The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop How long is your dip stick?????????????

In your 350sb? Was wondering what the factory length is. Reason being....I checked the oil level on my newly acquired 46AD and was shocked to find out that I needed nearly 3 quarts of oil to hit the fill mark on my dip stick. I just don't think that could be right, as the guy I bought the truck from is a full time mechanic and always prided himself on keeping his stuff up to snuff. I was thinking perhaps I have the wrong stick in my block and that its to short. The stick I have in the motor now is 12" long what is yours?

if the PO was such a hotshot why would he have the wrong stick in it and not have told you about it? drain the engine completely and refill with exactly 5 quarts, see what the level reads

Bill

Sticks and tubes vary; drain your oil and refill with the correct amount; run it a couple minutes to fill the filter; let it sit a few minutes; check the level; mark the stick.

I agree with squeeze,change the oil and see where it lies on the dip stick.I think you need to figure out what year of 350 you have and go from there.
Before you get attacked,there is no such truck as a 1946 AD. 1947.2-1955.1 are the AD models"Advance Design",you have an Art Deco model.

Tim

I figured I could just drain and replace the oil. But lets say I put 5 quarts back in and still see nothing on the stick. I would have thought that there would be a standard size stick for a stock oil pan.

there are a number of different sticks that go together with the correct length of tube depending partly on the depth of the oil pan - if you have put 5 quarts in an empty engine and don't see it at all on the stick, then you need to shorten the tube, not lengthen the stick, so instead of "let's say", how about "let's do" but I'd think it unlikely you'll end up with that situation, as how could the PO have ever known what the level was? might want to talk to him about it if it doesn't show on the stick at all

Bill

...about 7 inches.

Braggin' or complainin'

Seriously and back on topic now.
Make sure you have a stock oil pan and not some high volume sump or something. After that the oil change advice is the way to go.

I have and could measure a '73 307 CI ... and the '84 350 CI in my truck

sooo as it turns out there was one small thing I overlooked when i checked my oil...
the knuckle head that owned the truck previously was a real piece of work.I don't even want to tell ya about how the guys been runnin this motor without a PCV valve.
But anyways, When I pulled the dipstick out of the engine I never noticed I pulled it straight from the block!!!!!There is no dipstick tube LOL!!! It looks like he probably could'nt figure out how to get the tube in there with the block hugger headers.
So I guess I get to go picking this week and find a tube, do some twisting on it, then do an oil change and see where i'm at.

This raises an interesting point for me too. I'm assembling my 1954 261 after machining and went to install the dipstick tube. I couldn't find it and figured I'd misplaced it, but when I looked at photos of the motor when I first bought it, pre tear down, the dipstick goes directly into the block— no tube. I compared the 261 dipstick length to my 235 dipstick and it's significantly shorter. So if it did sit in a tube it probably wouldn't register any oil at all.

Do you guys think this is a replacement dipstick or do others have this same set up? Looking at the 1954 truck manual there was nothing specific to the dipstick, so I'm not sure if it's correct.

If it is the right length is there really any harm in not having a tube?

Mark50,my 1954 261 has the tube and I replaced it when we rebuilt the engine.I don't remember the length of the tube,but I may still have the original one in the shop somewhere.

Tim

Ahh, thanks Tim, good to know. Guess I'll be looking for a new dipstick now. I would presume that 235 and 261 dipsticks are the same, although I think there were several lengths.