hi so i just bought a 1951 deluxe 2 door sedan with a 216 and a 3 speed on the tree. i dont think the old girl has ran in at least 20 years but with a fresh 6 volt battery and after some marvel mystery oil soaking in the plug holes, a little gas in the carb, she kicked and ran for about 30 seconds. my next plan was to drain the oil. when i pulled the plug, nothing came out. i should say that i had checked the oil before trying to start it and it was old, but seemed pretty clean. so when i pulled the plug and nothing came out, i was surprised because the dip stick showed full. i then took a stick and poked a hole in the sludge and oil drained out. i even jacked up the front and let it drain over night. looks like only about 3 qts came out . my question is should i drop the pan and see whats going on or just refill it run it and drain it again? i've heard of people running gas down the dipstick hole and letting it set then draining that and refilling with oil. any ideas on that? so if i need to drop the pan, is there a "easy" way to do it? i've read that there are 2 bolts that can drop the front subframe but i'm not sure where those bolts are. or is it better to lift the motor? i'm not looking forward to doing either as i'm not sure how good the engine is. clock says 55,000 miles but who knows. i guess my worry is if there is that amount of sludge in the pan, will the pickup tube be clogged? thanks for any and all help.
Always pull the pan. Detergent oil was not common until into the 60's & the owner's manual called for the pan to be dropped & cleaned yearly!
Bite the bullet and pull the pan. If there was enough sludge to block the hole there's plenty in there to ruin the motor. Pull the pan.
If I was going to just use the car to beat around town 'till I put a real engine in it, I'd put some cheap oil in it and fire it up...check oil pressure and if it had any, I'd pour a quart of kerosene in it...down the oil fill, not the dipstick tube. Run it easy for 1/2 hour or until it reached operating temp. I'd do the same thing 3 or 4 times until there were no more clots in the oil. Now, I'd put some good oil in it and drive that sucker about 500 miles. Change the oil again and I'd bet it'd be ok 'till you found a good 235 or maybe even a 261. I gotta buddy with a 270 GMC for sale.
thanks for the info all. ok sounds like i should pull the pan. i don't know if anyone knows but, i've read that by removing the idler arm i don't need to move the engine or subframe, just drop the idler arm and i'll have enough room. any thoughts?
hey ya'll thanks for the helpful info. here is an update. after a bit more web checking i found some help on chevytalk.org. the post said that dropping the front end or lifting the engine was not necessary. by removing the 3 bolts that hold the idler arm assembly, you can drop that and just move it. it worked like a charm and boy was i glad i did it! so much sludge in the pan, it was heavy! screen over the pickup was 30% clogged. the only rub, the post said, is removing the center bolt located on the top of the crossmember between the motor mounts (3/4 wrench). it sits so close to the pan and its on a funky angle. came out easy enough but putting it back my be a bit more of a issue! thanks for the help!
This is a 50 year old Chevy, it will run fine with sludge or any combination of sludge and oil. I keep the relatively clean oil I drain out of my daily driver, and run it in older vehicles that burn oil anyway.
Hi. Get this all done and check the brakes and wiring as all the original wires are cloth covered for insulation and bare spots are common on that old wiring. Some parts for the engine can be found at local auto parts but most are Chinese. A couple of great sources is either www.chevsofthe40s.com or www.fillingstation.com . Both have online stores and both put out great paper catalogs. I have purchased a lot from both for my 46 Stylemaster Sport Coupe. Jimmie
Pull the pan and clean it and the pickup screen out. I helped a buddy rebuild the engine in a little early 50's car that his dad insisted that he buy as his first car when we were in high school because it had belonged to an older couple in town and "had never been driven out on the highway" and only had 35,000 miles on it. His dad was convinced that a car that never left the city limits of a 5000 person town was a far better car than one that had seen a 20 mile one way commute every work day that the owner had it that my bud actually wanted. We changed the oil and filter and greased it and checked all the fluids the first time he could get it on the lube rack in the school shop and then he started driving it. On his second trip to Yakima to Cruise the Ave on 'Friday night a rod went out on the way back and another buddy came along and towed him home. We towed it to the shop the next week, jacked it up and pulled the pan and there were about 2-1/2 inches of sludge in the pan and the oil screen was plugged solid. His dad had had a fit when it knocked a rod saying that he had been racing it and turned a bit sheepish when he came down to the shop and the instructor showed him the bucket full of sludge and plugged oil screen and explained that that is what happens when you just poke around town and never get the engine warm and don't change the oil often because you never put many miles on it with trips that are never over 2-1/2 miles round trip.
