Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines 235 DIPSTICK

does any one know who makes an aftermarket oil dipstick and tube for a 235. mine got lost during the rebuild. cant find one everyone wants to sell the whole motor. almost finished and would like to start her up but dont know how much oil /////thanks/////

i am sorry said that wrong. all i can find is someone who wants to sell the whole motor, all i need is the tube and stick. no another motor

Nothing new that I'm aware of.
However, all the tube is is a piece of 3/8" thin wall tubing which sticks out of the block 7" and is straight, no bends.
The dipstick is also straight, with 15 3/4" from top of tube to the end inside the motor, with 1-13/16" from the end to the full mark.
My Motors manual says 5 quarts for the pan.

thank you for the help i can figure it out from there

A '40s' style 216 dipstick will work too. There's just no tube is all.

Good luck.

I got one from the jim carter catalog. It cost about 6 bucks and came pre cut to length. Jim carter is a vender on the "12 Port News". Go to the home page and click on the "12 Port Advertisers" button on the right.

While finishing final assembly on my 1954 261 over the weekend, I was debating whether to use the 1954 “rod” style dipstick or a more “modern”, sheet-style dipstick from a 1961 261. While holding them next to each other, I noticed that the 1961 stick was about 1/2” longer than the 1954 stick, both in overall length below the stop, and from the stop to the full mark. The distance from the full to the add oil mark is also about 1/2”. The 1961 tube also extends above the block about 3/4” more than does the 1954 tube (7-1/16” vs 6-1/4”). Thus, if one were to get the sticks and tubes switched, one could be too full or too short by about one quart.

Is this what happened to Luke Lucas (53 chevy) in the situation that he described in his post of June 1, 2006?

As I have a non-standard oil pan (it has been “bulged” to clear a GMC oil pump), I need to trust the dipstick to tell me when the oil level is correct. After making several measurements, I decided to use the 1954 stick and tube, and maintain the level about halfway between full and add.

Below is a summary of the measurements:

Measurement 1954 1961
Tube extension from block 6-1/4 7-1/16
Dipstick, under stop to tip 15-1/16 15-9/16
Full mark to tip 1-3/4 1-3/4
Full mark to Add Oil mark 1/2 1/2

Has anyone measured the distance from the block/gasket surface to the full or add oil mark?

I always wondered how the dip stick 'add oil mark' relates to the oil pump screen.
I never went below the add oil mark, but I wonder how low it can get before the oil pump is starved.

I measured about 4-7/8" (+/- 1/16") between the liquid level and the upper flange of a stock 235 oil pan with five quarts of water in the pan, with the pan level. Where the oil pump inlet is will be measured the next time I have an engine in a suitable state of assembly. The GMC inlet screen assembly can drop to about one inch above the bottom of the pan. This would put the screen about 1-1/2 to 2" below the full mark, or about 3 to 4 quarts low with a stock pan. I forget how the chevrolet pump screen would measure.

Dear Mr. Hoyt;

If you measure the depth of the rods (bottom of stroke) that will be the highest the oil level can be.

I don't know how much the pan is "bulged" but it has lowered the (full) oil level the stick will show.

"Somewhere" between the two is where you want to be etc.

Good luck.