Motor Identification

[Tatt2d51]

I'm about to pull the motor and put it up for sale but I wanted to make sure I knew what I was trying to sell. This what I'm confused about.

When i bought the truck it ws advertised as a '52 3100 p/u with a 235. I ran the body VIN # and it came up as a 51 with a 216.
I got to looking this morning at the engine and here's what i see, the casting number on the drvers side shows 3836848 GM19. Did some research and I could only find one reference to that casting number and it said '56 235.
Started looking at the engine serial number near the distributor, and it looked like (letters first) OI5286F54Y. This makes it look like a 54' 235 w/ a powerglide.

Can any one tell me what year the motor is and if it actually is a 235 w/ powerglide?
I read you can see a prefix somewhere that will better ID the year but i haven't found it yet. The motor is still place.

Thanks all.

[mr48chev]

Here is a list of stovebolt casting numbers but that number isn't in them. it does fit right in with the casting numbers for a 235 though http://www.adchevy.com/info/chevy6castingnumbers/

a quick way to tell the 216 from a late 53 and up 235 is that the side cover on a 216 goes up to just under the valve cover while the side cover on a 235/261 only goes up to the top of the block.

[dwcsr]

Looks like you have a 235 with a later model cylinder head from around 56 up.
The advantage of it being a w/ powerglide block is that it has or had factory hydraulic lifters that were not available in trucks until 58. So if you rebuilt it you could run Hyd or solid lifters.

[coralhead]

Check the block numbers above the starter near the head. The first will be a letter folowed by a space 2numbers space 2numbers. The letter will give you the month, the next 2 numbers will be the day and the last 2 will be the year. (A=Jan, B=feb......)

[Tatt2d51]

Thanks for the replies guys. So it looks like I've got a mismatched/rebuilt engine,huh? Thats fine. Sounds better than the 216 i originally thought i had. I'm just trying to get my facts together before i try and sell it.

Originally Posted by coralhead

Check the block numbers above the starter near the head. The first will be a letter folowed by a space 2numbers space 2numbers. The letter will give you the month, the next 2 numbers will be the day and the last 2 will be the year. (A=Jan, B=feb......)

The numbers i listed before were behind the distributor and above the starter. Is this what your refering to? The first 2 digits appear to be letters. O and I . This has been throwing me for a loop.

[coralhead]

Originally Posted by Tatt2d51

Thanks for the replies guys. So it looks like I've got a mismatched/rebuilt engine,huh? Thats fine. Sounds better than the 216 i originally thought i had. I'm just trying to get my facts together before i try and sell it.



The numbers i listed before were behind the distributor and above the starter. Is this what your refering to? The first 2 digits appear to be letters. O and I . This has been throwing me for a loop.

Looks like the block was cast on Sept 1st of the year (last number)

My bad above...the year will only be a single digit. Went from bad memory.