it is a rebuilt motor the crank shaft was turned so it has over sized main and rod bearings(normal) engine cylinder bored out to 60 over (more cubic inches more power but it cant be rebuilt again)balanced rods and pistons( less vibration and will last longer)aluminum heads(light weight) ss means stainless steel valves,large intake and exhaust valves (more power) guide plates make for a stronger top end.no mention of the cam profile but the starting issue would indicate good lift and duration.It spins the Mickeys so it has plenty of torque. It should give you lots of miles and plenty of smiles

I don't know what cam is in it or pistons. The speed shop said is was built for fast RPM and wouldn't have the idle lope that some cams have. It does build RPM quick. Have a few more oil leak problems but didn't get a chance to look at it today. No leaks from the oil pan or timing chain cover. What a strange set up. I guess if you were planning on getting into your timing gears much you would put a two piece in. I pretty much had it figured out but thanks for the translation.
Dave

Bad news today. Took the 59 out to get some miles on the new engine. Ran about 25 miles and was almost home when I noticed the lifters making way too much noise. Got it home, pulled the valve cover and one rocker had broken off the stud and was laying there, another rocker was twisted sideways on the lifter and the push rod was bent. When I pulled the rocker off part of the push rod came out and the bottom half of it is yet to be found. Didn't go any further than that. Turned out the garage light and came in and watched Americas Funniest Videos......
Dave

Once had a rebuilt pull a stud from the head.
Never had anything like your experience though

Relax and worry about it later

Bryan

The stud broke off like it was a piece of glass. Pulled the manifold today looking for my extra piece of push rod.... not there. I guess it fell into the oil pan. Gonna try a magnet tomorrow and see if I can find it. Scared to start it up not knowing where the extra piece is. I don't think it could have gotten into the timing gears but man I hate to take all that apart again just to look. Any tricks here..... ?
Dave

I don't know.I would have a couple of Margaritas and think on it awhile better call the shop that built it and see what they will warranty before you do anything else.

Yea, the shop that built it would gladly go in and fix it, but they are 200 miles away.. I know. I learned a lesson here. If I can fix if myself I'd like to. I'm learning a lot along the way. Seems to me the only two places the piece of push rod could go would be in the oil pan or in the timing cover. Correct me if I'm wrong. The odds are if it fell into the oil pan it won't hurt anything. From the angles of the exit points in the block it looks pretty slim that it made its way into the timing cover. That is where I think it could do the most damage. I don't think I'm at the point yet that I want to drag it down to Georgia, but I am going to call and see at what point is this guy going to say I screwed it up, not him.
Dave

It has been awhile since I posted, and I know this thread has been going for several months now, but I wanted to chime in with pics of my black '59 1 ton and my dads blue '59 1/2 ton. It's a slow process, but I'm finally getting her headed in the direction I want her. My dads has been finished for 2 years and is super sharp.

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thanks for posting the pics Tony00 they are beautiful keep up the good work.

I love to see the old 3/4 and 1 ton trucks restored. Great looking trucks.
I have kinda taken over this thread with questions regarding my truck and not putting them in the correct area of the bulletin board. I'll start keeping the questions directed to 59 specific here on this board. This site is such a great place for info. Sometimes I like to see what other opinions are out there even when I know what I need to do.
Dave

Dmaggard any foreign object in the engine is a disaster waiting to happen.That engine needs to come out and be taken apart and cleaned and inspected.The studs pulling out put metal inside that engine not to mention that push rod,it could get wedged between the crank shaft and the block and grenade that motor.If they will warranty it ship it back to them.If they wont you need to pull it out of the truck, take the oil pan and timing chain cover and intake manifold off.Fix the studs clean and inspect the cam and lifters for damage and replace them if necessary.Replace all the push rods a matched set is a good thing.Make sure there is no metal any were in the block.Also open and inspect the oil pump for any sign of metal in the pump.if there is you will have to disassemble the engine and replace all the bearings.Good luck in your dealings with the shop that built it.

Dmaggard the reason I started this thread was so guys with 55 to 59 Chevy trucks could share the triumphs and tragedies involved in building there trucks.What you have done is just what I hoped everyone would do,share their experiences with there truck,good or bad it helps us all.

DD
The stud didn't strip out of the block. It broke off clean. I found the other piece of the push rod in the oil pan. I may be able to get it out with a magnet. I don't think it can come out of the bottom of the oil pan. There are no missing metal fragments as there was nothing stripped or crushed. The damage is in the stud that broke and the push rod that broke. Would you still break the entire engine down if everything is accounted for?
Dave

I would pull the pan to get the rod out just to make sure there is nothing else in the pan like a small chip of broken stud.Other than that I would just change the stud and put in a new push rod.Change the stud first just in case you drop something.I just assumed it pulled out of the head.I never saw one just break before.You would probably be ok to just fish out the rod but I would not be able to sleep at night.I am just a worry wart

Here is where I'm at. I used a magnet and pulled two more pieces of the push rod out of the pan. Putting all the pieces together give me the length of the push rod but.... the parts that came out of the pan have gone through a beating. I'm sure there are some very small particles and I don't know exactly what the rod came into contact with to cause such trauma. I'm wondering if dropping the pan and removing any small particles is going to ensure that there is no damage done internally. The valves look fine. One issue to realize is that I actually drove it on home a few miles with this going on and it actually ran ok, just made a lot of noise. I didn't push it. Just limped on home... so....... that's where I'm at. Decision time. I appreciate the input. I'm hoping that if I put it back together without tearing it apart, the oil filter will pick up any small particles that may hurt the engine. I'm also thinking that the push rod is a much softer metal and hopefully can't damage any of the harder internal metal parts. Input is appreciated.
Dave