Wow! I am encouraged! Finally...pictures

[jclary]

I just came back in the house for a sandwich and thought I would share this...About 15 or 20 years ago, I acquired a 185 ci engine from a guy that had removed it from a 1955 pick-up he was rodding. I can't remember now if I bought it or it was given to me. At the time, I placed it on a large dolly I have with another 6 cylinder parts engine and a 259 v8 removed from a parts car.

There they sat, covered for all these years. Today, I hooked a log chain to the dolly and drug it out in the open. Removed the cover and realized that the '55 engine is complete, with the cute little dry filter air cleaner, starter, generator, and coupled to a standard truck three speed transmission. The engine had fallen over on the wooden supports and is partially resting on its oil pan.

The remarkable thing is that I grabbed the fan and was able to turn the engine after all these years! That alone is something to get excited about. I do remember the previous owner saying that he had rebuilt the engine a short time before deciding to put the SBC in the truck. This gives me more incentive for converting a small utility trailer I have into an engine test stand. I have posted before that the back yard overhaul I did on my '55 truck in 1976 is getting a little "long in the tooth" and if this engine checks out...could be some cheap fun. If I don't run out of energy too quickly...I'll try to get some pictures.

[Roscomacaw]

I've had a few nice surprises like that thru the years. The best was the '56 Power Hawk I paid $25 bucks for. And it sat around for months before I came to realize it had a brand new - never-been-run 259 in it! Such a deal!


Congratulations on this six!

[jclary]

Well...the wife is back to work today, so I have ignored the "to do" list she left and got back to the engine. I have temporarily placed it on the trailer I intend to convert to an engine test stand. I need to get over to my buddy's fabrication business and pick up some tubular steel for fabricating engine mounts.

Now that I have the engine out from the cover it has been hidden under for so many years, I began to wonder if it really is an engine for a '55 truck. Due to the placement of the oil filler tube, I am pretty sure it is a legitimate truck engine, but the engine number 1R22458 makes me think it is from an older 2R truck. Also, the distributor looks like the one in my '48 coupe with the external vacuum linkage. The engine in my '55 has the number 1E5990. Also, my current '55 engine has a separate tube for the dipstick, and the 1R engine has the dipstick integrated into the oil filler cap.

However, even though it might not be a 185ci engine, the challenge of building the test stand and getting it running should still be a fun project. If the engine checks out, that will be a bonus. My thinking is that a good running 170 is better than a tired 185.

[jclary]

I finally got some batteries in my camera and here are some pictures of the "Mock-up" of my engine test stand project. Nothing bolted down or welded yet. I don't remember which lone-gone Studebaker vehicle that the radiator support came from. I think I might have a radiator that will fit in it.

There is a mystery in the second photo (close-up) near the oil pump that some of you may help me with. Instead of the typical pipe plug installed in along the block's oil galley...there is a strange fitting. It appears to be some type of pressure switch. There is a small spring loaded plunger protruding out the end, but for what purpose?


I don't know what I did to cause two sets of images to show up. I have tried to "edit" and delete the second set, but it don't work.

[skyway]

"However, even though it might not be a 185ci engine"

You could compare the block height with a known 170?

[jclary]

I'm not losing sleep over whether or not is a 185 or 170 engine. As far as that little pressure valve I found screwed in the oil galley goes...I went back out and fired up the pressure washer. I cleaned the engine off enough to get a better look. The fitting was only in finger tight. I am now thinking it was used merely as a "hole filler" when the previous owner removed the oil filter. Once I unscrewed it, cleaned it up, and got a better look...I think it was probably one of those little pressure relief fittings like you find on a compression tester.

I'm pretty sure it was placed there years ago by the previous owner. I'm too cheap to mess up a good compression test tool just to plug a hole in an engine. Besides, those little pipe plugs are much easier to come by than pressure release valves.

[Aussie Hawk]

John, If I ever retire I'm coming over to stay for a week, you and I could have a lot of fun playing Studebakers ;-)

[jclary]

John, If I ever retire I'm coming over to stay for a week, you and I could have a lot of fun playing Studebakers ;-)

C'mon over Matt. If I ever retire (again)...I ain't tell'n anybody! My wife is still working. Nearly every day I have a "to-do" list on the breakfast table. Like a little twelve-year-old, I play 'till the last minute and then try to take care of the adult stuff before she gets home.

A few days ago...she got home early (very unusual for her) and caught me with all sorts of Studebaker parts and tools scattered over the yard. It was so danged funny...the more I laughed...the madder she got!

It's getting late here now, so I better get back out and hide all the stuff before she gets home. Still got a couple of outdoor Christmas things to put away for her. Trick is to do one or two things that is difficult for her to do and act like it exhausted me. It also don't hurt to make a quick circuit with the vacuum over the carpet...seems to thrill her when I do something domestic.