Jeff, I am only going from memory(getting poor) but SB stands for service block I think. So your block was probably replaced to the same engine that was in the truck originally. Lower end failure and cracking were culprits with block replacements. Evrybody ran straight water in the summer and alcohol in the winter till permanent anti freeze came along. Where I worked in the 60's we had a small fleet like yours. Some were ready mixers and some were tractors and one was our rail car puller. Wayne

I cried because I had no shoes till I met a man who had no class.

Jeff here are some pics of the block itself when I stripped it down, if it helps any. I'm thinking that they all use the same block, with a bore and stroke change. I know that mine is a 4" bore.

wayne graham (17/11/2013)

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Jeff, I am only going from memory(getting poor) but SB stands for service block I think. So your block was probably replaced to the same engine that was in the truck originally. Lower end failure and cracking were culprits with block replacements. Evrybody ran straight water in the summer and alcohol in the winter till permanent anti freeze came along. Where I worked in the 60's we had a small fleet like yours. Some were ready mixers and some were tractors and one was our rail car puller. Wayne

Wayne, I was thinking it might be short block but you may be right about service block. If I don't find any numbers I may never know for sure without pulling the head and measuring the bore. You are probably right that it is a direct replacement for the original 260A.

GCPete, I really like the White Mustang logo on the block. Thanks for the pics.

Jeff

I've never compared the big and medium sized blocks with external measurements. I think external lengths would be the best way to confirm what I assume, that there were three sizes of blocks, including the smallest blocks under 340 cid. Maybe we could get some measurements posted here that would be good reference for later.

The 250A and earlier engines had a 5.125" stroke and bores going up to 4.0" for a 386 cid. The 250A was preceded by the 362 cid, introduced in 1935. This size engine was common in the W22 series trucks and White cranked out a lot of them for 30 years. They had a 14" clutch.

The 260A and larger and later models had a 5.0" stroke. This size engine came out in the late 1940s. Bore for the 260A was 4.385" for 451 cid, and that block went to 4.75" for 531 cid. They had a 15.5" clutch.

White engine model numbers refer to when the design was introduced, and in the 1950s the last two digits preceded by a 3 or 4. There's little consistency.

White made a couple of main transmissions but most were Clark and some Fuller. 1950s and 60s Motors Manuals had the Model number conversions for White number to vendor number. One competitor info chart I have says the WC 28 used a Fuller 5A-65.

For auxiliary trannies White used Brown Lipe three speeds. White would badge them and give them a H prefix, for example I have a early 1940s 6H.

Jeff, you might just have to jack up a wheel (or push the truck a short distance) with the main in neutral and start spinning driveshafts to see if you have a .86 od or .70 od. For exactly one turn on the input, output shaft would be near 10 o'clock for .86, near 7 o'clock for .7 od.

Bruce

Bruce, thanks for all the info.

I've made a little bit of progress on both trucks. The spark plugs are out of both engines, but it wasn't as easy as it sounds. Some of the home-brew penetrant and a breaker bar with a 3 foot cheater pipe took care of the stubborn ones. As expected, the 260A in the WB is locked up tight, and I have the penetrant soaking in each cylinder. Nothing to lose here, so we'll see what happens. The good news is that the 280A in the WC is free, and the starter will spin it over. I'm going to change the oil and filter, and free up any sticking valves before trying to start it. The bad news on the WC is that the clutch is frozen, which doesn't really surprise me. Hopefully it will free up while yard driving, if not I will deal with it when the engine comes out.

Jeff

My friend Frank Cowan took this Saturday. That's Frank's 1967 Galaxie 500 convertible out in the yard.



Jeff

I happened upon a WA34 Owners manual that I forgot I had. WA34 would have been introduced maybe in 1939 or so. White did not have the big block then so it used the 362 cid. The manual shows just the single rear axle double reduction, the tandem would have been a different manual.

The WA34 had the 501B and 551B White badged Clark transmissions. 1942 Motors lists the 551B was Clark 270. White model 551 had .788 OD. 501B was 5th direct. The Brown Lipe auxiliary had 2.14:1 low and .69 OD.

Bruce

Bruce, were the 260A and 280A the "big blocks" ?

Jeff

I've had the long weekend off from work so I have made some good progress. The WB28 has had the acetone/dextron mixture in the cylinders for over a week now and hasn't budged, so I have turned all my attention to getting the WC28 parts truck running and yard driving. I took the fenders off to make the engine easier to work on, I'm surprised they didn't fall off as they mostly consisted of bondo, fiberglass, rust, dirt, and a smattering of steel to hold them together. I cut off the remains of the driver's running board and replaced it with a wooden one, along with a wooden battery shelf. I found a key that fit the ignition switch so I fixed the wiring so the switch would work. Then I turned my attention to the engine. I pulled the top off of the oil filter canister and was surprised to find there was no filter. I actually found the correct oil filters for the Whites on Amazon, under the White part number no less, but they won't be here until next week. So figuring any filter was better than no filter, I took the filter out of the WB, let it drain, and installed it in the WC. I also cleaned the sludge out of the bottom of the canister and made sure the orifice was clear. Drained the oil and filled it with fresh oil. Ken had had some trouble with sticking valves when he had it running, so I pulled the side covers, squirted in some penetrant, and watched all the valves while turning the engine over by hand (the spark plugs were still out). I didn't see anything unusual so I put everything back together.











Jeff

This morning I put the spark plugs back in and then turned my attention to rigging up a temporary fuel system. Ken had removed the saddle tanks from the truck long before I got it. The fuel tank was easy, I clamped a piece of plywood behind the cab and bungied a 5 gallon gas can to it. I didn't trust the mechanical fuel pump on the truck and was going to buy an electric one when I noticed there was already an electric pump clamped to the firewall. I put some fuel and power to it and it pumped great. I wired the pump to the ignition. When I got the truck the throttle linkage was frozen but some penetrant and a little work had gotten it freed up. But yesterday I noticed that sometimes the throttle would jam up. There had been a huge dirt dauber nest inside the carb that I had cleaned out with a screwdriver and vacuum, but now with the throttle jammed I decided to pull the carb off and have a look. There was nothing obviously wrong, but there was a sealed plate with 3 screws that hid the throttle linkage. I took the plate off and with some lube and elbow grease I was able to get the throttle moving freely. Just as I was adding water to the radiator my friend Mark showed up and you can see how the 1st attempt at starting the WC went.

http://youtu.be/Y2gKrjJN7lc



Jeff