Hi People, My name is Leon and I just bought a 55 2nd series 3200.....its all stock and going to stay that way. It's in decent shape and its road worthy although it needs paint and I think im going to go thru all the mechanicals and get them to my liking before I drive it. I'v been on the 47-55.1 forum on and off for a few years since I have a 51 chevy truck also........I bought the 3200 because iv been having a craving to drive something cool ....... But anyway I have a question about a oil filter...... was an oil filter an option on these trucks or did someone take it off and pipe plug where the hoses would connect to ?? I am just curious........I will be adding a filter before it hits the road. Thanks for the help in advance , Leon
Leon, what engine do you have in your new play toy. 6 or 8? Oil filters were options in '55, not standard. Bolt on cannister types were common back in 55!
Hi Leon ! I see that a Couple of us AD guys snuck over here to hang out with the razzle-dazzle TF guys Oil filters are good , always . If you have a V-ate , go find an older FRAM or WIX oil filter _catalog_ as both companies made the kit to change the cannister typ V-8 oil filter to a nice , clean spin - on typ.... I dunno if they list it in the OnLine catalogs , seems to me the OnLine stuff never has any footnotes or extra , helpful info like the paper books always did . If it's a 6 Banger , GOOD ON YA ! there's always scads of those typ oil filters over on Flea-Bay , or , find someone selling off his old junker 216/235/261 and offer to buy the filter off that , just be SURE to get ALL the hardware , U - Bolts , hoses and block fittings , ALL of it ! . Or , maybe I'm an old grumpy man .
Hi Nate and all fellow enthusiasts The truck is a 3 speed on the column ?? 6 cyl.......235 I think ..... the block casting # is 3837004, I'll have to see if I can find somewhere to look it up. This weekend im going to replace the fuel pump because it's bein kinda funky.......doesnt pump well and the rubber hose from the frame to the pump pulses like a heartbeat almost like its hooked up backwards or might be the pickup is plugged up with debris and is creating such a vaccum in the non pressure side that its making the hose dance, also might get it up on jackstands and inspect the brakes and suspension. Its been rotten weather up this way the past few weeks snowing,raining,flooding .....the usual northeast winter stuff I guess. Ok well im going to go out to the garage to put around some. Take care, Leon
Leon, you can run, but you can't hide! We'll find ya! I checked on the inliners international website and your casting # is for a '55-57 235 engine. www.inliners.org Cool site Post some pics of your AD and new toy! Ken
Hi to Kens 50 PU too...I just looked up the casting # for the engine and it is indeed a 235....now I need to try and figure out what rear gear is in it. I went under the truck and took a closer look and the frame looks good, and it appears that there are new brake lines, and the whole truck has been rewired with what looks to be a good quality wiring harness. Well ok gotta run back out there and get my hands dirty again Later, Leon
Pics of my 51 There are some photos of my 51 that all are welcome to look at on www.photobucket.com, just do a search for Omega7979..... I will try to take some pics of the 55 tonight if I have some batteries for the camera. ok be back soon with pics of the new toy Later, Leon
pictures here are a few pics of the truck http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o175/omega7979/55chevyandfishing011.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o175/omega7979/55chevyandfishing008.jpg Hope I did it right
A Good Old Truck You have there Leon ; Be aware that RUST NEVER SLEEPS so even if you're not rich and cannot take the cab off for de-rusting , get some fish oil based paint (think Rustoleum etc.) on it PDQ to stop the <magic> (demonic) triangle of : ferrous metal , oxygen & moisture or it'll be gone before you know it . You have a robust 235 there , easy to hook up an oil filter too , if you go over to the AD pages on this site ('47 ~ '55.1) you'll find TONS of good tune up info , start with the all important valve adjustment and go from there , ping me or the other guys who know these trucks if you get stuck but everything has been covered and awaits you there , print out and save the tech info , make your own shop manual .
progress on the truck I spent a good 6 hours fiddling with the rocker arm system. Initially I was going to adjust the valves and found them all to be tight so I lashed them out to .006 intake and .016 exhaust. fired it up and was disappointed....it sounded like a diesel engine...... so what I did is remove the rocker shaft assembly and discovered that the face of the rocker arms that contact the valves were recessed from the tip of the valve...... it was wreaking havoc trying to use the feeler gage....giving me a false reading so what I did is carefully file the rocker arms faces until the ridge was removed. The rocker arm shafts could use replacing but for now what I did is rotated them 180 deg so that the good surface of the shaft is now on the bottom..got it all back together and runs very nice but.....New shafts will be on order this weekend because they are worn enuf from the rockers about .050 or better into the shaft ..........I know that its losing oil pressure although there is 30 lbs hot pressure but I'd rather have that xtra oil pressure down below at the rod and mains. Also got the new fuel pump installed and the gas gauge working ok well its bedtime Thanks for all the good advice Leon
Just So You'll Know : Flipping the rocker shafts isn't wise because it puts the oil holes at the top where it won't oil untill the engine is revved up.... You did good to reface the rockers , a quiet 235 is highly suspect and soon to break down . Kanter's has all new 235 rockers & shafts IIRC , when you take 'em all apart , pay close attention as there's several different part numbers and it should be assembled ' Just So ' , most shop manuals have clear pix of how they go .(like the OnLine Shop Manual Project)
Quiet isnt too good I know........ But, I lashed the valves, relashed them a 2nd time, and let it run for a good hour and then did a final lashing on them . The new rocker shafts are on order and are reasonably priced around $30.00 each....and the rockers... im going to live with due to the fact that they are about $15.00 each.....thats $200.00 all said and done for just rockers....i'm on a tight budget over here ok well time to start the day here Thanks for the help, Leon
