1950 Chevy 6500

[mr.mindless]

Was a lawn ornament behind a house on Main Street in macedon. Thankfully they didn’t make the water feature pouring through the grill as planned.

Glass has definitely been done but windshield seal isn’t done completely correct. Passenger window crank stripped, passenger wiper floppy.

Needs headliner, door seals, window felts. Only structural rust is base of driver a pillar, cab is sagging slightly. Driver hinges need attention and cab needs new strike plate. Latches need lube but all function. Cowl and side vent work. Didn’t check their seals yet. Hood latch needs some work but is preset and whole. Tin under it is worn.

Cab fuel tank present and full of stink. Cap back on. Cab wiring has obvious issues and is just cut for now. Had 12v headlights and 12v coil.

Bed is probably all trash. Looks like it had been a box base? Light duty framing and lots of fastener holes in outside rail.

I think I’ll find some bondo in cab corners. They’re gone on the underside as are the doors but nothing needing immediate attention there.

Tires measure 36 and 38” steer and drive on 20” wheels. 180” wheelbase, 180” flatbed length.

Drivetrain complete. Valve train not getting much oil when cranking. No compression in 3-4-5.

4 speed goes through gears well and will hold truck from rolling. Gross leak from output seal. 2 speed rear, vacuum selector on dash. Axle seal on downhill side dumped oil through brake drum. Throttle linkage moves free, clutch feels disconnected and brake pedal is frozen. Rolls easy in neutral. At least most tires hold air. Sat for 4yr and didn’t need air. All tubed, cracked, ancient.

All missing trim and emblems came with it. Has no model designation emblems nor place for them. Just Chevrolet on sides of hood.

House paint might meet power washer but I’ll do that later.

Will tinker with the motor while finding right donor. Frame in excellent condition.

Sarah requesting to assist. She’s really into it.

[M4wdFab]

oof never seen above the windshield that bad.  headliner covers all that though

[mr.mindless]

Engine will be a no go, I think. 4-5 bent push rods, couldn’t get compression back in 2 holes playing with shop air and leakdown.

Pulling head to confirm burned exhaust valve would be next step.

So much for dreams of putting around stock while patiently waiting for the ideal donor chassis at the right price.

[Wingman]

So much for dreams of putting around stock...

I only found fun in getting it running and driving after 40 years. After that, it's just slow and annoying.

[mr.mindless]

I was hoping for that bit of fun.  Especially with long trucks being spendy.

With facebooks TERRIBLE search the perfect truck might be for sale in Buffalo and I’ll never find it. I miss Craigslist.

 Leaves me weighing stretching a 4x4 or putting a solid front axle in an Arie van chassis.

[M4wdFab]

do the valve spring seats twang when you wack them with a hammer?

[mr.mindless]

Yup. The one that came back when I smack the exhaust valve it sounds like puffing exhaust. The two that didn’t come back it doesn’t give that puff of release.

My bore scope didn’t do me much good.


One other thought I had was maybe to fill the cyl with rope and pop the retainer off then try to twist the valve a bit. Im pretty sure they’re not rotating well or maybe at all.

[mr.mindless]

Dry and crunchy top end

[mr.mindless]

Rockauto lists valves and pushrods at ~$3 ea if it’s a 4.3L, which I think it is. I didn’t check for the 235.

Need to find where definitive identification is on the block.

Head can come off without touching manifolds.

[mr.mindless]

pushrods should be able to ID the engine as one of the three I strongly suspect it is.

lots of parts shared across 2 if not all three, but pushrods are unique.
lengths: 10.31, 10.44, 11.1
bottom tip diameters on the two close lengths are .47 and .31, hopefully pretty easy to confidently ID.

Melling MPR30, MPR31, MPR32

drumroll....

Either parts are swapped around or I have another engine entirely.
two lifters are used, ~1/2" height difference. the different, shorter lifter goes with the longer, ball-end pushrod.

I have a longer pushrod than expected. tip to tip is just over 11.25"

[mr.mindless]

In the photo it ended up looking just shy of 11.25. I thought it was just over. But the expected length to match other specs is 10.309” and it sure ain’t that.

I realized 10 minutes ago that I haven’t seen my 18” steel rule in a year.

[mr.mindless]

looks like car 235s were made with different lifter and pushrod combos, and that's likely what I'm looking at here. did find out that the casting number should be behind the distributor so that'll confirm.

10 5/8 inch pushrods for the pre-'55 tall "goblet" type solid lifters, and 11 1/4 inch pushrods for post-'54 short solid and all hydraulic lifters. The '37-'39 engines used some really long pushrods that went inside the lifter, all the way to the bottom.

[M]

how did you bring it home?

[mr.mindless]

how did you bring it home?

Same way I bring 98% of things home

[mr.mindless]

have a line on a 24v cummins truck in dansville for an ok price (3500ish with plow).... eh. I looked at the pickup frames a bunch today and they look like shit to stretch. better off just getting powertrain than a running truck I'm thinking, particularly when the truck is rotten and partout is slim pickins.


have a line on a 2008 f550 rolling frame (just frame axles and steering) that's a little pricy (3k 🤢) and a little wide. regeared to 4.30, locked in front. 187" WB and frame strength are IDEAL.

outside of tire measure on the front is 84.5"
I didn't note my fenders, but current OOT is 65 and WMS is about 70. I think fenders are 70ish.

the f550 wide track uses a 3.75" adaptor to go from 8 to 10 lug (that are listing on ebay for $600/pair). so that'd put me at 77". I don't want to stick out of the fenders. I want a sneeze of recess, flush at most. I don't think I see a way to that.