Yeah buddy And it feels right this time!! Congratulations you got it I love that song that one was live with San Francisco orchestra. Great choice as well 1904 Oldsmobile curved dash aka model 6C is coming today =)
I am 72 years old. Before my parents and family moved from Ohio to California my parents purchased a 1956 Chevrolet BelAir that had the 235 cubic inch in line 6 cylinder engine and a 3 speed manual transmission. Over the years my parents owned that car my father did most of the work and maintenance on that Chevrolet in line 6 cylinder engine. So I have memories of that engine.
My mom had a 1953 Chevy Bel Air with powerglide and a straight 6. She sold it 1968 for a 1968 Camaro (327 V8 and powerglide). I called the '53 "that crazy automobile" and the Camaro I called "the Baja". I still name things in a quirky way.
My dad is dead now, he was born in 41, but he said in 1958 his dad (who worked in the interstate highway project) bought a 1958 Chevy Belair with something like a 350cu V8 with triple duces and my dad said that was fast. I think it did 0-60 in 8 seconds, and that was fast! That's when my family got into racing cars. My Grandma had a BMW 6 series in the 60's with the batwings. I'm sure she cleaned up on the freeways of LA
When i was ten, my dad had a 54 chevy with a 235 six cylinder and a 2 speed powerglide. When you tried to pass someone, it would shift down, raise hell , and slow down 5 mph then shift back to high gear and gradually get past them. Always 2 quarts low on oil because of the valve covers. But, they were easy to fix and lasted a long time. Thanks for the memories!
Thank you so much for sharing those memories with us, it’s amazing what music or a car or a car engine can do can take you back to a totally different part of time, with all of the emotions and feelings that you felt the last time you saw or heard that song. Powerful stuff
About 15 years ago, I came across an original 36 Chevy pickup, sitting in a shed, behind an antique store that we were in. The owners were the kids of the original owners. I asked if the would sell it. No one in the family had any interest in it. I asked if it ran. They said it ran when it was parked, several years prior. I had some tools in my truck, and started fooling around with it. Went to the local Napa store and bought a battery, fresh oil, starting fluid, plugs and wires. And fresh gas. It fired right up! It had a 207 in it. We made a deal and I drove it 130 nail biting miles home. 40-45 mph max I dared drive. 5.56 gears!! Brakes barely worked, and the water pump leaked from the packing. Stopped frequently to add water, but made it. Fixed all of the mechanical issues, easily. Super simple machine. Still use it for bopping around town, and promoting my business. I love that little inline!!! Put a glass pack on it, and it sounds sooo good 😃😃
Great story thank you so much for sharing those memories with us with the gears being so high I had to do a step off the gas in the engine would already start slowing down I drove some really low end gear cars like that in there very interesting. I was in a debate on a mustang form earlier today and I said the question is it really.. still considered a machine new cars your so isolated from the driving experience. You don’t really feel anything that’s going on. I think that’s why I like the vintage/classic stuff. Because you’re part of driving the machine it’s an experience, his comeback was something to the effect that that mustang will run circles around the old one and I was like yeah but you can only go 80 miles an hour without getting a substantial speeding ticket it’s not all about speed. It’s about the experience =)
We moved to California from Florida in 1963. Our 1959 Chevy Biscayne w/3 speed on the tree towed a trailer, trunk was full, and a family of five all the way without any problems. After we settled in Santa Clara we owned that car many more years. Legendary engine! A real "workhorse!"
55 Vette 40 Chevy truck Those stove bolt 6 bangers were solid engines. Maybe even considered stodgy by some people. Nothing fancy but they just kept working. But by 1954 Chevrolet had to have known they badly needed a V8 . They were late to the game but when they finally did come out with a V8 engine it made history. The Chevy small block is one of the most successful automotive engines ever produced. I've never really been a Chevy guy but even I have to admit it's a great engine.
Great choices I like the design of this engine I don’t think it looks stodgier outdated I think it looks cool and unique Chevy had some teething problems with the V8 at first couple years too but when they got it straightened out that was one of the most legendary engines ever.. going to totally hit that one day I just haven’t figured out where I want to draw the line to break that up because it’s gonna be a long one tons of different engine displacements Ford during the same time offered many different engine families like the Y block FE engine family Windsor family I think they had a small block engine family as well but that might be the Windsor family whereas Chevy just had the small block Chevy that whole duration because it was a bulletproof design once they got in block oil filtration sorted. Thank you so much for the conversation I appreciate your comments on all of the videos =)
My brother in law has an old 53 stake truck with stovebolt six. He needs an exhaust manifold for it. I told him where there are two of them, in my younger brothers back yard. He'll have to go prospecting for one, they have both been underground since 1977. Since I buried two 235 55 Chevy engines. I think I still know where they are.
One of the best in line 6's ever. I have owned 3 different displacements, and they never broke, not once. Could have used a rebuild, but ran fine, burned a bit of oil, and always fired right up.
The old Checker Marathon taxi cabs used the 250 cubic inch inline Chevy six bangers. Those cabs would go 400k miles with those engines in city traffic under all sorts of weather conditions. They were practically indestructible. Often times the body of the car would rot out and fail before the engines did. Great workhorse.
The 261 stovebolt was used in Canadian built Pontiacs up til '62. Hydraulic lifters, and the higher flowing head from the 235 cid Corvette 6 of the era. 148 hp.
Corvette, and '41 Pickup. [As for the music clip, forget it. I thought they werre just tuning up.] Looking forward to your next chapter. I have a 292 L6, RPO option # L25, in my '68 C/10 Stepside. I bought the truck in 1973. Fifty years later, I still have it. I rebuilt another junkyard 292 in 1977, and ran that block until 2002 -- it was blowing big blue smoke rings of SAE 50 weight oil on every acceleration. But I ran it for 25 years and 250,000 miles. Then I rebuilt the original engine -- which I had saved in crates -- Bored .030-over, Badger pistons, Crane cam 260H, oversized intake valves [1.84'' not 1.6''] Offy intake, Edelbrock 500 CFM four barrel carb, Clifford headers. 405,000 on the clock.
For sure I can’t wait to do that episode not entirely sure when that one’s coming though I’d like to do some more weird and obscure ones like the Corvair engine Hudson twin H Thank you so much for sharing all that insight and information really appreciate it
That video was awesome. I had a 1949 chevy 4-door deluxe styleline that I regrettably had to sell a few years ago. My buddy and I got it from the original owners wife. The original owner bought it in ‘49 and passed away in ‘52. It sat till we got it in 2006 and started working on it. It only had 8,850 original miles. I miss that car.
Glad you did this video thank you so much for sharing those memories it’s never too late to find another one it’s amazing what can be found on Facebook marketplace on the cheap. This channel exists to inspire people, to go after those cars because like I said it’s never too late have a cool car to have it as a daily driver or call weekend cruiser I really don’t want to see the stuff go away. I went into a gas station yesterday where everything was screens even where you got beverages with screens and it’s just we have too much screens like where are all the analog gauges that anymore I don’t know maybe it’s just me
Drove a 54 Pickup daily for 7 years. The 235 was absolutely bulletproof, quiet and smooth. It also ran so much better with the Weber two barrel. A delightful motor that was later licensed to Mercedes and Toyota.
My grandmother gifted me her 1940 Chevy Business Coupe when I was 16. So my pick would be the ‘40 truck. I’m now 79 and I still will I had kept that car!
Dad’s 1949 Chev panel van; then his 1955 Chev van. These were what I learned to drive in, especially the 48’. Floor starter and manual choke as I remember. Had a Land Cruiser that had basically a 235 hp six they got from GM. Great and reliable engine.
@@flight2k5 I may stand corrected but it has been my belief that the six(basic block) used in the Land Cruiser was the I6 GM used for decades; if not it doesn’t really matter much to me now decades later. I did a total rebuild of the engine about 1978 and was told that information on the block by the machine shop that bored out the block thus the basis for my belief and comment.
Thanks Jay, I didn't know that the stovebolt 6 went all the way back to 29! I bought a 51 chevy pickup back in the 80's, these engines really were well built despite their reputation of busting babbit bearing. Ran remarkably smoothly and quietly, though the truck rode like a lumber wagon. Thanks again for the video featuring this engine!! ⛽😊
I used to drive a fire engine that was a 51 chev with a 216. Knowing about the poured bearings I was amazed it kept going for decades. It was in service for over 30 years.
The technological advances made for engines during this time was astounding. It does seem as though there was some "we'll try this" "we'll try that", but in the end it paved the way for some legendary engines down the road. FoMoCo's 200, AMC's 232, and the nuclear blast proof Mopar 225. 1) '53 Bel Air 2) Neither. Since we're talking GM 6's... I'm going of list with my own choice... the truck I learned how to drive standard on, and yes, it was a double clutch... 1953 GMC 350... it was a tanker for our volunteer fire department.
Awesome choices how do you like your gmc tanker? I have a 52 Chevy 1 ton stake bed. I love my truck I didn’t put it in the line up because I didn’t want to show favoritism mine doesn’t have the original drive train don’t have to double clutch anymore =) but really only had to double to get it in 2nd from third but my truck didn’t have the original drive train when I bought it going to cover it again on September 21
@@What.its.like. Oh, that's been long gone... my Gramps taught me how to drive it (and others) when I was 14. They bought a new tanker in '79, and 309 went to a pool filling company.
In 1968 when i was only 4 years old, my father let me pick out the 1960 bel air that he bought for my sister's jr year in college. Dad had a sense of humor. The pale green sedan had the 235 with the powerglide transmission. Aka, the powerslide. Or the slush o matic... All three of my older siblings used the car in school until the car was stored in the machine shed waiting for me to turn 16. I restored the car and switched out the power glide for a 3 on the tree with overdrive. It made the car more fun to drive and it had a little more power. But ultimately the thing was a dog and about as aerodynamic as the broad side of a barn. I finally sold the car when I was 29 to a woman who wanted a vintage car for her band to be seen in.
Ah, yes. Likely my favorite engine series. My first car was a used 1955 Chevy 150, 2 door sedan, 235 IL6, three on the tree. Did most of my own maintenance on that car. Even with it's foibles, that 235 was a reliable, easy to maintain, solid engine. Oh, yeah, I started driving that car in 1962.
I like the 194-230-250-292 series...the 292 is a little-known beast...I wish they had done better marketing them and sold more, they are hard to find now. The 292 will easily out-pull a SBC in a truck...just don't expect good gas mileage from one...never driven a 261, I wonder how it compared to the 292?...
I had 216cc & 235cc engines in a couple of panel trucks & sedan deliveries when I was a kid. Loved those old sixes! I lost the oil pump one night driving home from work on the 216. I had a quart of oil in the back, so I just poured it over the rockers & drove it home. No big deal! Oh, the '40 PU, absolutely!
@@What.its.like. I had GREAT times in that old '50 Panel! One night I came out after work, middle of the night, some SOB had forced the door, turned on the key trying to steal it, then gave up & ran away. The stupid bastard was too dumb to STEP on the starter pedal! lol (The ignition switch was so worn, almost anything would have turned it to on), Trouble was the ignition switched on burned up the points! Unbelievable! I had a new set I was planning to install on the next day off. Luckily, I had a screwdriver set, but no feeler gauge. I had a matchbook, that is approximately .018, the point gap called for. Swapped out the points & drove her home! I miss those days when life made more sense!