Let's not forget acid etch ... I'd certainly pull every rod & main cap. I wouldn't worry about the center pivot - the bolts are usually loose or missing, and now is the time to repair as needed.
I just read the responses to this guy's question and am left shaking my head at how irresponsible some of them are. Getting all that sludge and sediment moving around inside the motor is the kiss of death...which I guess is no big deal if it's somebody else's motor. Geeze. Give the guy a break. He came here for GOOD advice, not how to do it the lazy way.
According to an old Chevy mechanic from the 40s using a heavy weight oil is trading a little drop in oil use for a rod issue in a splash system. He always ran 10w oil.
hey ya'll once again thanks for the advice. like i said i did drop the pan and clean the 2-3 inch layer of sludge and also cleaned the screen. after i got it back together i started thinking i should have pulled the pump. any views on that? just filled it with oil and will be starting for the second time when by buddy arrives to hold the fire extinguisher! anyways, thanks ol-nobull for the vendor info. i'll be doing a water and fuel pump and now that i dropped the idler assembly, i'll rebuild that as well. also, while i got the engine to run, it was pretty rough. when i changed the plugs, wires, cap, points and rotor i noticed that the wires are not in what i've read should be the firing order of 153624. is that correct? also am i correct in that is from front to back of the engine and traveling counter clock wise on the distributor? and as long as i've got your attention, i'm guessing there may be a few folks who have lowered one of these. i dont want bags, just maybe a 2/3 drop. any info is always helpful. thanks for the story and all the help!
First thing, buy at least 2 oil filters. One to run with whatever you use to flush the oiling system and dump it with the sludge contaminated oil. Then the second filter with the more permanent oil.
having ruined a couple of engines by not pulling the oil pan and cleaning the sludge I learned my lesson. Pictured is a tractor oil pan. However it has the typical slud ge you find in old engines
i've seen lots of motors that have not run in decades and the oil looks clean like it was changed this morning. after a long time, the dirt settles to the bottom, and you can see clean oil on top. you will find this even if you leave drain oil in a 5 gal. bucket for 6 months, the crud is on the bottom if you scooped in there with a spoon. takes a lot longer to get the clean look, but it is settling the dirt out little by little
Unless this has had an aftermarket filter fitted, there is no stock filter. Even then, it is a bypass system only, so it will take a while for all the crud to get it's turn going through it. Engine cylinder numbering is front to back. Chevy 6 distributors run clockwise. Also, check your oil flow to the rocker shaft. There is a very small tube feeding it (1/8"), which can get clogged real easy, and as these motors run an oil pressure of about 5-10 lbs on a good day, there's not much there to push the gunk through.
I guess I dodged the bullet because I just removed the pan off the 348 that I've had stored for nearly 20 years in the garage. Was a pleasant surprise that it had no sludge in the pan to speak of . It either had to have been rebuilt before I bought the '60 wagon that I pulled it out of or the PO religiously changed oil.
I cut 2 coils & run a smaller tire ... soon others will tell you not to do that, but I like the choppy ride ...
Pull the pan. Anything you use to loosen the sludge, will allow that sludge to cycle thru the engine, if it even pulls thru the pick up. Most likely will plug the pickup and youll get no oil.
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