Kevin- - - - -you could send Schneider Cams in San Diego a good 216 core and get them to put a 261/Corvette lobe on it, or get somebody to turn the bearing journals down on a Melling CCS-1 cam to fit a 216 block. Either way, you'll have a slightly hotter cam to go with that extra displacement.
Jerry, I'm not looking to soup this thing up that much, just make it more dependable without spending a boatload of money on it. Besides that I sent my spare 216 cam core to you. LOL!
I did some more checking on the oil pump replacement, and found that the drive shaft is outboard on the 216 pump, but inboard on the M29. Also, the M29 inlet is on the opposite side from the 216 pump, which would make using the original pickup assembly bolted to the main cap REAL hard to pipe to, snaking around the pump. Fortunately, I have a pickup assembly from the 58 235 that can be adapted. The oil nozzles in the 216 pan will be gone, so no issues with clearance there. When I get further into it, I'll post a thread with some pictures of the conversion.
