Today I bought a pretty cool truck. Its a 3/4 ton so it is 8 lug and whatnot. Has the 235 inline 6. Pretty clean. Ill get some good pics up eventually but here are some from my phone for now. I have never messed with a truck like this before and just have a couple questions... Whats the best source for parts? I am considering swapping out the rear axle for better gearing and a lower stance. However Im not sure which would be the best route to take in doing so. Im hoping someone can point me in the right direction... Anyways there will be more to come. Gotta get it road worthy and legal for heavy rebel...
Looks pretty good to me. I'd clean it up some, get it in good mechanical working order and maybe straighten out that front fender a bit and call it done and use it. Maybe ****e up the 235 a little with the dual carb. intake and Fenton split exhaust manifold later on. It's a 3/4 ton and a work truck, I'd avoid trying to make it what it isn't by lowering it and all that kind of stuff. Just enjoy it mostly for what it is, a cool old work truck that appears to be in pretty decent shape and looks nice as is. Not sure about the rear or what can be done with that, but if you can put an OD trans. in it, that will help get it down the road pretty decently.
Clean it up and drive it don't tear it apart because then you will just get tired of. Drive it and enjoy it for now.
Hey, greenbug, looks like a great old truck ya got! Check the engine info pad for stamped lettering right behind the distributor - that might be a GMC six, instead of the Chevy 235. Yeah, they're both good engines, but surprisingly little interchanges except on the front and the back end. If the first three stamped digits are something like 228 or 248, those are good, stout GMC's. If its 236 or 256, the same goes, they're just rarely seen variants. If it is 270 or 302, someone did you a big favor and re-powered this 3/4 ton with a real stump-puller six! Anyhow, don't start pulling it apart to modify until you've got a good handle on what it is and can do, and what you want it to be. Oh, yeah, go post an intro before the "go post an intro" guys start buggin' ya! Later, *****6
Sorry for the terrible pics but I got off late and the truck is in a dark barn since it wont fit in the garage. I took some photos of the numbers on the block to see if anyone has any insight. I dont know where to even look for that kind of info on an old american rig... I dont think I want to lower it. I would just like to put another rear end in or swap gears out to make it run a little quicker on the highway. I saw some post where a guy was putting a 91 axle in his. What kind of benefits do you get out of that?
The rear chunk from any 3/4 ton up to 1966 will bolt into your rearend. I had a 50 that had 5.38 gears & 19.5 tires. the highest ratio I ever seen was 3.90. You can put taller tires and make it longer legged. Your engine is a chevrolet probably a 235. the GMC six is about 1/2 inch longer and they where full pressure oiler with insert bearings. as stated before the GMC engines where 228-248 & 270 cu inch .
Taking this one step further, the photo showing a casting # 376971 is a seven digit number, with the last one hiding behind that grounding strap. It dates this as a late engine in this series, around '58 to '62, which indicates this was a replacement block. If the last # is a 6, that's a 235"; if its a 7, then that is a 261" block. Also, in the engine photo from 3/4 front drivers side, sort of behind the fuel filter, is going to be a head casting #. I think the older 235" heads often ended in _ _ _ 913, while the 848 would be a later 235". A # ending in 850 would be a 261", but it was not unusual to see a 848 head swapped onto a 261" during a rebuild, as it has a gain of about a half a point in compression ratio. This is from the Inliners.org Casting#'s info page. Later, *****6
See the oil hose used as a byp*** on the left side of the block...If it's 1/2 NPT ports on the block it's for sure a 261....Hopefully the byp*** pin is in the correct position...
Nice truck. I had a 51 GMC 3 window with a 235 in it. It had the 4 speed truck box in it. Your wooden bed looks worse than mine looked. Drop a small block in it.
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