When my wife bought my '41 for me (isn't she a doll?) it had a 216 in it but it was a '52. When I did the latest restoration I put a '57 235 in it because of the improved oiling system. It would have been more expensive to locate a numbers matching 216 block and I believe I would have had a less reliable engine. Nevertheless, as others have mentioned the 216 can run fine for many miles and therefore it depends on what you want to do with your truck, i.e. a daily driver or for show. In my case I was trying to create a reliable daily driver that hopefully will one day take me on a "Blue Highway" adventure.
From the research and resulting knowledge I've gained here on the 'Bolt it seems to me that he full pressure oiled 235, with the full flow filtered oiling modification was the way to go for reliability. Whether or not this is the "best" way to go is always going to be open to debate. From a purely engineering standpoint it made sense to me and I've learned more than I had originally anticipated along the road in doing "the swap."
In the final analysis you need to ask yourself how you want to use and present your truck, and what the restoration means to you. If you are a purist of course you'll want a numbers matching engine, if on the other hand you seek a possibly more reliable engine you might want to consider a 235 "drop-in" (it isn't exactly that simple btw) and modifiy it to a full flow filtered engine. These old trucks ran fine with the 216 but were built to work locally and not for the long haul that I hope to do some day before I wear out my own bearings.
A 235 can be camouflaged fairly well to look like a 216 and in my humble opinion will serve you well--unless you are looking more points than miles.
Good luck no matter which fork in the road you take.
Don
Last edited by down2sea; 03/17/2009 4:58 AM.
