Last weekend I asked my cousin if he had any Chevy generators & brackets laying around ? He said yes , he had a complete set on 55 hard top , but the motor was a running driving 265 , & he didn't want to seperate , . Me & my cousin are very good friends , He said take it all , so I did . He gave me the 265 , I took it out yesterday morning out of bare frame , Body was in his garage on rotator stand fresh from media blasting , He is building a Boyd red & black 55 hardtop clone , with 572 crate motor , yeah he's in different tax bracket than me ! I brought it home & put it on engine stand . This motor has 42000 miles on it , with receipts on oil changes that he found in glovebox with mileage & dates . The exaust pipes still had some kind of paper with numbers on it at the rear , like they were bought at parts store , they are duals ,& I got those too .This motor will be going in my 28 coupe project . Today BASSFIRE came & looked at it , & brought me 1 stagered holed corvett valve cover ( still looking for the other one ) . I have early Edelbrock 3 2's manifold with correct 2gc carbs , & finned MOON oil pan waiting in line . What should I do to motor to get it ready for road use ?
-Drop the oil pan and clean it out thoroughly. -Check the oil pump screen & check valve, to make sure everything is clean & operational. -Re-install the oil pan with a fresh gasket. -Install the motor and pour in the oil. -Install new oil filter. -Remove dizzy & spin the oil pump until you see oil pressure on the gage. -Re-install the dizzy and set the timing asclose as possible. -Start it up, check for leaks, drive it, enjoy!! OK, did I forget to mention something?
Good score, but given the fact that a tri-5 restorer type would probably pay you BIG money for it, I'd figure out what it's worth before I threw it in my rod. Just a thought.
Hey Mike...thanks for the tour today. The coupe looks great! All you like is finishing....and then you can drive it to the Roundup next year! Looking forward to the trip to Springfield. Gonna be a few from Waco area going with us too.
I am pretty sure generator still works , but if it don't your dad will be getting to check it out for me . The finding of this motor all started with a conversation at round-up with dirty2 about generators . So I started looking , resulting in a good score !
Then you need to be checking casting numbers to find out what it really is. It still could be a 56 or 57 265 but 55s had the oil filter on the intake manifold.
Be careful if you start changing cams and lifters. The back journal on a '55 cam has a notch in it for oil distribution. if you use a later cam, it may not have this notch and you will have to grind one. I went through this back in '66 with a '55 motor that I put a solid lifter Duntov cam in and I also had to do some modifying on the oil holes in the side of the lifters so they would line up with the oil galleys in the block. Compare the old and new lifters. I tried running a '62 model disributor and the left side rockers would not oil. I went to an early style vette dual point and they started oiling. This was a '55 block with no oil filter. After that year, they changed the oil system and used it from then on.
O K , I went home & checked #'s dri. side rear 3720991 . pas. frt. 0193773 . Bassfire ran #'s through MORTEC , it came back as 56 or 57 . Eitherway it's going in 28 coupe ! I think you have wrong exaust manifold on your motor .
I just got off phone with my cousin he said the title date on this car was Dec. 3rd 1956 . So the car set on lot for over a year before it was bought . The vin # is VC55SO44011 . The car was bought in Oklahoma & moved to Teaxas . My cousin bought this car from original owner , & he said the car has 42000 original miles on it & has never been touched since he has owned it ! Im glad it has filter .
good score mike...im lookin for that other valve cover for ya...no luck yet on one with enough 'character' for the rod
yes , thats also on the list . The motor still has good paint on it . I plan on putting my moon pan , corvett valve covers , Edlebrock 3 2's set up , & velocity stacks I made at machine shop on it , & run factory 55 manifolds . Oh yeah it will be hooked to 5 speed out of late 70's v8 monsa ( high class vega )
The Jalopy Journal
