VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 Just Checking

That is a potential "ball of fire" in the making ! ! !

Bill,

It would be good business, in my opinion, for a vendor to state " this decal is CORRECT for 19XX" or "this one is CORRECT for 19XX", instead of this fit s all !!!

All said and done, there is no easy solution, no water pump just waiting on the shelf for me and my '51' with its 1955 235. LOL !

I have informed the FS as to the correct year range for several of their parts and corrections were made. Never read through the complete catalog for all the errors but I am sure he would be willing to make the proper corrections. He (they) probably go by the applications that the decal vendor states for these items.

Dean,
I see leakage stains from a bad head gasket on the left side of the block Are you confusing thee for block leakage?

Sorry to come to this so late in the thread.

Man, this all seems so bogus to me. Why change a 216 for a 235? One horse-power is the difference. THat's nothing. The 216 I have is a dipper (rod bearings) but I drove it from Brookings, SD to Proctor, OK with no engine problems. The issue of not having full-pressure (dipper rod bearings) seems to be over-blown to me.

No offense to anyone. I just don't see the point.

Lee

Lee,

I'm sure your thoughts are shared by many.

Personally, I always preferred driving my '54 hardtop with the F.P. 235 down the Interestate compared to my orig 216 powered 42. But the '42 never had any problems cruising along in the 60-62 speed range, even with the orig 4.11 gears.

Let's face it, the 216 was a great engine that kept Chevy "first" for many years. A 216 in good condition is still a fine engine.

Bill.

The dipper system is perfectly dependable when all things are working as they should. Trouble can arise when the oil pump screen gets plugged with sludge or the trough oil pipes get plugged up. Both of these things are common on old engines that have sat around for years with dirty oil in the sump. The other thing is if there was acid in the dirty oil and it attacked the babbit.
If anyone is buying a dipper engine car I would strongly recommend removing the oil pan, cleaning parts mentioned, removing the rod caps and inspecting the babbit on the upper half of the bearing (on the rod) and adjusting the bearings as per the shop manual.
Back when these engines were newer we had very little rod trouble other than some engines required a rod and main bearing adjustment evry 40,000 miles or so, depending as to how they were maintained and driven. Actually the owners that drove at higher speeds could go longer between adjustments than the short trip city drivers.
When a car came in with a burnt out rod there was always a cause for it. Either the dipper broke off or one of the above mentioned problems was present. If the engine did not recieve regular oil changes the sludge problem was a sure factor.
The 1948 and newer engines with the thinner bearing babbit could go twice as long between rod adjustment compared to the pevious models.
Could they be driven all day at 80 MPH - no - but a well maintained engine hooked to a 4.11 rear end could go forever at 65 MPH , and that was the speed limit in Wisconsin before and after WWII. A short blast at top speed didn't hurt them either because if it did I would have blown up more than one 216.

The problem is that the 216 in good condition is getting hard to find at a reasonable price, that is the only reason I would consider making the exchange in a vehicle with a original 216. There are a lot of 235s out there since they were made up thru 1962 in the USA.

In 1949 the 216 had 90 HP and the 235 had 93....but the 235 had more torque and thats what counts in truck use. The 1950 235 had an enlarged breathing system and 105 HP - and increased torque. Later teh\\he 235 got as high as 145 HP but a percentage of that came from the advertising department.

216's ain't that hard to find around the old mutt's dog house. I have three of them (complete) sitting in my boneyard.

Thanks everyone,
The coolant leak may be visible between the exhaust pipes down by the e-brake rod and the sensor plugging into the engine. It seeps through just keeping that area moist. The rubber fuel hose has been replaced with the proper metal tubing.
I have found a '54 PG engine to rebuild and if it checks out I will have it this Saturday. I just figured as long as I was going through the time and expense of the engine rebuild I might as well invest in the better technology with a less problematic starting point and still keep it looking stockish. I'd like to do more long distance (freeway or other) touring, the FP oiling was my main concern. My 216 has never let me down but it's tired.
I didn't think my engine compartment looked that lousy. Ouch!

Dean,

Looking at your engine pics, I'm seeing dual pipes from the engine, am interested in a photo of your exhaust manifold to see what was done and how to make the duals. I don't see headers, so I'm thinking an exhaust flange was utilized, as it was, back in the day.

Take a pic, if you have the time.

Bob

No problem Bob
It's the good old "split manifold" and was on the car when I got it. Somebody drilled a hole and welded (soldered? brazed?) the second pipe. That pipe has a glasspack muffler while the stock side has a stock muffler. They must have been in a hurry. Sounds pretty good, I thought two glasspacks might be a little too loud for the stock looks of the car. It was much more a recent system than the stock side, which I just replaced. I'll get a better picture this weekend and post.

Thanks, Dean ...will look forward to the pic.

Bob

Hi Bob
Hope this works for you.

Dean,

Thanks for taking the time on these pics.

I thought I would see a flange welded to the exhaust manifold, but it appears the owner welded the exhaust pipe directly to the manifold. Have not seen that before.

Down the road, if you decide, cast iron Fenton Headers would work so well, and, if you're concerned about exhaust noise, you could use Flowmaster or some mufflers ( turbo type ) that are not glasspacs. The purrrrrrr will still be there, without all the objection of excessive DB's.

Bob

What ever works for you! looks different, but you still have the heat riser, even a nice new spring!

The rebuilder I met has several 216s, some rebuilt and ready to go. I have found a '54 PG engine that turns over and seems rebuildable. If there are problems with the '54 then I'll have to decide whether to go with one of the 216s.