Chevy 235 Stovebolt question

I have a 57 Chevy 235 sitting in my 51 Chevy pick up and noticed that the radiator is sitting kinda goofy. Once I actually got in to it, I realized that the radiator was mounted INSIDE the radiator support instead of on it in order to clear the longer water pump, not to mention, it sits kinda low. Is there a shorter water pump I can use on this engine, or are the adapter plates the only way to go? Has anyone used the adapter plates? Can the pump be modifed?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-1962-C...Parts_Accessories&hash=item20b3d59afe&vxp=mtr

This is the only plate I've found to do this, but not comfortable drilling in to my block.

Any help appreciated.

 

Patrick's can hook you up.
http://www.patricksantiquecars.com/chevy_parts.html

 

I had the same problem on my 1950. You can buy a new water pump that is shorter from the Truck Shop in Orange, CA. See below for their website and part number. http://www.truckandcarshop.com/trucks47_59/t47_065.html
Part #47-07108

 

I guess you can buy a after market water pump, but I always modified the one on the engine.

The water pumps are easy to shorten, finding a shallow pulley would probably be the hardest part of the job. What I use is a 60’s Ford pulley; which has worked fine for me. You’ll need to press the fan/pulley mounting hub, back toward the engine. How far you move the hub, will be determined by the new pulley and how it aligns with the crankshaft pulley. After you've got the pulley lined up, you can cut off the remaining part of the shaft, but leave about a half of an inch to mount and align the fan blade/pulley with. If you move the hub back and cut the shaft, you don’t have to move the radiator.

 

I am using the adapter on my 37 with a 57 235,drilling the holes in the block was no big deal and happy with the results. Even with a short pump in the original 57 location a fan still might not be able to be used,if you use a short pump make sure you either use the pulley mentioned or get the pump from Patricks since it will have the correct size pulley. I originally used the short pump from Jim Carters but it had the 216 size pulley and have heard stories of the pump spinning too fast and running hot.

 

The adapter plate is the better way to go than pressing down the later style pump. Use a '54 water pump if you want to run the narrower fan belt.
I haven't run into anyone who can actually say that using a particular pulley/pump combo caused cavitation and overheating. It's pretty hard to prove if you think about it...

I have the radiator in my '53 mounted towards the front inside of the radiator support and I trimmed the shrouds to fit. This allows for using the stock 55-62 type water pump and pulley, but the problem of the fan being too low is still there. It does get warm if stuck in traffic for more than 1/2 hour. If I were to do it again, I would go with the adapter plate.

 

I thought I was pretty clever chopping the hub/shaft off a late pump and making my own shrink fit aluminum pulley but had exactly the symptoms described by Snarl in that the temp would creep up if sitting in traffic. I lived with it a few years but since have switched to the adapter plate/older pump and cooling is much better. Second pic shows fan position with a short, late pump.

 

Here is a link that gives a little more insight to the adapter.

http://tinyurl.com/cevet4f

 

I picked up a short water pump and correct sized pulley from a 47 to 50 1 1/2 ton that was in a junkyard that had the later 235 in it,the truck had been in the yard a long time and most likely before the various vendors started selling shortened pumps which got me wondering if GM came out with a short pump shortly after the motor design was changed in 55. Never could find out if GM ever offered a short pump but the truck had been sitting in that yard since the 70s.

 

I went into an old shop in town and asked for a WP, they pulled one out and asked if I needed the short one, they went in back and did just as described above, pressed it back and cut off shaft.


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What fan blade can be used? It seems that the fan pully is pressed onto the pump which would necessitate an old style fan blade with a large hole opening? Can the pump pully be removed for a more efficient fan blade/pully combination?

Hope this fits with the original post.

Cosmo49

 

I use the stock fan on mine,I dont think there is a more efficient aftermarket fan that will bolt on without some modification. Most were of a four blade design but the larger trucks had a optional 6 blade fan that I have seen on that auction site but they do go for some money most of the time.