The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 261 Rebuild

You probably have a Rochester 1bbl. I'd look for a Carter YF made for a comparably sized inline 6. Since some folks around here are fans of dual carburetors and dual exhausts, I'll just say I prefer the stock approach.

I like the HEI distributors and have been converting a few Chinese made ones to work on the 216/235/261. So far that has been successful and it has been a cheaper alternative. They're coil in cap, copies of GM products and if it is important to you to have a separate coil you can use standard GM distributor caps and rotors on these distributors. You can also use standard GM parts inside. They're ugly, but so am I and I'm not doing this to win a beauty contest nor a car show.

I agree with Mike...I'd get your camshaft reground and I'd get new lifters.

I'm a fan of low psi electric fuel pumps...the AutoBest F4027 particularly. I've used this pump since 1997. Mine outputs 3 to 3.5 psi which is what you need.

Gaskets...aside from the head gasket they're pretty much all the same. Fortunately I haven't had the failure Mike mentioned. But I used a "perma-torque" regular gasket in a 235 and never had any problem for nearly 30 years. I have a copper clad Fel-Pro head gasket in mine now. Get a fly cut on your block and head to make sure both are flat.

Your engine is going to be okay with a two-piece rubber rear seal gasket...some call them neoprene but it was a different compound than that...a variant of Viton I was told years ago by Fel-Pro. No matter what you do consider please installing a Speedi-Sleeve on the back of your crankshaft. Use some red Threadlocker on it. If you do that the rubber seal will work well or if you can possibly do it, there's a one-piece seal that requires machining but will stop rear main leaks completely. Jerry can tell you more.

Rocker arms have been the topic of recent discussion. There are some folks here (including me) who'd like to make roller bearing rocker arms (and it can be done) but there are some limitations. I'd check the ones you have carefully. Watch eBay. Every once in a while a new set of shafts and rockers appears.

As for heads, I'd look into installing bronze guide liners. They'll work better for you. I'd get new springs, washers, etc. Please don't worry about hardened seats unless you don't plan on using gasoline. I'd look at my old valves carefully. Replace them if needed.

As for re-boring, I would hand the pistons to the machine shop with each marked on the top with a Marks-A-Lot numbered 1 through 6 and I'd tell them I wanted each cylinder bored and honed so that exact GM specs are met. And if they acted odd or like they didn't understand I'd leave and find somebody else to do the work. I mention this because I've seen blocks bored so poorly and sloppily the engines would have run as if they had 20~30,000 miles the first day they were started. Mine was done to specs and has between 148 and 155 psi.

Alternator...definitely. Generators are fine but generator & starter shops are not common any longer and if you decide at some point to install A/C you won't have a power problem.

What else? That's about all that comes to mind quickly. I'll let you know if anything else occurs to me. Good luck!