C8A HUM s/n 3844536691 1944

[Shayne]

I had hoped to simply drop in the 235 that came with the truck but alas the thing was a tad tired and full of detritus.
I have learned that the 1953 is quite different from other 235's and even armed with that knowledge few others, read parts counter stabilisers, realise this no matter how many times you skeptically ask for reassurance that it is indeed the correct part. So it translates into quite a few trips back and forth and sometimes simply coming back empty-handed and doing without. Lifter and pushrods for instance... no one could tell me if the set from a later 235 would work so the originals were used because no one could source '53 parts.
I had to make the spray bar using fuel line as the original was broken. The colour isn't right comparing to the original 216 and the black is artistic license but my heart's in the right place...
So the engine is pretty much complete and I'm just waiting for a couple of gaskets... but the truck itself is another story. This weekend I should be able to tear into it with some gusto. She's a pretty sorry sight right now!!

[chris vickery]

Looks great Shayne.

For info on the 235cid engine, you should do a search for the "stovebolt" discussion forum. It is US based and a wealth of knowledge can be found there by asking a few questions and reading through some of the posts.

The 235 was nick-named the stovebolt.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Shayne

Been working through the same problems of the running changes on 235 and 261. I have just finished setting up a 235 on the engine test stand and will be trying to start it today. Also have a 261 which I just finished assembling after complete rebuild. Chris is right about the Stovebolt forums, if you have not found all the good related sites, let me know and I try to paste my entire list of Chevy Stovebolt to a post.

One very useful site that I have found, it has been mentioned lately, is http://chevy.tocmp.com/ they have posted many manuals for different years, I've down loaded them all and it is useful because they point out many of the year to year changes.

Concerning your problem with the push rods, part of the fun with that particular part is that Chevy change how it measured the lenght at one point from overal lenght to tip to inside of the top pocket.

[Shayne]

Yes, a great site and I have perused it but saw nothing specific to the differences between the '53 and the later 235's. I hate to just show up and ask questions without being able to contribute.
The manual page is a real gem!
The pushrods are definitely a different length but I don't know about the lifters. Not only length but diameter. It stands to reason that the combined length should be the same but the moving assembly on the head is somewhat different so...
The parts looked to be in good shape so it should last another 15,000 miles. ;-)

[Phil Waterman]

Here is a web site that I've found useful in sorting out Chevy 6's these engines because of their long life and interchangeability are often a mix of years before you even start working on them.

http://aera.org/techtools.aspx is a site for checking casting numbers there are also some other good casting number sites. One of the first things I do is check all the major casting numbers to see if the engine is a unit of all the parts atleast coming from the same year.

[Shayne]

The problem with having a truck engine is that none of the generic sites seem to have any information. I do know both the block and head are 1953:

The head, cast 3701887, nets me this:
"GM No Model 3.9 235 49-62 L 6 Head 3701887 1953, W/MANUAL TRANS, Chevrole"
The stamped number behind the distributor is XC70817 while the number below the 'GM' on the front right of the block is 5843351. Although any search I have attempted comes up empty according to information from Mr. Hayward this does indicate a 1953 block. I trust his information as the XC prefix does indicate the heavy duty truck engine.

What is a good place to source parts for these? Little things like the valve cover grommets, thermostat, an oil cap/cover/breather in anything but chrome... I bought a chome part and sandblasted it then painted it!