Ive had an interest in those chevy 6 motors from stovebolts,blueflames and now the turbthrift motors too. They were also used in the British Bedford trucks too and GMH Australia based both their earlier engines on these American counterparts. The Holden grey motor from the 48/215 of 1948 up till late 1963 to the EJ Holden was based on the stovebolt chevy 6 but already had a full pressure oiling system and had a 131 CID and from 1960 it was increased to 138 CID . In august 1963 the new red motor came out in the EH Holden and was based on the Bedford truck and turbothrift motors and look amost identical withe the same external architecture but slightly smaller block and came in 138,149,161,173,179,186 and 202 CID and 130 CID export only and were manufactured up till february 1986 in the VK commodore and in 1980 the colour changed from red to blue and then black in 1984 and any that are not familiar with the chev GM and the GMH Australian engines can easily mistake them as they both ,Holden grey motor comparison to stovebolt chev and Holden red motor to chevys turbothrift GM motor at firstay confuse some with the untrained eye for these American and Australian motors as the Holden red motor has an external oil pump as the turbothrift is internal and the distributers are in different places on the bocks and o have seen the 4 cylinder version of this motor too known as the iron duke and our local Aussie version of that was called the Starfire 4 we ised in the locally built toyota coronas 1980 82 and rarly commodores and Holdens medium sized torana.
My late father (b.1912) as a young man followed any news between Ford and Chevy. He recalled to me that with the intro of the Stovebolt 6, Chevy walked away from the 4 banger Ford. He had a '32 Chevy coupe (?). As a family we had a '39 4 Dr. MD, and a '51 GMC panel. Easy to work on, not like today. Narragansett Bay.
Awesome thank you so much for sharing those memories with me =) I’m not biased on company or anything like that but I would rather have an overhead valve six than a flathead V-8 I should’ve included that in the would you rather. I’m not a huge flathead Ford V8 fan they’re overrated in my opinion you have to do tons of work to them to get any major power out of them not saying that they’re not cool they’re cool but I think they’re vastly overrated.. especially when you consider you could get the same amount of power out of this with two Less cylinders and better fuel economy..
Thank you for all your hard work. I have a lot of old MOTOR books from 40s ,50s and 60s . They would be in all the service stations when I was a kid. But it's more fun watching your videos than thumbing through them. Great that you started this engine series . Lots of younger folk never heard of or saw these engines. They were all part of the evolution of the great engines that came in the 60s. I have a 64 Chevelle with a 194 six. It will outlive me for sure! Only 28,000 miles on it , all original. Waiting for you to cover that series next.
That’s why I did the engine episodes because there’s so much conflicting information plus it makes me research and find out all the right information like the 235 a lot of people think that all of the 235s have pressurized oil lubrication and that’s not true.. it also gives information about engines such as splash lubrication engines you can’t drive as fast with a splasher or not for as long a period of time as you can with a full pressurize oil system because it doesn’t splash as much if it’s driving faster if that makes any sense.. I wonder if there is modifications that can be made to some of the older engines to pressurize oil lubrication so you could drive the cars faster for longer periods of time without starving bearings for oil. Do you have a Chevelle with a six cylinder I’ve never seen a Chevelle with a six cylinder that is super interesting the big car for that power plant Glad you dig this episode I don’t know what engine episode is coming up next I kind of wanna do something obscure but it might be the Y block Ford not sure tho
Canadian-built Pontiacs which were basically Pontiac bodies mounted on Chevrolet chassis and running gear came standard with the Chevrolet 261 6-cylinder engines, but with hydraulic lifters from 1955 through to the 1962 model years, while similar year Chev passenger cars made do with the smaller 235 engine as standard equipment.
US Pontiacs were also on Chevrolet, or shared frames. I had a 66 Impala and a 67 Le Mans. I did en engine swap from the Impala to the Le Mans, and used Chevelle parts, including transmission cross member and drive shaft.
I had several 1960's vehicles with the inline 6 . Jumping ahead , the best was a 1970 Pontiac Tempest with a Powerglide . They hit the ball out of the park . The gear ratios , etc. all combined to make an excellent car . It was the last year before the OHV , " rubberband " six came out . The tail started to sag . It was easy to put in a set of Moog Cargo Coil springs . Nice ride height and extra weight capacity . The distributors had a single shaft bushing and they did wear out . If you changed hydraulic lifters , they usually mushroomed and you had to use a puller on them to remove . A lot of room under the hood . There are now 4 cylinder engines that produce over 300 HP !
Thank you so much for sharing all of that insight and information Modern engines yes they can produce more power the crazy thing is is some of those carbureted engine kit is same gas mileage is there claiming to be revolutionary now AMC 196 powered cars could get 32 miles to the gallon with overdrive all the seats fold into a bed and you’re telling me they can’t do any better now.. even with hybrid technology
My grandfathers 1926 chevy farm truck had this engin in it so trucks got this engine first. the engine lasted 68kmiles in farm service and still ran great in 1960 when the truck was sold because the brakes would not stop the 5 ton loads carried in the dump box. great truck.
its possible I was wrong about the year. but, the truck was modified. it started life as a 3/4 ton flatbed. with modification of overload springs and dual rear wheels/ large dump box yes it would haul 5 tons(that I am sure of) it was not fast. we never pushed it over 40mph. had a 4 speed floor shift transmission with a low first gear for tough going. you put gas in it by taking out the passenger seat cushion. we never filled the tank all the way as it would slosh out and fill the cab with fumes. there was no smoking on the farm and very little beer as grandpa said you can not farm from inside a beer joint. I was a happy kid.
Well, I've been a Chevy guy for a long time. I currently drive a 1967 Chev Caprice. Back in the day, I had a 1931 Chev coupe, and a 1936 Chev coupe, both with the old six banger. My Dad bought a brand new !957 Chev Bel Aire with the new 283 cu in V8. A couple of years later, I bought a 1956 Chev Bel Aire 2 Dr. Hardtop with the 265 cu in. engine. Loved 'em all. Wouldn't have a new one now if they gave it to me!
I have a 1941 pickup with a 1954 235 engine, tranny, and driveline swapped in. Cruises all day at about 62-65mph at 2900 RPM. Great vehicle for a 23yo like me!
Thanks for the video Jay, I didn’t know Chev made such a big range of 6’s. The Chev and Holden 6’s were very similar in design but with different capacities, and outputs. The Holden inline 6 only went from 1948 - 1986 I think when the imported an inline 6, both naturally aspirated and a turbo charged version from Nissan before borrowing the 3.8ltr V6 from Buick and re engineering it for RWD use. It ended up powering Cadillacs at some point in time
Interesting information glad you dig this video.. it’s so weird seeing other countries and what they did and I’m sure you feel the same way when you watch something from America like wow they did a totally different than we did I wish we would’ve gotten the hemi six cylinder that engine sounds incredible on paper and on video just doesn’t sound like anything else..
@@lurch789 The Buick 3.8 L fitted to Australian Holden products was a front wheel drive module. When fitted to our RWD chassis the coolant outlet line was at the firewall and had to be externally piped to the front of the car, the engine mount fouled access to the starter motor meaning the engine had to be lifted slightly and the entire mount removed to replace the starter. The throttle body also faced the rear from memory and the coil pack which would have been at the front in cool air on a FWD was now tucked down by the inner guard (fender) and was a constant source of issues in our hot climate. As was the water pump in early years as the relocation of the A/C compressor for RWD meant the compressor load was being carried by the tiny water pump bearing. It was a cheap and nasty refit, it was obvious the chassis had been designed around the Nissan RB30 engine but changes in corporate ownership and currency exchange rates stopped that.
Good information. I had no idea that the chevy engine was so slow in advancement. In fact I was told the first chevy was made in 1955 & some told me 1957. All I can say is they sure made a 360 in engine change. An older guy told chevys run forever as long as you don't try to follow a Ford V8!!
Chevy goes back to 1911 and wasn’t part of gm until 1918 they always used overhead valve engines since inception.. pros and cons to both ford and Chevy but at the very least chevys don’t overheat like flathead v8s do
55 vette, a no brainer, and a 40 truck . I liked how they advertised their improvements with catchy names. They really do not do that now.Great vid ,thx.
Great choices I absolutely love the advertisement pieces as well they don’t do advertising like they did back then and I really miss it. Glad you got something out of this episode. =)
Nice video. A granddad had a number of cars and pickups with the stove bolt beginning with a 36 Standard two door. I don’t recall him saying how many times he overhauled it - at least once - but it had racked up a bit over 200k by the time he stopped reaping the tag in 1962. I could probably still do basic stuff to a mid 50s 235 to get in running. I preferred the Turbo Thrift 250 more, but I do appreciate something with. 235 still moving under its own power.
Awesome thank you so much for sharing those memories =) and insight the turbo thrift is the better engine I was amazed they made these engines in foreign markets for as long as they did knowing the turbo thrift was a thing
I have a 1937 Pontiac with a Chev stove-bolt engine. It is 224. Canada built the Pontiac with the Chev engine, a 216 with a longer stroke and called the car a 224. Great car great engine
The later Chevy 235 I6 engine (full pressure and insert bearing, not babbitt) is my favorite engine of all time. I have one in my restored 1960 Chevy pickup and it runs like a fine watch. I've had many vehicles over the last 50+ years with the 235. They are a dependable engine for sure, easy to work on and maintain as well. Also, there are lots of aftermarket parts for this engine for those who want more power output. I prefer them stock myself.
Yeah but that didn’t happen until 1953 (corvette ) 1954 everything else 235 before 1954 has splash lubricated as well as Babbitt bearings 1954 they make the switch
@@What.its.like. -- Oh trust me, I know. I've been around these engines all my life, and I'm old. That's why I said the later 235's are my favorite of all time (1955 thru 1962). This one time back in the early 1980's I had a pickup with the 235, and the engine had a huge crack in the block. I sealed the crack with high temp JB weld and the engine ran fine, LOL. Although it started to leak water again after a couple months. I just sealed it again and kept driving. The only six cylinder engine that I would say is better is the Dodge 225 slant six. Those engines are indestructible!! The Ford 300 straight six is a good engine as well. But there is something about those Chevy straight 6 engines I love.
One day I’d love to get a ford 300 amc 232 Chevy 292 and dodge 225 drain the oil an see which lasts the longest tired engines of course it would be a great episode I think
@@What.its.like. -- Chevy 292 is a great engine!! Lots of torque. I had a 1965 Chevy 2 ton truck with 292. Ran great and got the job done. The world straight 6 speed record was set with a Chevy 292 at Bonneville. I knew the guy who set the record when I belonged to the "Inliners Club", which is a club or organization that is for people who own any vehicle with an inline engine, whether its an inline 4,6,8...... The club originally started for Chevy inline engines only but eventually expanded to include any make.
I really want to build a vintage Grand Prix race car build my own body taking existing chassis and just build it to my specifications the PowerPoint that I would use would be at 292 Chevy triple side drafts Webbers big cam.. five speed stick with a two speed rear end 373 is in 514 it would be incredible I wanna build that car on a budget just to prove it can be done..
