The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Picking up my new bolt

I drove the 250 km out to my Uncle and Aunt's farm today to start getting my Grandparent's 1951 1300 ready for the trailer.

The 51 has been stored in a barn for the past 20+ years and slowly got buried under a pile of renovation debris and other farm junk. My goal today was to dig it out, and possibly put a temporary set of wheels and tires (last used on an early 60's Apache, I think) it.

Well with the help of my Uncle and Dad I was able to not only dig out the 51, but also air up the tires (good thing, because the loaners I brought looked too big to work properly) , pull it out of the barn and wash off the worst of the barn dust and mouse and bird turds.

On Friday I'll be heading back out to the farm with a couple of friends and a car trailer to load the 51 up and bring her home!

Here are some pictures from today's activities.

Holy cow, that interior looks fantastic.

Neat truck, looks like you will be driving it down the road in no time - very cool.

Your truck looks like it wont take much to get her running for the summer.

Love the Patina....

Good score, bet your uncle and father are glad to see it getting fixed up.
Good luck.

Congrats! Great find, and so cool keeping it in the family.
Having awakened a couple of old trucks that have been asleep for a long nap I know the feeling of satisfaction that comes from getting the motor running for the first time. And you may find that the motor may be the easiest to get going. Brakes may require the most work, after all - safety first. Then clutch. Hopefully it won't be full of a mouse bed!

When you get to it please post on here the engine numbers: stamped serial and casting numbers on the block, as well as casting date. Casting numbers on head too. Being from the lower 48 that motor, Canadian 216 I presume, is different from any US 216 in that it has a short side cover. Thanks. We all want to learn more.

Good luck and Have Fun... Safely.

Wow, what a cool old truck. To have it passed down through the family is awesome. It just doesn't get any better. I wish I could be there to here it fire up!

Going to be fun. You will find it easy to keep smiling.

Thanks for all the kind words everyone. I'll have an update on Friday once we bring her home.

Congratulations. If you don't know this guy yet he will be able to help you with all mechanical parts:

Gary Cowie
Gary Automotive
10060-80 ave.
Edmonton
780-433-1425

Congrats on the truck! That interior looks fantastic!!

Leave the trailer at home.

She hasn't been started in about 20 years, not quite sure if she's up to a 250 km run just yet!

Great project. How common is two horns on the firewall? I see there is a moonshine hold on the drivers side of the box! Where about was its home? Our last one came from Nipawin Sask.

She looks in amazing shape. The box, box rails, and tailgate are hardly even beat up - musta been hauling marshmallows all these years *g*

It's out on my Mom's family farm, just north or Edgerton Alberta. My Grandfather bought the truck second-hand in the early 60's and it worked as the primary farm pick-up for about 10 years or so. My Mom and Uncle both learned to drive in this truck, my Uncle when he was around 5 years old helping my Grandfather with the fencing.

I'm headed out bright and early tomorrow to pick it up. I'm pretty excited.

i would do terrible, unspeakable things for an original interior in such good condition

Great looking truck and exciting project.

Is a 1300 a Canadian version of a 3100?

Yes, Allan.

We ran out to the farm this morning and got the 51 loaded up and took a look at a GMC parts truck which I snagged a carb from. We also looked at 1949 Dodge Panel Delivery Truck from a Wainwright Alberta department store (their telephone number was 1!) that my Uncle has been holding on to for 30ish years.


More pictures.

I got to take a closer look at the 51 too and learned a few more things.

So the bad news:

The cab floor is pretty rotted out from the firewall/toe-board seam down.

The 216 seems to be stuck, but we haven't drained any fluids or given the engine anything more than a quick glance so far.

The font-end is loooooooooose.

The good news:

It's all there.

Aside from the floor and the cab corners there is no serious rust.

The tires are holding air after sitting flat for 20+ years.

It's not 250 km away anymore!

Any progress reports?

Well, good news and bad news.

Good news:

I've had a blast working on the truck so far.
I've cleaned all the mouse nests out of the cab and ripped out the rotten headliner. That was a gross job, lots and lots of mouse droppings up there.
I removed the roof lights and sealed the holes for the time being with clear silicone. Water was coming in through the hole on the driver's side.
Popped the valve cover off and everything looked ok.

Bad news:

The engine looks like it's totally seized. I've been soaking it ATF and Acetone for two weeks now and I can't even get a wiggle out of it. When I pulled the plugs for the first time the front three were pretty clean but the back three were pretty gunky.

We've tried jacking it up and turning the rear wheels. I pulled the fan off last night and tried rocking the crank with a wrench and today we pulled it up and down the lane behind my buddy's 1949 Minneapolis Moline UTS while I popped the clutch. Nothing worked.

So now I'm thinking I'll need to start looking for a new engine.

If this is the case my suggestion is to look at 1955-1962 rusty Pontiac's for your donor. A 261 will nearly drop in and provide close to twice the horsepower of the original engine.

Will a 235 or 261 match up with my bell and transmission? I've got a line on a fully rebuilt and ready to go 235 although the asking price is a bit steep.

There is a Tech Tip on this swap and many posts. This is a very common switch and there are details that once known will make it work very nicely. The newest invention to help with this change is the water pump adapter.

What's a small thing like...an engine. A minor detail!
It seems that's why you see so many with small blocks. It's not so much that they are better motors but rather that they are so plentiful and cheap compared to the inline 6's that you could install. Either way, get ready to spend some money. Nice truck. Totally worth it.

Keep 'em 6. It does cost more but it's worth it. Four out of 5 vehicles you see at car shows have small block Chevy power. Be different.

Ditto to what Cletis said.

There are some really cool things you can do to a 235 or a 261 that will make the truck run great.

For a good example, check out Chris Sweet's '51

or talk to Cosmo about his Corvette intake (with dual carbs) on a 235 with a T-5 tranny set up in his '49.

Cool trucks both and excellent examples of what can be done with an ole Stovebolt Six.

See our Links page for vendors who sell performance parts for the sixes. OR ... if you want to keep it original (bless you if you do) there are lots of resources available to you to enable you to do that.

Whatever route you choose will be great. It's cool you are keeping the truck in the family and getting it back on the road.

You're among friends here and there is no bad answer!

John

Thanks again for the info Curt. I spoke with Gary yesterday and he gave me some good advice on how to get the ball rolling. I will be pulling the 216 and giving it a good once over with the hope of rebuilding it before I start looking for a new engine.

John, I want to keep it as original as possible with a few upgrades for driveability (front disks, perhaps a newer rear-end) and perhaps an upgrade to a full pressure 235 or 261.

I bought a rebuilt 1950 216 today for under $1 a cubic inch!

The seller is a very cool car guy who I met through a friend's uncle. He bought a 1949 1-ton Chevy a few years ago that came with this spare 216 that had been rebuilt by the previous owner but never used.

Apparently the p/o thought the original 216 was on its last legs, but its still running 10+ years later. The rebuilt spare has been sitting in a heated garage on an engine stand just taking up space.

It even came with a spec sheet of the rebuild. It looks like about $800 was put into it at the time. One quirk, it's a 216 with a 235 head.

Here are some pics of the new 216.

I'm going to pull the valve cover and pan off to make sure things are looking ok, paint it and swap over some better parts from my seized 1951 and then drop it in!