VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Need advice about a chevy truck engine

I have a 1929 Chevy 4 door tourer missing the engine. After intense search I found a 1929 6 cyl engine from a Chevrolet truck. I believe these trucks had the 194 c.i. engines. So, my main question is if this truck engine will be a direct fit into the car? Are these engines identical? It does not seem logical to have the same engine for both trucks and cars.

This is the casting on the block, lower part, next to distributor: (have no other identifiction available)

835501
B - 19 9
{chevy sign} 6

If this engine will not fit, what about a 4 cylinder original early 1920s? Will that fit without modifications?

Any help appreciated.

Manuel

1929 Car and truck motors are the same.

Hi Manuel,

You do indeed have a 1929 engine. The block casting number is for the 1929/30 194cid motor, and the number B 19 9 indicates a casting date of February 19, 1929.
From what reading I've done based on the 1929/30 Repair Manual, the motors are the same except for some differences in the intake manifold. The 1 1/2 ton truck motor intake manifold sleeves had a slight restriction on the inner end of the sleeve.

Dan

Manuel, I agree with Dan. The slight difference in the manifold sleeves is not important at all. The engines are virtually identical, and the engine should fit perfectly into the car (and it will be the "right" one for the car.

The only thing to be sure about is that you have the correct linkages, pedal mountings, etc for your right-hand drive car. If you're using the clutch and transmission that were in the car, you'll be fine. If you're using the clutch and transmission from the truck, you should be sure the truck was right-hand drive as well.

Hope that helps!

All the Best,

Chip

Thank you. I do have the original clutch and transmission for this R hand drive car, so the truck engine should fit well. However, my mechanic thinks that the engine block is too big and heavy for this 4 door tourer with wooden wheels. He states the front end structure will not hold the weight of this engine and will collapse. Is this correct?

1929 chevies were fitted with both wood spoke wheels and the steel disc wheels. If the wooden spoke wheel are in good sound condition, they will be fine. If you are not sure about the condition, you can change to steel disc wheels or the 1930 to 1932 wire wheel, which will fit , but are not correct for your tourer and you may need to change your wheel hubs so stay with the wooden spoke wheels if you can.

1929 sedans , were also fitted with wooden spoke wheels, and those bodies are heavier than the tourer body.

No.

My 1929 RHD Tourer with a 6-cylinder engine and wood wheels has been standing on its wood wheels for 82 years and has not collapsed.

Seriously, your car will be fine with the 6-cylinder. It's a great engine and belongs in your car. Have fun with your project, Manuel. These are fun old cars.

All the Best, Chip

Great comments, thanks Dan, Chip and Jack. I will now try to persuade my mechanic!! He still has hard time accepting that a 1.5 ton truck shares the same engine with this light-looking tourer (so did I until you shed light on this issue). This is going to be my first restoration and got to be extra careful because here in Paraguay it is very hard to get parts and information. Thanks to the internet though, I feel it is going to be easier by having a bunch of experts -I mean you- sharing their insights. Will drop some pictures in the near future after we begin the project. So long,
Manuel

Manu,
Here is a link to the 1931 Chevrolet service news which shows a 1931 sedan with wood wheels, you could print it out and show your mechanic, as it has the same size 194 CU engine fitted.

Keep up the good work on your Tourer, it will be great when you get it going.!
http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/bulletins/31csn034a.htm

The force on the wheels is only in a small way associated with the engine. It is the total weight of the vehicle supported by the wheels, the force exerted by imperfections in the roadway and the torque applied by the axles. The fact that much higher weight and torque of trucks that had wood spoke wheels should be an example of the strength of the wheels.