I worked on a lot of construction equipment back in 1970s and a lot of our equipment had GM in line sixes and some had the Continental sixes. Those old engines were very smooth and quiet and were virtually bullet proof. The funny thing was our gasoline was 86 octane, and our chief mechanic told me that these old engines gained another ten horse power because the old octane rating when these engines were new was 80 octane! In fact we had a 1951 Ford tractor that could run on 68 octane and kerosene, so we added two quarts of diesel fuel to it's tank when ever we gassed it up.
@@What.its.like. My former co-worker just sent me an email telling me that the 1954 sidehill rollers are still running! They have the Continental 6cyl engines. These rollers have two large rollers on one side and two 15in rubber tires on the other side. They are used to compact fill in ditches and on slopes, or can be used to compact asphalt strips along a road. It's incredible to think that these machines are still doing their job despite never have been overhauled! But then we always took care of them!
I had a 72 Nova with a Chevy inline 6, also drove Checker cabs in the 60s that had that engine and in my later years I had a 1953 Chevy 2 ton dually with that 6 that had a 4 speed with 2 speed axle. We used to call those the sewing machines because the valve noise reminded us of a sewing machine.😂😂
I believe all 216's had replaceable shell insert main bearings. I know Dad's 1940 truck (with original engine) had replaceable mains for sure. These inserts did use shims so the oil clearance was adjustable. The rods were poured Babbitt until 1953 when inserts were used with the full pressure oiling. If I remember right, shims on the main inserts went away about 1955 or '56.
The 216 was notorious for breaking Babbitt bearings I’m not sure if it was different in foreign markets I’ve also heard GMC offered engines that may have had shell bearings.. i’m not familiar at all with the GMC equivalent
Interesting story I heard from my former boss: His Dad worked for a logging company in Flagstaff AZ in the 1930's through at least the '60's. Around 1940 they were phasing out the railroad for hauling logs to the mill and had a 1940 Chevy semi tractor with the 216. It would haul 100,000 pound loads of logs out of the forest! Talk about lots of gears! One drawback was the RPM needed to move that load. Engine life was measured in days. At times the engine would need to be replaced every day! Why they didn't just buy a big White or Diamond T, etc., I have no idea.
If that company had 3 or more of those trucks, and reduced the loads to a more reasonable amount, like 35k pounds, they probably would have had much more life in those trucks... In the long run, it would have yielded much higher profits for that company, but going to multiple units co$ts lots of money, and in the 1930's , money was very hard to find....
Great. Looking forward to it. I own a 1950 Chevrolet 3600 (¾ ton) pickup, with a 216 engine. The motor needs replacing but I want to use another inline 6, either a 250 or 292. Looking for information. Thanks!
I have a 52 Chevy 3800 series it had a 327 v8 when I bought it not original it has a 350 v8 in it now and honestly that’s the engine that should’ve always been in it I get decent gas mileage that’s the reason I didn’t go with the 292 that engine is bulletproof but it doesn’t return the best fuel economy.. I have 4 speed trans 373 rear 19.5 tires it will go 80 and I get 20 mpg hwy The 350 that’s in mine was from 1986 it was the last year of carburetor before they went to throttle body fuel injection it had three smog pumps on it got rid of all that.. it’s not a really powerful 350 I think it makes 150 hp but that’s plenty that’s more power than it had when it was new..
Another interesting and educational video Jay. When I was young Chevy's with 235 Stovebolts were commonplace as old cars and were cheap. They were candidates for engine swaps and made good hot rods. Often, a small block or big block V8 engine would bolt right in. We didn't appreciate the old sixes. I definitely learned a lot today.
It’s amazing how everything comes full circle nobody liked wagons back in the day either and now they’re the most popular one of the most popular body choices same goes with four-door hardtop so nobody wanted those either.. Glad you got something out of this episode =)
How about some Hudson sixes ? Or even an old International larger flathead six? I think those found their way into a few pickups or "carryalls". @@jerryhaynes7335
I really want to cover the Hudson six but I don’t know if I cover all of them or if I cover if there’s generations of them that’s something I’ll have to look into..
@@What.its.like. A story on the Hudson six would be interesting. I think some had aluminum heads and I know the "Twin H" was the hot setup in the early 50's One of my elderly friends drove one in his youth and he raves about the car.
Toyota at one point owned the patent for the 'stove bolt six' and equipped several of their trucks and Land Cruiser's with that engine. Owned a late 1960's Land Cruiser with the 235 six in it, mated to a 4 speed stick, with 4WD. Tough as nails, very reliable.
I love the 292 I think it’s a bulletproof engine my friend wanted to put a 292 in my Chevy truck and I told him no fir that very reason they are bulletproof but they don’t get good gas mileage.. And I’m sure you could adjust the gas mileage in gearing but it was already set up to take a V-8
The 1950 Chevy Powerglide was a semi-automatic transmission. Like the Buick Dynaflow, normal driving was in the drive position, depending on the torque converter to do the heavy lifting. Low gear could be selected for quicker acceleration, or for descending grades. The Chevy Powerglide didn't shift on it's own until the 1953 model year. It was rare to have an automatic in a truck, but both Chevy and GMC would use the Hydramatic through, atleast, the 1954 model year. With the introduction of the V8, Chevy switched to the Powerglide and was more common to find. GMC continued using the Hydramatic into the 1960's. For the light trucks, GMC used Pontiac engines, hence the Hydramatic. The 261 6 cyl. was available in light trucks too. My grandfather bought new a 1960 Chevy 1/2 ton stepside P/U with a standard column-mounted 3-speed manual transmission and it had the 261 high-torque engine. He and my grandmother would haul their 25 foot travel trailer every summer from their home in Henderson, NV to Sequoia National Park in California. To get there, there was a steep winding mountain road you had to drive on. My grandfather would pull the grade in 2nd gear most of the way. A friend had a Chevy panel truck which he used in his painting business. It look like the 1940 p/u you have pictured. Until he sold it, I never knew how old it really was. I was shocked to find out that it was from the 1940's.
Great video! I have owned many Chevy sizes from a 1928 we put into a farm tractor, several 235s in cars & trucks, and a couple 292s in big trucks I owned.
I can’t wait to cover the other engine family 292s are bulletproof, but there’s going to be other engine segments until we get back to this I want to try to lay the groundwork working up to other things I’m not sure what the next episode is going to be. Some engines are hard because information is not on the internet
My first car was a two-door 1954 Chevy. It had the blue flame as I understood, do not remember if there was some tag or decal to that effect. Had bearing shells, but they did not fit out-of-the-box. All mains had to be shimmed to get proper clearance. Mysister was able to get it to throw a rod bearing, I suppose by neglecting oil changes and driving in Milwaukee winter for short distances, thus filling the oil pan with a good amount of condensation. I think she made it 100 miles towards Indpls before it ate the rod bearing. We took the crankshaft out and Dad had the rod journal welded and machined to normal. We replaced all rod and main bearings, and ALL the valves and valve guides. Ugh. They got hammered out and hammered back in, reamed, and so on. I got to drive it once. Saw a pic of one recently on a Custom Car magazine, and it was going for $50k or so. So, $25 with broken u-joint(inside the torque tube) to that is some performance. Sister hated it. Guess she figured Mom and Dad should have given her something better. Older brother got it, drove for years, and put that engine into a Chevy Van of the mid-1960', the flat-nose one like and Econoline. That would have been in the 1970's so the rebuild we did must have lasted. I do not think it was ever taken care of, but it kept going. The cylinder head guides pointed the I & E valves in different directions. Sears had a valve cutting kit(manual) for $20 so we(I) cut the seats for the new valves to go along with the new guides. Another Ugh. Fun fun fun.
As a little more testament to the durability of this grand old engine, Checker Motor Co. used it for many years (the maker of taxicabs). I drove a cab in the mid 70's. They were indeed pretty bulletproof, though their gas mileage was only about 10 in the city and maybe 15 on a long highway run.
Thank you so much for sharing that I totally knew about checker cab using this engine but I forgot about it all in the same Studebaker also use these engines I believe they used to 235 when they ran out of engines..
I remember as a young mechanic starting out in the 80’s the guy at the body shop next to the shop I worked at paid me $75 bucks to do a head gasket on a 51 Chevy with a 235. I had to take the head over to the machineshop and have the crack in the water jacket stitched up. The crack was in one of the exhaust valve ports, so the machinists drilled and tapped a hole at 5/16 , inserted bolt and then drilled intersecting (overlaps) holes and installed another bolt and repeated all along the crack line , then cut bolt head and ground down till flush , stitching the crack . The only issue I ran into was the value cover gasket, the guy at body shop gave me a head gasket set that was from the 50’s and I didn’t know that those old cork gasket had to be soaked in water to swell up and expand before installing , he wanted me to pay for a new gasket and I told him he owed me for gas and time for taking the head to the machine shop because that wasn’t part of the deal and if he didn’t agree then he could get bent . He respected that and bought a newer gasket and I finished the job , got my $75 bucks and an extra sawbuck for the trip to the machine shop . Miss those days , too many to count since then .
Thank you so much for sharing that story what great memories I didn’t get the live during that time period And I miss it.. I honestly feel like with a lot of stuff going on in the world we are living in the dumbest timeline nobody has common sense anymore it’s incredible how everything is just completely backwards the way things were even 20 years ago.
Thank you I have always been a fan of the chevy 6. Remember most years they outsold ford and did not have a v8 until 1955. One if the main reasons was they were easier and cheaper to work on.
The GMC engine came out in 1939. These engines were insert bearing full pressure lubricated from ‘ 39 on. Not much in common with the Chevy stovebolt. Very few if any parts interchanged
1968 we acquired a 1950 chevy 2 door hardtop with 12`000 miles on it at 20,000 it needed a valve job i lifted the head off and there was a large chip shaped like a six pressed in the head gasket ( boy they must have really been slamming them out ) at 24,000 miles i junked the car i had to repair everything .
I’m a huge Chevy fan in terms of parts interchangeability.. I love that you can have an engine from the 80s and take a transmission from the 50s and it work
My dad had a 1936 Chevrolet pickup with a 216. He said the only problem was the carburetor would give some trouble. Can’t remember what he said it would do but probably needed to be redesigned possibly. Later we bought the neighbors 1941 sedan. Same engine. It ran ok. Probably got the bugs out by then.
So did we, a 1965 300 deLuxe 4 door sedan with the 194, great little engine, great car, briefly one time did 110 mph on a good straight and then the valves floated and clattered, immediately slowed down, scared along with my buddy riding shotgun, fortunately the hydraulic lifters quickly settled and everything was fine, no apparent damage. Relieved, we u-turned for home at legal speeds.
My 55 Pontiac had the 261. After having it for a while, I drove a 55 Chev with a 235. The 261 had noticeably more grunt. It came out in the 54 Chev trucks.@@markchandler1130
In 1995 in an engine rebuilding shop. There was a stovebolt 228 block from a fire truck sitting next to an early toyota land cruiser F engine. The boss and i were amazed as the blocks were almost identical. Only the toyota had metric threads.
I’m so glad that you got something out of this episode I really enjoyed putting this one together. I was so happy with all the advertisement pieces I was able to find wait until you see the ads in today’s episode it’s absolutely incredible the advertisements that are out there for this card 1904 Oldsmobile model 6C
I never new that. My Dad told me that the starter motor of the 235 Chevy engine fits on the 1st generation Toyota Landcruiser inline 6 cylinder engine.
