To 53moneypit and anyone else who cares:
Mr. Moneypit (let's call him Dave) gave me the original 216 out of his '53 3100 which he put an awesome souped-up 235 into (one of the most beautiful engines I've seen). He told me it ran pretty good. I took it to have a spare, just in case. Well, I was putting my '53 3600 back together this summer, in preparation for a major roadtrip (moving from Colo. to Northern Virginia). I was going to be pulling a 12' Uhaul, so I was wanting plenty of power. Having donated my good-running 235 to my father-in-law's '52 3100 rebuild project, my plan was to have another 235 that I had lying around rebuilt. Well, long story short, my rebuilder didn't get it done in time (so now the rebuilt 235 engine's for sale in CO- see my post in the swap meet if you're interested) With 3 days until my absolute deadline (I was already 4 days past my original target date for the move), and not a chance of getting the 235 finished in time, I decided to take a major chance on Dave's old 216- hoping that A) it ran good enough to be driveable and B) it would handle a fully-laden 3/4 ton and a fully-laden 12' trailer (and that trailer was packed very tightly!). So, in a last ditch effort, I hastily installed a bellhousing, flywheel, and clutch (borrowed from the 216 that I took out of my pop-in-law's '52 truck), rebuilt the Rochester carb, got an ignition ready, and dropped it in my truck. Next morning I fired it up- at first would barely run- thought I was screwed. Then I realized that A)there was a tiny clog in the idle port in the main venturi of the carb (wouldn't squirt the gas thru when you pump the accelerator) and B) there was a dang lockwasher at the base of one of the carb studs on the intake, under the spacer, creating a HUGE vacuum leak! Once I rectified these problems, I was able to get it idling nicely, time it, and adjust the valves (the valves were almost perfect anyway! I was stunned). I hastily mounted up a rebuilt water pump, radiator, and threw a cheap alternator on it (keep in mind I was past my deadline- I needed to get the engine installed and running, put the grill and hood back on, put the tranny and driveshaft in, put the diff. pumpkin (I did have a set of 4.10 rear gears, but had traded them over to Ralph, one of our fellow stovebolters in NM, for a set of 4.57's out of a '47 and a bunch of sheetmetal. Figured it was a good trade since I didn't plan on driving my '53 much on the highway anymore! ha ha) and rear axles in, do a crapload of other miscelleaneous work (lights, trailer wiring connection, put a pass. side RV mirror, etc., not to mention load up the truck) Everythink went (fairly) smoothly. I test drove the truck with only a small load- the 216 ran great, but it was louder than a rave party, having no exhaust! I told myself, there's no way I'm driving this beast from Colorado to Virginia, estimated speed 45mph, with the noise of a Kiss concert reverberating in my cab. I had neither the time nor the money to go have an exhaust put it, so I "borrowed" one that looked useable from my brother's 45 Chevy 1.5 ton military. This was a junkyard mechanic deal if there ever was one- had to bend the pipe to get it to clear, only about a foot of tailpipe, so it exhausts right under the driver side running board; but the best part was making my own "donut" pipe retainer deal thingy (the thing that goes 'round the pipe and bolts to the studs on the exhaust mani) out of a stovebolt water inlet (the top of the thermostat housing)! Incredibly enough, it's almost a perfect match to the exhaust mani. studs on a 216. Cut the sucker in half horizontally with a grinder cut-off disc, wallered out the holes a little with drill and file, and voila, exhaust donut ready! So, I was finally ready to hit the road, but still uncertain whether this engine (in which my confidence was building by the moment, mind you) would A) pull my truck 1600 miles w/o throwing a rod, cracking a head, jamming a valve, etc. and B) would the 93 hp wonder (surely a down a few horses due to its age) pull a 5000 lb truck and a 4000 lb trailer? Call me stupid, call me bold, I'll accept both. After monkeying with the shoddy U-Haul trailer wiring for about 2 hours in the Wal-Mart parking lot, I hit the highway. First stretch was the real test: up 1500 feet in about 60 miles. Good think I've got granny low, and a 4.57 rear end (that gives me a final drive ratio, in 1st, of something like, what, 30 to 1?). Slow acceleration, but those 93 horses, and especially the 150-some ft. lbs of torque, they got that rig moving! Making 40-45 mph on the interstate (I have oversized tires, which helps quite a bit). The Flint Hills in eastern Kansas (prettiest place in America, IMHO) gave me fits- pulling some grades at 35 mph, running dangerously warm!- but I prayed my way through them. Tried to drive mostly at night, which helped tremendously for engine cooling (I was blessed with some very cool evening weather that week). Slept under my truck on a tarp/sleeping bag at night (one awesome thing about stovebolts!) and on a cot next to my rig on warm afternoons, and managed to "drop in" on a few friends along the way to sleep, eat, and bathe. The Appalachians, now them are mountains. No joke- I now respect them more than the Rockies. Trying to pull that rig up 6% and 7% grades for 1-3 mile stretches was, well, it was white-knuckle, nail-biting, pray like you mean it scary. Temp crept up close to 240 a few times as I was forced to downshift to 2nd gear to crest those hills! I was sure, on more than one occasion, that I was going to blow out my head gasket, but the old thing held together, and chugged on. My tactic was, get as much momentum on the down-grades as possible, so I could get as far up the next grade as I could before down-shifting. So here I am, cresting a grade at about 30 mph, doing 65-70 at the bottom (this with 35 foot, 8 or 9 ton rig, straight axle, no trailer brakes!) At one point, though, fearing a major overheating disaster, I stopped halfway up one of these 2 or 3 mile stretches of 7% grade on I-68 in Maryland. Cooled the rad. as best I could with my on-board water supply, replenished my water cans at a nearby lake, and waited for cold darkness to fall. One fellow stopped and we chatted stovebolts for awhile. That evening I started up again, climbed the rest of this hill in 2nd. Temp approaching 240 again just as I crested the hill, but after that the worst was over. Made it to my destination in the Blue Ridge mountains. There are a few more stories in here but, wow, I've rambled too much now. Oh yeah, my main point was to say a big thank you to Dave, for giving me the engine, and also to Ralph, for the gears and stuff, and to everyone in the Stovebolt.com universe for all the help, advice, deals, stories, etc. over the years. This site is the best. Dave, you were right about that engine! I tried to kill it, but it just won't die! BTW, did it leak oil when you had it runnin? It's been using quite a bit, drips really bad. Oh well, it gets the job done.
Cheers,
Tyler
