Wanted: Piston for Chev Engine

[jim sewell]

Toby
There are several steps to take to determine what piston you are after.
1. measure the bore accurately , ie snap gauges , digital verniers etc
These engines came out as 3.500 inches ( blitz's )or 3. 5625 inches ( others )
and determine if bored out to o/size ( some piston manufactures stamp the o/s on the head of the piston.
2.Referring to the picture where you are hoisting out the engine and looking at the angle of the water pump inlet pipe I would say this is a blitz engine that originally had domed cast iron pistons and a single hole in the block where the water pump bolts up to.Check how many holes in your block .
3. Looking at the picture of the piston I would guess that it is made of aluminium alloy , so it may have been a replacement set at some time , maybe had a rebore at the same time.
4. Looking at the picture of the block with the pistons in it , they appear to be flat heads , so the replacement pistons may not have had domed heads.
Check whether they are flat or not .
Summary
Blitz engines originally had domed cast iron pistons , were 216 ci , had single hole from water pump to block . A similar engine made about the same time had two holes into the block with flat top pistons , not many engine parts are interchangeable between these two engines.
So firstly determine what engine you have.
Regards
Jim S.

[Mike K]

scan from the 1950 edition of the Victor Page book..I have both the Chev and Ford versions of this informative book. At just under 1000 pages ... much info .


The page is refering to the 1941 model changes ....

Mike

[Mike K]

The book covers up to 1950 . It describes the introduction of hydraulic valve lifters on the 235 ci motor as fitted to the Powerglide auto transmission .

BTW the 216 first appeared in the 1937 models ... in the book, he refers to the 1935 206.8ci motor as the 'blue flame' motor. ( bore 3 5/16" )

[Mike K]

the 1937 motor .........

[nigel ward]

Hi Toby
I have had the pleasure of traveling with Jim throughout Europe for about 8 weeks using ww2 vehicles and it is without a second thought I suggest you undertake Jim's suggestions. We are both owners of chev Blitz's and I am sure any information from Jim comes from first hand knowledge. Do not be afraid to ask for further info if required from Jim. I am sure he will be more than happy to help. He was a great help to me on the trip.

When you have figured out what you require I may be able to help as I have a small supply of NOS pistons in sets and singles. In amongst those there are a hand full of chev pistons. I may have what you require. Apart from that, there are a number of company's in Australia that may be able to assist including providing single pistons.

Great to hear from another Blitz owner.

Nigel

[aj.lec]

Toby If you post the engine number on the block you intend to use , we can give you a better idea of what you are playing with
Then as the others have suggested you will have to measure the bore at very least to see if it has been rebored at some stage

[Willanthry]

Sorry it's taken so long to reply;

The engine in the pictures on my thread is a different one to this one; it's the original 216 engine that was in it, and it's essentially done for.

We acquired another engine along with the Blitz, one which was planned to replace the original engine way back when it was fried in the first place. This engine is where the piston in the picture came from, and it's different to the original 216 engine, possessing different pistons, as you can see, with flat heads rather then domed. Where i wrote 239 is a typo; i didn't mean to put that, and i have no idea why i did.I must have been thinking about something else whilst i wrote it!

I'm not entirely sure which of the numbers you're after, so i wrote 'em all down; on the side of the motor, these numbers and letters appeared;

CON3 I113

GM48

3835309
9

Toby