Toyota made a metric copy of the 207 in 1938 known as the B series engine and used this basic design all the way through the F series engines which went out of production in 1992. Fantastically durable engines.
HI Jay!: Ahhhhh. . .the Chevrolet Six! The engine Henry Ford loved to hate!! You have to say, though, that the old stovebolt six, has to be at least AS important as their later small block V-8. Chevrolet started outselling Ford regularly after the 1929 Chevy Six came out. Ford tried everything to out cylinder Chevy, including trying an experimental inline 5! Vibration problems caused that one to go by the wayside! The Flathead V-8 followed. So you can really say that there would never have been a Ford Flathead V-8 if it hadn't been for the stovebolt!! It was YEARS before Ford finally offered an inline 6!! WYR#1 1955 'vette, for SURE! #2 I kind of like the 1940 Chev. truck!!
Thank you so much for sharing that insight great choices I would rather have an overhead valve Chevy over A flathead Ford V8 because they don’t overheat
WYR: 1955 Vette (although, would take the new to the Vette V8) and 1940 Chevy truck. Heck, the 2 of those would be a great start to a car collection. Great breakdown as always - thank you ~ Chuck
Great choices 1940 Chevy truck is actually kind of a disappointment that it’s only one year only body style I think that truck is absolutely will be gorgeous and I would take it over Ford any day because of the engine. We need to cover more trucks on this channel that’s for sure.. i’m going to an AMC show on Sunday to separate the early stuff I wanna get back in there some 50s and 60s stuff it’s been a while =)
It’s amazing how backwards everything is today I have kids and my daughter persist on wearing long sleeve shirt with short pants which is backwards to me because I wear long pants and short sleeve shirts very rarely do I ever wear a long sleeve shirt.. even in winter I’ll wear a coat but Usually I’ll have short sleeve under idk lol Nothings built to last anymore everything is disposable whereas these engines were machines and they were built to last yes you had to do more periodic maintenance to make to keep them going.
Bulletproof hell!...These engines had alot of issues one of which was chronic cracking of the heads.They liked to throw rods as well which earned them the babbit pounder 6 nickname.I can remember both my grandparents talking about all the trouble they had with these engines and with alot of disgust.Hagerty made a video on youtube rebuilding one of these and they showed a few tricks to get around some of the poor designs in this engine but they ended up having to use the cracked cylinder head because they are all cracked.
My impression is that the early Chevrolet sixes were cheap and failure prone,I assume that the later 4 main bearing models were much improved I think the later 230 was quite reliable as long as the head bolts got checked for retorque,I don't know if just once in the car's lifetime was enough or was it something that needed doing every time the ignition points and spark plugs got replaced ? Someone got a 292 into his old manual transmission mid 1960s pickup truck and that thing had quite a rush to the redline in first gear starts if you managed not to break the rear tires loose the 292 I think was sold only in larger trucks such as stake body farm trucks and small dump trucks @@jimmillet1442
They actually have squirters in the oil pan and you have to target them during assembly they actually made a tool for it also you use shims to set bearing clearances
Interesting history / evolution of the Chevy inline 6 engines... It appears that some of the most significant changes were made after WW2 when they went with pressurised lubrication, shell type replaceable bearings, and improved engine coolant circulation.... These 3 things helped these machines to last much longer, and become highly rebuildable, which gave them an improved core value... It also improved the resale value of the vehicles equipped with these improved designs.
Glad you dig this episode thank you so much for sharing all that insight it’s amazing that this engine use cast iron pistons until 1954 that’s how I got the nickname cast iron wonder lol =)
@@lurch789 Interesting.... The info here on this video led the viewer to believe that the shell type bearings for many of their automotive engines, were becoming available (to the general public) after the WW2 conflict was over.... Were the military vehicles equipped with removable shell-type bearings, to facilitate 'Field type repairs' since most of those machines were located in other continents? I'm thinking that many of the improvements were developed during or even previous the various wars, as those conditions necessitated and eventually required in many ways to be the perfect proving grounds for vehicle performance and reliability... In 1936, our country, was struggling with the depression, and the upper levels of our government KNEW at that time, that the U.S. involvement of the war with Germany and Japan and their allies, was rapidly becoming an inevitable situation, that the U.S. eventually HAD to get into the middle of... So many things changed rapidly and became completely different , from what was originally planned , because of the wars, that it is sometimes difficult to be able to accurately track their progress....Your thoughts on this, Mr. Lurch ?
@@michaelmartinez1345 Shell type bearings were a technology that came a really long way during WW2, largely because aircraft engines were running more and more boost and thus putting immense strain on their bearings. The US and UK developed lots of very clever technology to allow them to produce shells that could perform well even under extreme load and with the interruptions to oil flow that might occur in a fighter plane during a dogfight. For example Rolls Royce developed a technique for centrifugal casting of the copper-lead layer of the bearing, while US engineers figured out that plating the shells with silver or indium could greatly improve their survival in extreme conditions. A lot of those same engineers would have moved into the auto industry post war (or they had never left the auto industry, e.g. Packard had been building Rolls Royce Merlins, Allison built their own V-1710 and was part of GM, Ford had developed their own V-12 aviation engine but ended up converting it into a V-8 for use in tanks). So they brought their knowledge with them and added it to the new engines being developed post war.
Hi Jay. My view is that the 53/54 and newer Blue Flame engines were a major enough redesign that they ceased from that point to be Stovebolt engines, and they in fact used more elegant screws on the sheet metal parts. The visual giveaway is that the Blue Flame engines had the rocker cover bolts around the sides, as opposed to the two in the centre. On Babbitt bearings, I'm no fan either, but they were malleable, such that when they wore, you could take a shim or two out of the rod caps and the bearings would re-circularise themselves. Cheers.
I totally agree I was going to make that same statement in the middle but the more I looked at it it did look sort of like a stove bolts still it’s not like the turbo thrift engines that come later they don’t look anything like the original Stove bolt series Thank you so much for adding all that added information greatly appreciate it =)
Yep, old tech or not, people made it work, and an understanding of it is still a worthwhile thing to have. I doubt that many Stovebolt sizes got up to 100,000 miles without a major overhaul, that being mostly due to the quality of the oils and oil filtration of the time, but if the rod bearings got a bit noisy at 60,000, the owner could keep the motor going by dropping the pan and take shims out of the rods, guided by a 20c packet of plastigage.
Later generation of the motor morphed into the Pontiac OHC six. Cut-off at the knees by the bean counters. Motor was copied by one of the Japanese manufacturers in the 30s. Inspired the smaller Aussie Holden inline 6 (smaller bore spread iirc). The bore centers on this engine. Same as the SBC, LS and other Chevrolet engines. Likely influenced to some degree the Ford inlines along with Nash and AMC. Although Nash went 7 main bearings much earlier.
Chevy returned with a thinwall cast six that shared the V8’s inexpensive valve train in 1962 on the new Chevy II. They made it a 194. I had a coupe as an old car in 1976. It would do 105, the same top speed as a 1956 with the “power pack”. It was a good car, but the torque converter spinning at 4” off the ground led to its demise.
1940 pickup for sure 😁
Going with No Leaf Clover by Metallica 😅
Yeah buddy
And it feels right this time!! Congratulations you got it I love that song that one was live with San Francisco orchestra.
Great choice as well
1904 Oldsmobile curved dash aka model 6C is coming today =)
@@What.its.like.Thanks! Pretty cool performance for sure
I am 72 years old. Before my parents and family moved from Ohio to California my parents purchased a 1956 Chevrolet BelAir that had the 235 cubic inch in line 6 cylinder engine and a 3 speed manual transmission. Over the years my parents owned that car my father did most of the work and maintenance on that Chevrolet in line 6 cylinder engine. So I have memories of that engine.
My brother had 54 Bel Air he bought in 1971 for 200 bucks. Traded it in on a new car in 73 before I could buy it off of him.
My mom had a 1953 Chevy Bel Air with powerglide and a straight 6. She sold it 1968 for a 1968 Camaro (327 V8 and powerglide). I called the '53 "that crazy automobile" and the Camaro I called "the Baja". I still name things in a quirky way.
My dad is dead now, he was born in 41, but he said in 1958 his dad (who worked in the interstate highway project) bought a 1958 Chevy Belair with something like a 350cu V8 with triple duces and my dad said that was fast. I think it did 0-60 in 8 seconds, and that was fast! That's when my family got into racing cars. My Grandma had a BMW 6 series in the 60's with the batwings. I'm sure she cleaned up on the freeways of LA
When i was ten, my dad had a 54 chevy with a 235 six cylinder and a 2 speed powerglide. When you tried to pass someone, it would shift down, raise hell , and slow down 5 mph then shift back to high gear and gradually get past them. Always 2 quarts low on oil because of the valve covers. But, they were easy to fix and lasted a long time. Thanks for the memories!
Thank you so much for sharing those memories with us, it’s amazing what music or a car or a car engine can do can take you back to a totally different part of time, with all of the emotions and feelings that you felt the last time you saw or heard that song. Powerful stuff
About 15 years ago, I came across an original 36 Chevy pickup, sitting in a shed, behind an antique store that we were in.
The owners were the kids of the original owners.
I asked if the would sell it.
No one in the family had any interest in it.
I asked if it ran.
They said it ran when it was parked, several years prior.
I had some tools in my truck, and started fooling around with it.
Went to the local Napa store and bought a battery, fresh oil, starting fluid, plugs and wires.
And fresh gas.
It fired right up!
It had a 207 in it.
We made a deal and I drove it 130 nail biting miles home. 40-45 mph max I dared drive.
5.56 gears!!
Brakes barely worked, and the water pump leaked from the packing.
Stopped frequently to add water, but made it.
Fixed all of the mechanical issues, easily.
Super simple machine.
Still use it for bopping around town, and promoting my business.
I love that little inline!!!
Put a glass pack on it, and it sounds sooo good 😃😃
Great story thank you so much for sharing those memories with us with the gears being so high I had to do a step off the gas in the engine would already start slowing down I drove some really low end gear cars like that in there very interesting.
I was in a debate on a mustang form earlier today and I said the question is it really.. still considered a machine new cars your so isolated from the driving experience. You don’t really feel anything that’s going on. I think that’s why I like the vintage/classic stuff. Because you’re part of driving the machine it’s an experience, his comeback was something to the effect that that mustang will run circles around the old one and I was like yeah but you can only go 80 miles an hour without getting a substantial speeding ticket it’s not all about speed. It’s about the experience =)
good muffler pick.
We moved to California from Florida in 1963. Our 1959 Chevy Biscayne w/3 speed on the tree towed a trailer, trunk was full, and a family of five all the way without any problems. After we settled in Santa Clara we owned that car many more years. Legendary engine! A real "workhorse!"
Awesome story thank you so much for sharing that memory
I had a 1978 Chevy with the 250 straight six. What an engine! Combined the power of a 4 cylinder with the fuel economy of a V8.
It is a pretty common engine here in Brazil. 250 4.1L inline 6 engine.
Not surprising given it was during the Malaise Era.
