Today, I finally got the engine for my 57/59 Suburban back
together...it's a 454, mild performance. So, with some help from my 10
yr old son Gary, I moved stuff around in the garage and put the engine
and tranny in the new chassis. While we had things disorganized, we
also put the old 235 from the Suburban on the engine stand. This engine
is now Gary's, it will go in the 57 pickup he's planning on building
from parts and pieces I have laying around. While we were pulling parts
off the 235 so we could put it on the stand, we noticed that the starter
appears to be original still--it has a date code of 7C7, which means it
was built on March 7, 1957. The engine block and bellhousing were cast
in late February 57, but the head is from 59, apparently it had been
replaced. While pulling the starter off, a bunch of crap fell out from
behind it...but when I swept up the crap, I noticed glob of grease
looked like a part...so I cleaned it off, and it's a rubber part that
fits right into the little window in the bellhousing, where you check
the timing on a 235. I've never seen this plug before! I guess they
usually get thrown away or lost, but this one got stuck behind the
starter, and preserved, probably because the starter was never removed
(it had a bunch of grease/dirt on the bolts holding it on, too).
Anyways, we're making a little bit of slow progress here...I guess we'll
take apart the 235 next and see what it's like inside. It made a
knocking sound when I had it running 4 years ago when I bought the
suburban.
Jim F
59s in AZ
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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