With a truck bell housing, foot starter, and torque tube SM 420 transmission, it's obviously been transplanted into an early 1950s 3100 pickup sometime in the past.
Chevrolet Engine Serial Number Prefix “LAQ” — Meaning and Context The “LAQ” prefix on a Chevrolet engine serial number identifies a 1953 235 cubic inch inline‑6 engine that was equipped with a Powerglide automatic transmission Classic Parts Talk.
Key details Year: 1953
Displacement: 235 cu in (inline‑6)
Transmission: Powerglide (automatic)
Plant: Tonawanda, New York
The block casting number is 3701481
The engine is a high water pump type (oops on my above "low pump" description) with a big harmonic balancer ring and a 3/8" wide fan belt and pulleys on the water pump and generator. Overall, I seem to have stumbled upon a relatively scarce engine. A tag from an engine rebuilder in Memphis Tennessee says the cylinders are .030" oversize and the crankshaft has been reground .010" on rods and mains. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Ron - - Dusty53 1954 Chevy 3604 In the Gallery Forum "You can't dance with the Devil and then wonder why you're still in Hell." "They will forget what you've said, and they will forget what you have done but they will never forget the way you made them feel."
Latest shop project- - - - -I'm in the process of building an indexing fixture to assist in setting up stovebolt crankshafts for stroke changing. The standard stroke for a 235 engine is 3 15/16". By offset grinding the connecting rod journals and using a different connecting rod, rod bearing, and piston, it's possible to get strokes of 4", 4 1/8", and even 4 1/4", I believe. Ditto for GMC crankshafts. The crankshaft is set up off center in a lathe with the rod journal as the center point, and the new stroke is roughed out by machining the rod journals, then it's finish-ground to size in a crankshaft grinding machine. Old school technology- - - -my father was doing the same thing on flathead Ford engines in the late 1940s, but stroke changing has become sort of a lost art! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
I’m curious, how do you hold the free end of the crank in the tailstock?
Last edited by Phak1; 07/08/202612:40 PM.
Phil Moderator, The Engine Shop, Interiors and Project Journals
1952 Chevrolet 3100, Three on the Tree, 4:11 torque tube Updated to: ‘59 235 w/hydraulic lifters, 12v w/alternator, HEI, PCV and Power front Disc Brakes Project Journals Stovebolt Gallery Forum
I make a fixture with the centering cone offset half of the desired stroke, and bolt it to the crankshaft, also a similar device that bolts onto the flywheel flange. The tricky part is getting the fixtures aligned with the crankshaft throws, so each pair of cylinders keeps its 120 degree separation from the other journals. That's where my setup fixture comes into play. It's a pair of big V blocks, mounted on a heavy steel support, and a couple of magnetic dial indicators. The crank is rotated on the main bearings until a pair of journals is pointing straight up, and the offset fixtures are attached, using a very sensitive spirit level to assure they're both perfectly vertical. Then I machine two journals, and reposition the offset fixtures for the next pair.
I leave the roughed-out journals with the altered stroke several thousandths oversize, so any indexing error can be corrected during finish grinding, using the indexing feature of the crankshaft grinding machine. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
That '53 powerglide 235 engine is what I have in my '50 3100. They came with Hydraulic lifters, insert rod bearings, and aluminum pistons. It was the first Chevrolet full pressure engine. One note is that the crankshaft was not machined for a stock pilot bearing for a manual transmission. Dorman does sell one just for this application though.
1952 5-window - return to "as built" condition | 1950 3100 with a 235 and a T-5 transmission
