VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 Fleetline Fever

Daryl

I ran a '54 in my '40 while I was rebuilding the 216 and all I did was drill holes in the front plate for the mounts. Worked fine. I also had to change exhaust pipes because of the angle of the 235 exhaust manifold but I don't think you will have to do that.

Thanks Mike, that sounds like something I may do to get this running. Did you have a template for the holes?

Two questions…

1.) Where is Oscar staying now that he got the boot from the garage?

2.) Does the new car have a name?

Oscar is now shacking up with my Sister-In-Law in a spacious 2 car garage with plenty of room to get in and out. In exchange for the free rent, I need to help shore up a few things and do some home improvements for them but I'm okay with that. The price is right. Sarah misses seeing him though and is upset that a "piece of junk" is taking up space in "Oscar's garage". I can't blame her. But there was a time when she thought Oscar was a "piece of junk" too.




I haven't come up with a name yet, but I think this one should be a girl. Any suggestions?

Daryl,

Miss Kitty. Don't know how old you are, but Miss Kitty played by Amada Blake in the early western series on TV, I believe it was Gun Smoke. (are you reading this gunsmoke??) She was a real beauty and with her red hair and green dress --- WOW.

Jim.

Yep. Miss Kitty ran the local saloon and had a hankerin' for Marshall Dillon if I remember right.

I still listen to Miss Kitty and Marshall Matt Dillon and Chester on Sirius XM, channel 82. Great stuff !

"I haven't come up with a name yet, but I think this one should be a girl. Any suggestions?"

Way back when, I knew a red headed beauty, her name was "Rusty".

Seems fitting, huh?

Let me tell you guys about Rusty ...... hmmmm, maybe not.

Daryl

I just used measurements from the 216 front plate and drilled the holes. The holes can be off slightly and still line up OK because of the rubber in the mounts. You will have to use the throttle linkage from the 216. I think it mounts in the same place on the 235 block. You may have to use the exhaust manifold from the 216 on the 235. Fitting the exhaust pipe was the only problem I had. I used bell housing, flywheel, clutch, starter, fuel pump, coil and distributor from the '40 216 and the 235 ran fine for almost a year while I diddled with the 216. I had to time the '54 235 by ear 'cause as Chevgene will tell you there are some differences between the '40 distributor and flywheel and the'54 distributor and flywheel. This was back in 1963 and I didn't know squat about Chevrolets. Just knew that it wouldn't time with a light but I could crank the distributor around a little and it would run just fine.

Daryl

Forgot to mention that I did not have any radiator clearance problems with the '54 235 in the '40 car. As far as I could tell there was no difference in the clearance between the fan and radiator.

Daryl --

According to my parts manual, page 8, lower left paragraph, --

Note: The 235 cu. in. engine can be distinguished from the 216 engine by the engine serial number prefix as follows:

1953 LDA, LDM, LEA, or LEM

I do not know if this relates only to truck engines or both trucks and cars.

According to book, in 1953, the first letter "L" would be for a 3800 - Commercial-1 Ton Truck. Perhaps that is the same engine from the truck line installed in 53 ahead of the stick shift. If I confused you, am sorry, but I sure confused myself on this.

Your eng number of "LAA" has got me.

Jim.

LAA is a 1953 235 passenger car stick shift engine. The 1953 and 1954 235 engines have the old style water pumps and are the same length as all 216 engines. That is a "low oil pressure" engine.
The 1955 and up engines are longer due to the water pump.

Many thanks Gene. You have un-confused me.

Mike, that's all very helpful info on the motor and I appreciate it! I may do exactly what you did.

I know a lot of folks run the later 235's but this '53 will be fine since it still looks original. I'd rather see it get some use than have it sit on a stand in my garage for the next 30 years. It was just going to become scrap after the guy who pulled it was building a hot rod with a small block and wanted it gone.

I've located a nice rear axle, torque tube and brake assembly from a '49 locally. Are 49 and 50 brakes the same? Huck brakes I recall?

49-50 brakes are both Huck type.