55 Vette
40 Chevy truck
Those stove bolt 6 bangers were solid engines. Maybe even considered stodgy by some people. Nothing fancy but they just kept working. But by 1954 Chevrolet had to have known they badly needed a V8 . They were late to the game but when they finally did come out with a V8 engine it made history. The Chevy small block is one of the most successful automotive engines ever produced.
I've never really been a Chevy guy but even I have to admit it's a great engine.
Great choices
I like the design of this engine I don’t think it looks stodgier outdated I think it looks cool and unique
Chevy had some teething problems with the V8 at first couple years too but when they got it straightened out that was one of the most legendary engines ever.. going to totally hit that one day I just haven’t figured out where I want to draw the line to break that up because it’s gonna be a long one tons of different engine displacements
Ford during the same time offered many different engine families like the Y block FE engine family Windsor family I think they had a small block engine family as well but that might be the Windsor family whereas Chevy just had the small block Chevy that whole duration because it was a bulletproof design once they got in block oil filtration sorted.
Thank you so much for the conversation I appreciate your comments on all of the videos =)
One reason the SBC was so successful is they built like a gazillion of them. Early SBCs were known as oil burners until the rings set.
Setting valves with the engine running?! That finally explains my father's battered feeler gauges.
My brother in law has an old 53 stake truck with stovebolt six. He needs an exhaust manifold for it. I told him where there are two of them, in my younger brothers back yard. He'll have to go prospecting for one, they have both been underground since 1977. Since I buried two 235 55 Chevy engines.
I think I still know where they are.
One of the best in line 6's ever. I have owned 3 different displacements, and they never broke, not once. Could have used a rebuild, but ran fine, burned a bit of oil, and always fired right up.
The old Checker Marathon taxi cabs used the 250 cubic inch inline Chevy six bangers. Those cabs would go 400k miles with those engines in city traffic under all sorts of weather conditions. They were practically indestructible. Often times the body of the car would rot out and fail before the engines did. Great workhorse.
the cab companies often put Frantz bypass toilet paper filters on those cars
The 261 stovebolt was used in Canadian built Pontiacs up til '62. Hydraulic lifters, and the higher flowing head from the 235 cid Corvette 6 of the era. 148 hp.
Awesome information I think it’s interesting that different markets got different versions
@@What.its.like. Canadian Pontiac 261 used the Corvette hydraulic lifter cam. It never had full flow oiling like US models had.
Corvette, and '41 Pickup. [As for the music clip, forget it. I thought they werre just tuning up.]
Looking forward to your next chapter. I have a 292 L6, RPO option # L25, in my '68 C/10 Stepside. I bought the truck in 1973. Fifty years later, I still have it. I rebuilt another junkyard 292 in 1977, and ran that block until 2002 -- it was blowing big blue smoke rings of SAE 50 weight oil on every acceleration. But I ran it for 25 years and 250,000 miles. Then I rebuilt the original engine -- which I had saved in crates -- Bored .030-over, Badger pistons, Crane cam 260H, oversized intake valves [1.84'' not 1.6''] Offy intake, Edelbrock 500 CFM four barrel carb, Clifford headers. 405,000 on the clock.
For sure I can’t wait to do that episode not entirely sure when that one’s coming though I’d like to do some more weird and obscure ones like the Corvair engine Hudson twin H
Thank you so much for sharing all that insight and information really appreciate it
I had quite a number of Chevy 6's as a young man. Damn good stuff, they were.
That video was awesome. I had a 1949 chevy 4-door deluxe styleline that I regrettably had to sell a few years ago. My buddy and I got it from the original owners wife. The original owner bought it in ‘49 and passed away in ‘52. It sat till we got it in 2006 and started working on it. It only had 8,850 original miles. I miss that car.
Glad you did this video thank you so much for sharing those memories it’s never too late to find another one it’s amazing what can be found on Facebook marketplace on the cheap.
This channel exists to inspire people, to go after those cars because like I said it’s never too late have a cool car to have it as a daily driver or call weekend cruiser I really don’t want to see the stuff go away. I went into a gas station yesterday where everything was screens even where you got beverages with screens and it’s just we have too much screens like where are all the analog gauges that anymore I don’t know maybe it’s just me
Drove a 54 Pickup daily for 7 years. The 235 was absolutely bulletproof, quiet and smooth. It also ran so much better with the Weber two barrel. A delightful motor that was later licensed to Mercedes and Toyota.
My grandmother gifted me her 1940 Chevy Business Coupe when I was 16. So my pick would be the ‘40 truck. I’m now 79 and I still will I had kept that car!
Dad’s 1949 Chev panel van; then his 1955 Chev van. These were what I learned to drive in, especially the 48’. Floor starter and manual choke as I remember. Had a Land Cruiser that had basically a 235 hp six they got from GM. Great and reliable engine.
Great story thank you so much for sharing that memory with us do you still have it
@@What.its.like. Thank you!
Toyota didn’t get the I6 from GM
@@flight2k5 I may stand corrected but it has been my belief that the six(basic block) used in the Land Cruiser was the I6 GM used for decades; if not it doesn’t really matter much to me now decades later. I did a total rebuild of the engine about 1978 and was told that information on the block by the machine shop that bored out the block thus the basis for my belief and comment.
Thanks Jay, I didn't know that the stovebolt 6 went all the way back to 29! I bought a 51 chevy pickup back in the 80's, these engines really were well built despite their reputation of busting babbit bearing. Ran remarkably smoothly and quietly, though the truck rode like a lumber wagon. Thanks again for the video featuring this engine!! ⛽😊
You bet man I’m glad you did this episode I love engine episode Wednesday is one of my favorite segments =)
Had a 235.5 in a 62 2-door Suburban. Amazingly smooth engine. Particularly at idle - just dead smooth at 450 to 500 rpm idle.
Awesome I never drove a vehicle with a 235 but I did drive one with the 216 and it was very brisk..
I used to drive a fire engine that was a 51 chev with a 216. Knowing about the poured bearings I was amazed it kept going for decades. It was in service for over 30 years.
That’s incredible =)
My introduction to the Chevy 6 came a little later, in a 66 BelAir with a 250. burned oil all day long, but worked. Every. Damn. Time.
The technological advances made for engines during this time was astounding. It does seem as though there was some "we'll try this" "we'll try that", but in the end it paved the way for some legendary engines down the road. FoMoCo's 200, AMC's 232, and the nuclear blast proof Mopar 225. 1) '53 Bel Air 2) Neither. Since we're talking GM 6's... I'm going of list with my own choice... the truck I learned how to drive standard on, and yes, it was a double clutch... 1953 GMC 350... it was a tanker for our volunteer fire department.
Awesome choices how do you like your gmc tanker? I have a 52 Chevy 1 ton stake bed. I love my truck I didn’t put it in the line up because I didn’t want to show favoritism mine doesn’t have the original drive train don’t have to double clutch anymore =) but really only had to double to get it in 2nd from third but my truck didn’t have the original drive train when I bought it going to cover it again on September 21
@@What.its.like. Oh, that's been long gone... my Gramps taught me how to drive it (and others) when I was 14. They bought a new tanker in '79, and 309 went to a pool filling company.
In 1968 when i was only 4 years old, my father let me pick out the 1960 bel air that he bought for my sister's jr year in college. Dad had a sense of humor. The pale green sedan had the 235 with the powerglide transmission. Aka, the powerslide. Or the slush o matic... All three of my older siblings used the car in school until the car was stored in the machine shed waiting for me to turn 16. I restored the car and switched out the power glide for a 3 on the tree with overdrive. It made the car more fun to drive and it had a little more power. But ultimately the thing was a dog and about as aerodynamic as the broad side of a barn. I finally sold the car when I was 29 to a woman who wanted a vintage car for her band to be seen in.
Awesome story I can’t believe Chevy put this six-cylinder in full size cars thank you so much for sharing those memories =)
Ah, yes. Likely my favorite engine series.
My first car was a used 1955 Chevy 150, 2 door sedan, 235 IL6, three on the tree.
Did most of my own maintenance on that car.
Even with it's foibles, that 235 was a reliable, easy to maintain, solid engine.
Oh, yeah, I started driving that car in 1962.
Awesome =)
I like the 194-230-250-292 series...the 292 is a little-known beast...I wish they had done better marketing them and sold more, they are hard to find now. The 292 will easily out-pull a SBC in a truck...just don't expect good gas mileage from one...never driven a 261, I wonder how it compared to the 292?...
Had one in my chev blitz truck, gave it the boot and fitted a 235 blue flame, a much better motor!
I had 216cc & 235cc engines in a couple of panel trucks & sedan deliveries when I was a kid. Loved those old sixes! I lost the oil pump one night driving home from work on the 216. I had a quart of oil in the back, so I just poured it over the rockers & drove it home. No big deal! Oh, the '40 PU, absolutely!
Great story thank you so much for sharing those memories =)
Back in the day when you could do that easy so much plastic stuff coving the engine now
@@What.its.like. I had GREAT times in that old '50 Panel! One night I came out after work, middle of the night, some SOB had forced the door, turned on the key trying to steal it, then gave up & ran away. The stupid bastard was too dumb to STEP on the starter pedal! lol (The ignition switch was so worn, almost anything would have turned it to on), Trouble was the ignition switched on burned up the points! Unbelievable! I had a new set I was planning to install on the next day off. Luckily, I had a screwdriver set, but no feeler gauge. I had a matchbook, that is approximately .018, the point gap called for. Swapped out the points & drove her home! I miss those days when life made more sense!
Ive had an interest in those chevy 6 motors from stovebolts,blueflames and now the turbthrift motors too. They were also used in the British Bedford trucks too and GMH Australia based both their earlier engines on these American counterparts. The Holden grey motor from the 48/215 of 1948 up till late 1963 to the EJ Holden was based on the stovebolt chevy 6 but already had a full pressure oiling system and had a 131 CID and from 1960 it was increased to 138 CID . In august 1963 the new red motor came out in the EH Holden and was based on the Bedford truck and turbothrift motors and look amost identical withe the same external architecture but slightly smaller block and came in 138,149,161,173,179,186 and 202 CID and 130 CID export only and were manufactured up till february 1986 in the VK commodore and in 1980 the colour changed from red to blue and then black in 1984 and any that are not familiar with the chev GM and the GMH Australian engines can easily mistake them as they both ,Holden grey motor comparison to stovebolt chev and Holden red motor to chevys turbothrift GM motor at firstay confuse some with the untrained eye for these American and Australian motors as the Holden red motor has an external oil pump as the turbothrift is internal and the distributers are in different places on the bocks and o have seen the 4 cylinder version of this motor too known as the iron duke and our local Aussie version of that was called the Starfire 4 we ised in the locally built toyota coronas 1980 82 and rarly commodores and Holdens medium sized torana.
Thank you so much for sharing all that information and insight it’s crazy to think that they didn’t offer the same engines everywhere
My late father (b.1912) as a young man followed any news between Ford and Chevy. He recalled to me that with the intro of the Stovebolt 6, Chevy walked away from the 4 banger Ford. He had a '32 Chevy coupe (?). As a family we had a '39 4 Dr. MD, and a '51 GMC panel. Easy to work on, not like today. Narragansett Bay.
