The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Engine ID

Hello...

I have recently started improving ("restoring" is still a little too heavy for me) my 1952 Chevy 3/4 ton Pickup and need help identifying the engine... I've looked at all the id lists I can find with no luck... here are the identifying marks:

On the Head: 3836848 GM28 (cast in the head on the driver’s side above the manifold)

On the Block: CON3 L313 (cast in the block above the starter)
OI87450F54X (stamped in a machined spot in the block behind the distributor)

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Welcome sbtc!

The head is the "848" 235 head that came out in '56 or '57 or thereabouts and became the standard replacement head for all '54+ 235's. It produces a bit higher compression than the earlier 235 heads.

The block casting date code (L313) shows that the block was cast on December 31, 1953. The last part of the serial number (F54X) decodes as:

F=Flint engine plant
54=model year
X=regular production "Thriftmaster" 235 from a 3100 series truck.

Curt,

Thanks for the info...

Now another question. After about a 5 year sleep, mostly outside and unattended, I drained all the fluids in the engine and refilled with fresh. I noticed radiator fluid leaking slowly out of the block, beneath the manifolds, around the throttle linkage...

I assumed a cracked block, but when I pulled the head and manifolds off and scrapped away 50 years worth of gunk, I see no crack...

Any idea what the problem and remedy would be?

Planning on rebuilding the engine and would hate to go through all the trouble and expense and end up with the same problem.

Thanks

Even though you may not see it, there could be a hairline crack in the block. If you are planning on rebuilding, then the first order of business for your machine shop would be to clean the block and then magnaflux it to check for cracks.

Barring a crack, there are three other possibilities that I can think of. One would be seeping from the head gasket. The other would be a leaky freeze plug. There happens to be a freeze plug right above the throttle linkage bell crank. Freeze plugs would normally be replaced during a rebuild. The third is something that was recently discovered by another bolter ( see here ) -- the hole that the throttle bell crank pivot is in apparently goes through to the water jacket. There could be leakage around the pivot.