The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 1953 and a 235

I recently purchased a 1953 3100 equipped with a 235. The original owner said the engine was stock but the casting numbers show that the engine was built between 54-57. Is it possible that the dealership put this engine in? Also I need help matching up the water pump and the generator pulleys. They are both 3/8 inch pulleys but they are offset by about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch. This is causing excessive vibration and noise from the wobbling of the water pump. Will a long shaft generator compensate for this?
Any help would be appreciated.

Welcome to the Stovebolt
I would imagine that the bracket the generator is mounted to may be incorrect or someonehas installed a different generator at some point.
Do you have any pics you can post links to?

If you had a 53-4 motor the pulley on the waterpump is pressed on and cant be changed easily. If you have a 53-4 motor the waterpump will be higher on the block with a plate behind it and on the 55-62 blocks the waterpump is lower in the block and the impeller is in the block. To give you advise on what to do on the pulleys the year of block must be known but if its a 53-4 someone might have had the crank pulley off and not in all the way or had the waterpump rebuilt and the pulley is not in the right place. You might have the wrong generator on it also,take a ruler or straight edge and see whats not lining up. If someone put in a 55-62 motor they might have shortened the waterpump and dont have the hub on right or the wrong pulley. If thats the case you need to contact jim carters or patricks and get a shortened pump with pulley. I hope this helps

heyhowyadoing,
Can you see casting number on the block almost being covered by the starter ? They may be something like

B262

This would tell you what year your enjun' is...

The above number is mine which is Feb 26, 1962

ciao'

I believe there is a 1/4" spacer that goes between the front of the generator mounting bracket ( the one under the generator that bolts to the block ), and the back of the generator end frame.

I'm helping a fellow bolter with a '48 truck that has a '58-'62 235 in it and is equipped with a 6-volt, long frame (10-1/2" overall length) generator. It has a generator mounting bracket of 6-1/8" overall length and requires a 1/4" spacer in front of the bracket and a 1/2" spacer in back of the bracket to match up to the generator end frames. This truck has 3/8" pulleys.

I also have a '38 truck with a '48 216 in it with a 12-volt generator with is also 10-1/2" overall length. It has a homemade generator mounting bracket of 6-1/8" length and matches the factory bracket on my friends '48 truck. It has the same set of spacers on it. This truck has 5/8" pulleys.

If the water pump pulley and the crank pulley are in line then you probably need the 1/4" spacer on the generator.

Another thing that can be done to correct the gen alignment is to slot the holes in the mounting bracket that bolt to the block. The upper arm can bolt onto the front or back of the gen, iirc. It can also be shimmed to match. Running with offset pulleys will destroy the bearings in the gen and the pump.

As for the engine being original, I wouldn't bet any money on it. Some of us old folks tend to forget things.

Easy ways to date engine:

'53-55 engine had generator bolted to oil pan rail casting of engine block.
'55-62 had gen mounts on side of block just above oil pan rail casting.

'53-55 Used a 4" water pump pulley
'55-62 used a 7" water pump pulley

Engine block casting date is cast into block above starter, just to the right of the CON4 cast into block. A-L is month, two digits is day, last digit is year of decade cast. For example: A154 would be Jan 15,1954.
L040 would be Dec 4, 1960.

'53-55 had straight oil pan rails, the '55-62 pan rail sort of 'doglegs out' as it goes toward the back of the block.

good luck

chip