"The older 216 parts bolt right on to the newer 235, so someone had a bad engine, bought a new long block and swapped all of the old bolt-on parts onto it...done all the time!"
I refer to the older 235 as one from 1941-49 (mostly military trucks) and 1950-1953 cars & trucks. A "newer" 235 as one from 1954-62 cars & trucks.
The intake ports of a 216 are smaller than the 54-62 235 so fabricated alignment/adapter rings are needed (turbulence?) but a 216 carburetor is undersized (run rich?) and may need modification.
The water pump, in the picture, looks like a shortened shaft 1955 2nd or later design so the 216 water pump wasn't used.
The water pump pulley and belt doesn't look to be 5/8" (216 truck) so I suspect the 216 crank dampener was not used. Generator or generator pulley changed?
The distributor cap looks to be a 216 and if the distributor is a 216 then the drive gear needs to be change to match the 54-62 235 camshaft.
If I was spending money on a new long block, back in the day, I wouldn't mess it up by putting questionable parts on it.
On the other hand, if the long block was from a junk yard and was used to keep a farm truck running then I guess it would be good enough.