Awesome thank you so much for sharing those memories with me =)
I’m not biased on company or anything like that but I would rather have an overhead valve six than a flathead V-8 I should’ve included that in the would you rather. I’m not a huge flathead Ford V8 fan they’re overrated in my opinion you have to do tons of work to them to get any major power out of them not saying that they’re not cool they’re cool but I think they’re vastly overrated.. especially when you consider you could get the same amount of power out of this with two Less cylinders and better fuel economy..
Thank you for all your hard work. I have a lot of old MOTOR books from 40s ,50s and 60s . They would be in all the service stations when I was a kid. But it's more fun watching your videos than thumbing through them. Great that you started this engine series . Lots of younger folk never heard of or saw these engines. They were all part of the evolution of the great engines that came in the 60s. I have a 64 Chevelle with a 194 six. It will outlive me for sure! Only 28,000 miles on it , all original. Waiting for you to cover that series next.
That’s why I did the engine episodes because there’s so much conflicting information plus it makes me research and find out all the right information like the 235 a lot of people think that all of the 235s have pressurized oil lubrication and that’s not true.. it also gives information about engines such as splash lubrication engines you can’t drive as fast with a splasher or not for as long a period of time as you can with a full pressurize oil system because it doesn’t splash as much if it’s driving faster if that makes any sense.. I wonder if there is modifications that can be made to some of the older engines to pressurize oil lubrication so you could drive the cars faster for longer periods of time without starving bearings for oil.
Do you have a Chevelle with a six cylinder I’ve never seen a Chevelle with a six cylinder that is super interesting the big car for that power plant
Glad you dig this episode I don’t know what engine episode is coming up next I kind of wanna do something obscure but it might be the Y block Ford not sure tho
Canadian-built Pontiacs which were basically Pontiac bodies mounted on Chevrolet chassis and running gear came standard with the Chevrolet 261 6-cylinder engines, but with hydraulic lifters from 1955 through to the 1962 model years, while similar year Chev passenger cars made do with the smaller 235 engine as standard equipment.
Great information thank you so much for sharing that =)
US Pontiacs were also on Chevrolet, or shared frames. I had a 66 Impala and a 67 Le Mans. I did en engine swap from the Impala to the Le Mans, and used Chevelle parts, including transmission cross member and drive shaft.
Same here. I miss that engine..it is great for full size pickup trucks..
I had several 1960's vehicles with the inline 6 . Jumping ahead , the best was a 1970 Pontiac Tempest with a Powerglide . They hit the ball out of the park . The gear ratios , etc. all combined to make an excellent car . It was the last year before the OHV , " rubberband " six came out . The tail started to sag . It was easy to put in a set of Moog Cargo Coil springs . Nice ride height and extra weight capacity . The distributors had a single shaft bushing and they did wear out . If you changed hydraulic lifters , they usually mushroomed and you had to use a puller on them to remove . A lot of room under the hood . There are now 4 cylinder engines that produce over 300 HP !
Thank you so much for sharing all of that insight and information
Modern engines yes they can produce more power the crazy thing is is some of those carbureted engine kit is same gas mileage is there claiming to be revolutionary now AMC 196 powered cars could get 32 miles to the gallon with overdrive all the seats fold into a bed and you’re telling me they can’t do any better now.. even with hybrid technology
My grandfathers 1926 chevy farm truck had this engin in it so trucks got this engine first. the engine lasted 68kmiles in farm service and still ran great in 1960 when the truck was sold because the brakes would not stop the 5 ton loads carried in the dump box. great truck.
Thank you so much for sharing that story what great memories =)
its possible I was wrong about the year. but, the truck was modified. it started life as a 3/4 ton flatbed. with modification of overload springs and dual rear wheels/ large dump box yes it would haul 5 tons(that I am sure of) it was not fast. we never pushed it over 40mph. had a 4 speed floor shift transmission with a low first gear for tough going. you put gas in it by taking out the passenger seat cushion. we never filled the tank all the way as it would slosh out and fill the cab with fumes. there was no smoking on the farm and very little beer as grandpa said you can not farm from inside a beer joint. I was a happy kid.
Well, I've been a Chevy guy for a long time. I currently drive a 1967 Chev Caprice. Back in the day, I had a 1931 Chev coupe, and a 1936 Chev coupe, both with the old six banger. My Dad bought a brand new !957 Chev Bel Aire with the new 283 cu in V8. A couple of years later, I bought a 1956 Chev Bel Aire 2 Dr. Hardtop with the 265 cu in. engine. Loved 'em all. Wouldn't have a new one now if they gave it to me!
Awesome, i tell people the same one can drive whatever they wish why buy something that costs more than a house and when its done its worthless..
Love my Stovebolt. 62 Bel Air, three on the tree. Great video!
Glad you dig this video awesome car too by the way =)
I have a 1941 pickup with a 1954 235 engine, tranny, and driveline swapped in. Cruises all day at about 62-65mph at 2900 RPM. Great vehicle for a 23yo like me!
Sweet thank you so much For sharing your truck with us on here =)
All the trucks! And the 49 car, id love to have any old Chevy from the 20's or 30's ,40's
Thanks for the video Jay, I didn’t know Chev made such a big range of 6’s.
The Chev and Holden 6’s were very similar in design but with different capacities, and outputs. The Holden inline 6 only went from 1948 - 1986 I think when the imported an inline 6, both naturally aspirated and a turbo charged version from Nissan before borrowing the 3.8ltr V6 from Buick and re engineering it for RWD use. It ended up powering Cadillacs at some point in time
Interesting information glad you dig this video.. it’s so weird seeing other countries and what they did and I’m sure you feel the same way when you watch something from America like wow they did a totally different than we did I wish we would’ve gotten the hemi six cylinder that engine sounds incredible on paper and on video just doesn’t sound like anything else..
Holden went with an even fire crankshaft for the V6, the same type used in the 90' Chev V6, did Buick ever use the even fire crankshaft?@@lurch789
@@lurch789 The Buick 3.8 L fitted to Australian Holden products was a front wheel drive module. When fitted to our RWD chassis the coolant outlet line was at the firewall and had to be externally piped to the front of the car, the engine mount fouled access to the starter motor meaning the engine had to be lifted slightly and the entire mount removed to replace the starter. The throttle body also faced the rear from memory and the coil pack which would have been at the front in cool air on a FWD was now tucked down by the inner guard (fender) and was a constant source of issues in our hot climate. As was the water pump in early years as the relocation of the A/C compressor for RWD meant the compressor load was being carried by the tiny water pump bearing. It was a cheap and nasty refit, it was obvious the chassis had been designed around the Nissan RB30 engine but changes in corporate ownership and currency exchange rates stopped that.
Good information. I had no idea that the chevy engine was so slow in advancement. In fact I was told the first chevy was made in 1955 & some told me 1957. All I can say is they sure made a 360 in engine change. An older guy told chevys run forever as long as you don't try to follow a Ford V8!!
Chevy goes back to 1911 and wasn’t part of gm until 1918 they always used overhead valve engines since inception.. pros and cons to both ford and Chevy but at the very least chevys don’t overheat like flathead v8s do
55 vette, a no brainer, and a 40 truck . I liked how they advertised their improvements with catchy names. They really do not do that now.Great vid ,thx.
Great choices I absolutely love the advertisement pieces as well they don’t do advertising like they did back then and I really miss it. Glad you got something out of this episode. =)
Nice video. A granddad had a number of cars and pickups with the stove bolt beginning with a 36 Standard two door. I don’t recall him saying how many times he overhauled it - at least once - but it had racked up a bit over 200k by the time he stopped reaping the tag in 1962. I could probably still do basic stuff to a mid 50s 235 to get in running. I preferred the Turbo Thrift 250 more, but I do appreciate something with. 235 still moving under its own power.
Awesome thank you so much for sharing those memories =) and insight the turbo thrift is the better engine I was amazed they made these engines in foreign markets for as long as they did knowing the turbo thrift was a thing
I have a 1937 Pontiac with a Chev stove-bolt engine. It is 224. Canada built the Pontiac with the Chev engine, a 216 with a longer stroke and called the car a 224. Great car great engine
Awesome =) thank you so much for sharing your car with us what body style and color?
The later Chevy 235 I6 engine (full pressure and insert bearing, not babbitt) is my favorite engine of all time. I have one in my restored 1960 Chevy pickup and it runs like a fine watch. I've had many vehicles over the last 50+ years with the 235. They are a dependable engine for sure, easy to work on and maintain as well. Also, there are lots of aftermarket parts for this engine for those who want more power output. I prefer them stock myself.
Yeah but that didn’t happen until 1953 (corvette ) 1954 everything else 235 before 1954 has splash lubricated as well as Babbitt bearings 1954 they make the switch
@@What.its.like. -- Oh trust me, I know. I've been around these engines all my life, and I'm old. That's why I said the later 235's are my favorite of all time (1955 thru 1962). This one time back in the early 1980's I had a pickup with the 235, and the engine had a huge crack in the block. I sealed the crack with high temp JB weld and the engine ran fine, LOL. Although it started to leak water again after a couple months. I just sealed it again and kept driving. The only six cylinder engine that I would say is better is the Dodge 225 slant six. Those engines are indestructible!! The Ford 300 straight six is a good engine as well. But there is something about those Chevy straight 6 engines I love.
One day I’d love to get a ford 300 amc 232 Chevy 292 and dodge 225 drain the oil an see which lasts the longest tired engines of course it would be a great episode I think
@@What.its.like. -- Chevy 292 is a great engine!! Lots of torque. I had a 1965 Chevy 2 ton truck with 292. Ran great and got the job done. The world straight 6 speed record was set with a Chevy 292 at Bonneville. I knew the guy who set the record when I belonged to the "Inliners Club", which is a club or organization that is for people who own any vehicle with an inline engine, whether its an inline 4,6,8...... The club originally started for Chevy inline engines only but eventually expanded to include any make.
I really want to build a vintage Grand Prix race car build my own body taking existing chassis and just build it to my specifications the PowerPoint that I would use would be at 292 Chevy triple side drafts Webbers big cam.. five speed stick with a two speed rear end 373 is in 514 it would be incredible I wanna build that car on a budget just to prove it can be done..
I worked on a lot of construction equipment back in 1970s and a lot of our equipment had GM in line sixes and some had the Continental sixes. Those old engines were very smooth and quiet and were virtually bullet proof. The funny thing was our gasoline was 86 octane, and our chief mechanic told me that these old engines gained another ten horse power because the old octane rating when these engines were new was 80 octane! In fact we had a 1951 Ford tractor that could run on 68 octane and kerosene, so we added two quarts of diesel fuel to it's tank when ever we gassed it up.
@@bullettube9863 thank you so much for sharing that insight and those memories =)
@@What.its.like. My former co-worker just sent me an email telling me that the 1954 sidehill rollers are still running! They have the Continental 6cyl engines. These rollers have two large rollers on one side and two 15in rubber tires on the other side. They are used to compact fill in ditches and on slopes, or can be used to compact asphalt strips along a road. It's incredible to think that these machines are still doing their job despite never have been overhauled! But then we always took care of them!
I had a 72 Nova with a Chevy inline 6, also drove Checker cabs in the 60s that had that engine and in my later years I had a 1953 Chevy 2 ton dually with that 6 that had a 4 speed with 2 speed axle.
