Hi all,
New to this site and new to old chevy's and 6 cylinders. We just bought a 1950 Chevy Styline Special. It has (we think) a 216 cu in. Now that I've found this site I can check the casting numbers to be sure. Anyway, there's some type of a canister bolted to the left side of the motor right behind the generator that we can't figure out what it is. We have the service manual for the car but can't find anything about it. Can't find any lines going to it. Here's a picture of it. Any help? Thanks in advance.

probably a remote oil filter - any photos to be sure?

Thats probably the case except the 'by-pass' filters of that era were clamped to the manifold.

John M., #3370.....

I was thinking filter also. Just seems weird that there aren't any kind of hoses or lines running from it to the engine block. It mounts to the block via a bracket and that's all I can see. Thanks for the replies!

Was this a military or police vehicle?

JM...

It is an oil filter.

There is a version of an oil filter that was made that bolted up directly to the "oil distributor" on the side of the block. This is for all 216 and 235 babbit pounders. There were a couple of them on ebay recently. The housings were made of aluminum. There are no provisions for lines because it doesn't need them as there isn't any place to hook them up to on the engine, like on the later full pressure 235's and all 261's.

I'm assuming thats what it is, as I can't really see enough in your picture.

Well the housing is (or appears to be )aluminum so what your saying Gearhead makes sense. Thanks very much for the explaination.