We used to call those the sewing machines because the valve noise reminded us of a sewing machine.😂😂
I believe all 216's had replaceable shell insert main bearings. I know Dad's 1940 truck (with original engine) had replaceable mains for sure. These inserts did use shims so the oil clearance was adjustable. The rods were poured Babbitt until 1953 when inserts were used with the full pressure oiling. If I remember right, shims on the main inserts went away about 1955 or '56.
The 216 was notorious for breaking Babbitt bearings I’m not sure if it was different in foreign markets I’ve also heard GMC offered engines that may have had shell bearings.. i’m not familiar at all with the GMC equivalent
Interesting story I heard from my former boss: His Dad worked for a logging company in Flagstaff AZ in the 1930's through at least the '60's. Around 1940 they were phasing out the railroad for hauling logs to the mill and had a 1940 Chevy semi tractor with the 216. It would haul 100,000 pound loads of logs out of the forest! Talk about lots of gears! One drawback was the RPM needed to move that load. Engine life was measured in days. At times the engine would need to be replaced every day! Why they didn't just buy a big White or Diamond T, etc., I have no idea.
If that company had 3 or more of those trucks, and reduced the loads to a more reasonable amount, like 35k pounds, they probably would have had much more life in those trucks... In the long run, it would have yielded much higher profits for that company, but going to multiple units co$ts lots of money, and in the 1930's , money was very hard to find....
I recently worked on an ols stove bolt engine, I was amazed to learn it had cast iron pistons. Crazy stuff.
Me too I couldn’t believe how long they use cast-iron pistons for.
Have you done a summary of the newer inline six engines (250 and 292)? Thanks
Not yet but definitely going to do an episode on them eventually
Great. Looking forward to it. I own a 1950 Chevrolet 3600 (¾ ton) pickup, with a 216 engine. The motor needs replacing but I want to use another inline 6, either a 250 or 292. Looking for information. Thanks!
I have a 52 Chevy 3800 series it had a 327 v8 when I bought it not original it has a 350 v8 in it now and honestly that’s the engine that should’ve always been in it I get decent gas mileage that’s the reason I didn’t go with the 292 that engine is bulletproof but it doesn’t return the best fuel economy..
I have 4 speed trans 373 rear 19.5 tires it will go 80 and I get 20 mpg hwy The 350 that’s in mine was from 1986 it was the last year of carburetor before they went to throttle body fuel injection it had three smog pumps on it got rid of all that.. it’s not a really powerful 350 I think it makes 150 hp but that’s plenty that’s more power than it had when it was new..
Another interesting and educational video Jay. When I was young Chevy's with 235 Stovebolts were commonplace as old cars and were cheap. They were candidates for engine swaps and made good hot rods. Often, a small block or big block V8 engine would bolt right in. We didn't appreciate the old sixes. I definitely learned a lot today.
It’s amazing how everything comes full circle nobody liked wagons back in the day either and now they’re the most popular one of the most popular body choices same goes with four-door hardtop so nobody wanted those either..
Glad you got something out of this episode =)
These were great engines
Indescribable
How about some Hudson sixes ? Or even an old International larger flathead six? I think those found their way into a few pickups or "carryalls". @@jerryhaynes7335
I really want to cover the Hudson six but I don’t know if I cover all of them or if I cover if there’s generations of them that’s something I’ll have to look into..
@@What.its.like. A story on the Hudson six would be interesting. I think some had aluminum heads and I know the "Twin H" was the hot setup in the early 50's One of my elderly friends drove one in his youth and he raves about the car.
Fascinating history of Chevy's 6 cylinder engine. I had no idea some of the engines were in production so long. Wow.
=) glad you dig this episode I love the ads that I was able to find
@@What.its.like. Me too
Yeah, tripped out when I saw a stovebolt in an old Land Cruiser!
Toyota at one point owned the patent for the 'stove bolt six' and equipped several of their trucks and Land Cruiser's with that engine. Owned a late 1960's Land Cruiser with the 235 six in it, mated to a 4 speed stick, with 4WD. Tough as nails, very reliable.
Awesome information =)
Another great and informative presentation.Thanks again.
Glad you dig this episode =)
Love engine episode Wednesday’s
When I was 16 years old in 1966 my first car was a 1949 Chevy 2 door fast back that I bought for 25 dollars . So I already had one .
Great story thank you for sharing those memories
In 1966 you paid 236.90 for that car which is unbelievable.. I love the fast backs from that era
My favorite 6 cyl Chevy engine was the 292 that came out in 63. I had one in a 69 C50 truck, it was a powerful engine, but loved the gasoline, 5 mpg.
I love the 292 I think it’s a bulletproof engine my friend wanted to put a 292 in my Chevy truck and I told him no fir that very reason they are bulletproof but they don’t get good gas mileage.. And I’m sure you could adjust the gas mileage in gearing but it was already set up to take a V-8
The 1950 Chevy Powerglide was a semi-automatic transmission. Like the Buick Dynaflow, normal driving was in the drive position, depending on the torque converter to do the heavy lifting. Low gear could be selected for quicker acceleration, or for descending grades. The Chevy Powerglide didn't shift on it's own until the 1953 model year. It was rare to have an automatic in a truck, but both Chevy and GMC would use the Hydramatic through, atleast, the 1954 model year. With the introduction of the V8, Chevy switched to the Powerglide and was more common to find. GMC continued using the Hydramatic into the 1960's. For the light trucks, GMC used Pontiac engines, hence the Hydramatic.
The 261 6 cyl. was available in light trucks too. My grandfather bought new a 1960 Chevy 1/2 ton stepside P/U with a standard column-mounted 3-speed manual transmission and it had the 261 high-torque engine. He and my grandmother would haul their 25 foot travel trailer every summer from their home in Henderson, NV to Sequoia National Park in California. To get there, there was a steep winding mountain road you had to drive on. My grandfather would pull the grade in 2nd gear most of the way.
A friend had a Chevy panel truck which he used in his painting business. It look like the 1940 p/u you have pictured. Until he sold it, I never knew how old it really was. I was shocked to find out that it was from the 1940's.
Thank you so much for sharing all of that added information I always appreciate the feedback that you give I totally dig =)
I've had a few of the 6s over the years. I now have a 55 Bel-Air 4-door with 265 and cast iron powerglide.
Great video! I have owned many Chevy sizes from a 1928 we put into a farm tractor, several 235s in cars & trucks, and a couple 292s in big trucks I owned.
I can’t wait to cover the other engine family 292s are bulletproof, but there’s going to be other engine segments until we get back to this I want to try to lay the groundwork working up to other things I’m not sure what the next episode is going to be. Some engines are hard because information is not on the internet
My first car was a two-door 1954 Chevy. It had the blue flame as I understood, do not remember if there was some tag or decal to that effect. Had bearing shells, but they did not fit out-of-the-box. All mains had to be shimmed to get proper clearance. Mysister was able to get it to throw a rod bearing, I suppose by neglecting oil changes and driving in Milwaukee winter for short distances, thus filling the oil pan with a good amount of condensation. I think she made it 100 miles towards Indpls before it ate the rod bearing. We took the crankshaft out and Dad had the rod journal welded and machined to normal. We replaced all rod and main bearings, and ALL the valves and valve guides. Ugh. They got hammered out and hammered back in, reamed, and so on. I got to drive it once.
Saw a pic of one recently on a Custom Car magazine, and it was going for $50k or so. So, $25 with broken u-joint(inside the torque tube) to that is some performance. Sister hated it. Guess she figured Mom and Dad should have given her something better. Older brother got it, drove for years, and put that engine into a Chevy Van of the mid-1960', the flat-nose one like and Econoline. That would have been in the 1970's so the rebuild we did must have lasted. I do not think it was ever taken care of, but it kept going. The cylinder head guides pointed the I & E valves in different directions. Sears had a valve cutting kit(manual) for $20 so we(I) cut the seats for the new valves to go along with the new guides. Another Ugh. Fun fun fun.
Thank you so much for sharing those memories. =)
As a little more testament to the durability of this grand old engine, Checker Motor Co. used it for many years (the maker of taxicabs). I drove a cab in the mid 70's. They were indeed pretty bulletproof, though their gas mileage was only about 10 in the city and maybe 15 on a long highway run.
Thank you so much for sharing that I totally knew about checker cab using this engine but I forgot about it all in the same Studebaker also use these engines I believe they used to 235 when they ran out of engines..
I remember as a young mechanic starting out in the 80’s the guy at the body shop next to the shop I worked at paid me $75 bucks to do a head gasket on a 51 Chevy with a 235. I had to take the head over to the machineshop and have the crack in the water jacket stitched up. The crack was in one of the exhaust valve ports, so the machinists drilled and tapped a hole at 5/16 , inserted bolt and then drilled intersecting (overlaps) holes and installed another bolt and repeated all along the crack line , then cut bolt head and ground down till flush , stitching the crack . The only issue I ran into was the value cover gasket, the guy at body shop gave me a head gasket set that was from the 50’s and I didn’t know that those old cork gasket had to be soaked in water to swell up and expand before installing , he wanted me to pay for a new gasket and I told him he owed me for gas and time for taking the head to the machine shop because that wasn’t part of the deal and if he didn’t agree then he could get bent . He respected that and bought a newer gasket and I finished the job , got my $75 bucks and an extra sawbuck for the trip to the machine shop . Miss those days , too many to count since then .
Thank you so much for sharing that story what great memories I didn’t get the live during that time period And I miss it.. I honestly feel like with a lot of stuff going on in the world we are living in the dumbest timeline nobody has common sense anymore it’s incredible how everything is just completely backwards the way things were even 20 years ago.
Thank you I have always been a fan of the chevy 6. Remember most years they outsold ford and did not have a v8 until 1955. One if the main reasons was they were easier and cheaper to work on.
=) glad you dig this episode
I would rather have this than a flathead Ford that’s for sure these don’t overheat..
The GMC engine came out in 1939. These engines were insert bearing full pressure lubricated from ‘ 39 on. Not much in common with the Chevy stovebolt. Very few if any parts interchanged
That is super interesting going to have to look at that engine family that is for sure =)
Like this video! I have 40 car 216 went south so put in a 1958 235 from a truck
We just acquired a 33 “ Chevrolet master coach with 207 , only 58000 miles, plenty of torque, great stovebolt
Sweet =)
1968 we acquired a 1950 chevy 2 door hardtop with 12`000 miles on it at 20,000 it needed a valve job i lifted the head off and there was a large chip shaped like a six pressed in the head gasket ( boy they must have really been slamming them out ) at 24,000 miles i junked the car i had to repair everything .
Cool video! I'd pick the 'Vette and the '40 Chevy truck 😎
Sweet =)
Keep these engine videos going! They are awesome!
You bet love engine episode Wednesday =)
Most Chevy in line 6'swere good motors and indestructible ,extremely reliable and easy to work on.
I’m a huge Chevy fan in terms of parts interchangeability.. I love that you can have an engine from the 80s and take a transmission from the 50s and it work
Nice to see this engine get some deserved attention. I have a 235 in my ‘60 Bel Air. And- I’ll take the ‘55 ‘vette
Awesome choices glad you dig this episode, i really try to to feature the stuff that doesnt get talked about
My dad had a 1936 Chevrolet pickup with a 216. He said the only problem was the carburetor would give some trouble. Can’t remember what he said it would do but probably needed to be redesigned possibly. Later we bought the neighbors 1941 sedan. Same engine. It ran ok. Probably got the bugs out by then.
Awesome thank you for sharing those memories
we had a 64 Chevelle with a stovebolt 194 ran beautifully
I think you had the turbo thrift engine in it same displacement, different engine family unless it was transplanted in there
So did we, a 1965 300 deLuxe 4 door sedan with the 194, great little engine, great car, briefly one time did 110 mph on a good straight and then the valves floated and clattered, immediately slowed down, scared along with my buddy riding shotgun, fortunately the hydraulic lifters quickly settled and everything was fine, no apparent damage. Relieved, we u-turned for home at legal speeds.
The 261 version was also used in Canadian Pontiacs from 1958-62,
Great information I didn’t know that I’m not two verse in Canadian cars
In 1955, Canadian Pontiacs began using the 261 as the base engine. It first appeared in 1954 Chev trucks.
@@stephenandloriyoung5716 I believe you’re right. I thought I remembered looking in the 1957 brochure it was still 235 but 1956 shows 261.
Pontiac Pathfinder 🇨🇦
My 55 Pontiac had the 261. After having it for a while, I drove a 55 Chev with a 235. The 261 had noticeably more grunt. It came out in the 54 Chev trucks.@@markchandler1130
In 1995 in an engine rebuilding shop. There was a stovebolt 228 block from a fire truck sitting next to an early toyota land cruiser F engine. The boss and i were amazed as the blocks were almost identical. Only the toyota had metric threads.
Great information thank you so much for sharing that information =)
The early Toyota 6s were badge engineered variants of the Chevrolet and GM Inline 6s
GMC and Chevy sixes have different bore spacing and cylinder heads than the Toyota F and 2F engines.
Another wonderful engine family overview, Jay. I learned a few things. Thank you!
I’m so glad that you got something out of this episode I really enjoyed putting this one together. I was so happy with all the advertisement pieces I was able to find wait until you see the ads in today’s episode it’s absolutely incredible the advertisements that are out there for this card 1904 Oldsmobile model 6C
I never new that. My Dad told me that the starter motor of the 235 Chevy engine fits on the 1st generation Toyota Landcruiser inline 6 cylinder engine.
Toyota made a metric copy of the 207 in 1938 known as the B series engine and used this basic design all the way through the F series engines which went out of production in 1992. Fantastically durable engines.
I had 1950 pickup..three on tree....was good truck
Sweet =)
I love three on the tree best anti theft
1952 Bel Air HT. My first car was a 51 BelAir ht with 235 pg.
My first job in a shop in 1959 was to completely overhaul this motor in a 1954 Chevy pickup.
Sweet =)
1957 Chevy One Ton 235 six got better top end lube with an outside oiler, 1/8" copper tubing.
Great information thank you so much for sharing that =)
HI Jay!: Ahhhhh. . .the Chevrolet Six! The engine Henry Ford loved to hate!! You have to say, though, that the old stovebolt six, has to be at least AS important as their later small block V-8. Chevrolet started outselling Ford regularly after the 1929 Chevy Six came out. Ford tried everything to out cylinder Chevy, including trying an experimental inline 5! Vibration problems caused that one to go by the wayside! The Flathead V-8 followed. So you can really say that there would never have been a Ford Flathead V-8 if it hadn't been for the stovebolt!! It was YEARS before Ford finally offered an inline 6!! WYR#1 1955 'vette, for SURE! #2 I kind of like the 1940 Chev. truck!!
Thank you so much for sharing that insight great choices
I would rather have an overhead valve Chevy over A flathead Ford V8 because they don’t overheat
WYR: 1955 Vette (although, would take the new to the Vette V8) and 1940 Chevy truck. Heck, the 2 of those would be a great start to a car collection. Great breakdown as always - thank you ~ Chuck
Great choices 1940 Chevy truck is actually kind of a disappointment that it’s only one year only body style I think that truck is absolutely will be gorgeous and I would take it over Ford any day because of the engine. We need to cover more trucks on this channel that’s for sure.. i’m going to an AMC show on Sunday to separate the early stuff I wanna get back in there some 50s and 60s stuff it’s been a while =)
Many people don't know but this engine was used in marine applications.
Awesome information =)
Absolutely bullet proof engine why in the hell cant they make this quality today
It’s amazing how backwards everything is today I have kids and my daughter persist on wearing long sleeve shirt with short pants which is backwards to me because I wear long pants and short sleeve shirts very rarely do I ever wear a long sleeve shirt.. even in winter I’ll wear a coat but Usually I’ll have short sleeve under idk lol
Nothings built to last anymore everything is disposable whereas these engines were machines and they were built to last yes you had to do more periodic maintenance to make to keep them going.
Bulletproof hell!...These engines had alot of issues one of which was chronic cracking of the heads.They liked to throw rods as well which earned them the babbit pounder 6 nickname.I can remember both my grandparents talking about all the trouble they had with these engines and with alot of disgust.Hagerty made a video on youtube rebuilding one of these and they showed a few tricks to get around some of the poor designs in this engine but they ended up having to use the cracked cylinder head because they are all cracked.
My impression is that the early Chevrolet sixes were cheap and failure prone,I assume that the later 4 main bearing models were much improved
I think the later 230 was quite reliable as long as the head bolts got checked for retorque,I don't know if just once in the car's lifetime was enough or was it something that needed doing every time the ignition points and spark plugs got replaced ?
Someone got a 292 into his old manual transmission mid 1960s pickup truck and that thing had quite a rush to the redline in first gear starts if you managed not to break the rear tires loose
the 292 I think was sold only in larger trucks such as stake body farm trucks and small dump trucks @@jimmillet1442
Canadian Pontiacs used a unique version of the Chevy 261 with hydraulic lifters from 1955-1962 as its standard Engine.
Interesting thank you so much for sharing that information =)
Hello 👋 good buddy Jay good to hear you talk buddy
=)
They actually have squirters in the oil pan and you have to target them during assembly they actually made a tool for it also you use shims to set bearing clearances
We have a 1947 Chev truck with the I am assuming a stove bolt engine.
Are their markings stamped in to block to identify the size...kind regards
My first truck when I was 16 was a 50 five window short bed...not sure which stove bolt 6 it had.
What year
I have a 5 window it has a different drive train
Interesting history / evolution of the Chevy inline 6 engines... It appears that some of the most significant changes were made after WW2 when they went with pressurised lubrication, shell type replaceable bearings, and improved engine coolant circulation.... These 3 things helped these machines to last much longer, and become highly rebuildable, which gave them an improved core value... It also improved the resale value of the vehicles equipped with these improved designs.
Glad you dig this episode thank you so much for sharing all that insight it’s amazing that this engine use cast iron pistons until 1954 that’s how I got the nickname cast iron wonder lol =)
@@lurch789The main bearings were shell (aka precision) bearings. In the 216 and 235.
But they used poured babbit in the rods up till '53.
There’s so much conflicting information it is almost ridiculous I saw they went to shell bearings in 1948..
@@lurch789 Interesting.... The info here on this video led the viewer to believe that the shell type bearings for many of their automotive engines, were becoming available (to the general public) after the WW2 conflict was over.... Were the military vehicles equipped with removable shell-type bearings, to facilitate 'Field type repairs' since most of those machines were located in other continents? I'm thinking that many of the improvements were developed during or even previous the various wars, as those conditions necessitated and eventually required in many ways to be the perfect proving grounds for vehicle performance and reliability... In 1936, our country, was struggling with the depression, and the upper levels of our government KNEW at that time, that the U.S. involvement of the war with Germany and Japan and their allies, was rapidly becoming an inevitable situation, that the U.S. eventually HAD to get into the middle of... So many things changed rapidly and became completely different , from what was originally planned , because of the wars, that it is sometimes difficult to be able to accurately track their progress....Your thoughts on this, Mr. Lurch ?
@@michaelmartinez1345 Shell type bearings were a technology that came a really long way during WW2, largely because aircraft engines were running more and more boost and thus putting immense strain on their bearings. The US and UK developed lots of very clever technology to allow them to produce shells that could perform well even under extreme load and with the interruptions to oil flow that might occur in a fighter plane during a dogfight. For example Rolls Royce developed a technique for centrifugal casting of the copper-lead layer of the bearing, while US engineers figured out that plating the shells with silver or indium could greatly improve their survival in extreme conditions.
A lot of those same engineers would have moved into the auto industry post war (or they had never left the auto industry, e.g. Packard had been building Rolls Royce Merlins, Allison built their own V-1710 and was part of GM, Ford had developed their own V-12 aviation engine but ended up converting it into a V-8 for use in tanks). So they brought their knowledge with them and added it to the new engines being developed post war.
Hi Jay. My view is that the 53/54 and newer Blue Flame engines were a major enough redesign that they ceased from that point to be Stovebolt engines, and they in fact used more elegant screws on the sheet metal parts. The visual giveaway is that the Blue Flame engines had the rocker cover bolts around the sides, as opposed to the two in the centre. On Babbitt bearings, I'm no fan either, but they were malleable, such that when they wore, you could take a shim or two out of the rod caps and the bearings would re-circularise themselves. Cheers.
I totally agree I was going to make that same statement in the middle but the more I looked at it it did look sort of like a stove bolts still it’s not like the turbo thrift engines that come later they don’t look anything like the original Stove bolt series
Thank you so much for adding all that added information greatly appreciate it =)
Yep, old tech or not, people made it work, and an understanding of it is still a worthwhile thing to have. I doubt that many Stovebolt sizes got up to 100,000 miles without a major overhaul, that being mostly due to the quality of the oils and oil filtration of the time, but if the rod bearings got a bit noisy at 60,000, the owner could keep the motor going by dropping the pan and take shims out of the rods, guided by a 20c packet of plastigage.
My first car was a 1941 two door sedan, it was eight years older than I was, but it was a good first car.
Thats awesome thank you so much flr sharing that car with us any cool stories?
Later generation of the motor morphed into the Pontiac OHC six. Cut-off at the knees by the bean counters.
Motor was copied by one of the Japanese manufacturers in the 30s. Inspired the smaller Aussie Holden inline 6 (smaller bore spread iirc). The bore centers on this engine. Same as the SBC, LS and other Chevrolet engines. Likely influenced to some degree the Ford inlines along with Nash and AMC. Although Nash went 7 main bearings much earlier.
I gave my 60 conv 348 9.5 2 1 borg Warner 4 sd 2 my daughter 1 gave my 60 elcamino 283 9.1 4 sd Muncie 2 my son god bless
For WYR: 49 Chevy and I can't choose between the 29 truck and the 40 pickup
Great choices
This is a great engine ❤❤❤❤❤
Chevy returned with a thinwall cast six that shared the V8’s inexpensive valve train in 1962 on the new Chevy II.
They made it a 194.
I had a coupe as an old car in 1976.
It would do 105, the same top speed as a 1956 with the “power pack”.
It was a good car, but the torque converter spinning at 4” off the ground led to its demise.
Best little 6 Banger on the planet 235/250