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The original 216 in my 49 3100 has the angled exhaust.
49 216 exhaust manifold

All 216 and 235's starting in 1949 angled back.

235Kidd, check your PM’s again. The manifold will not work w/o modifications.

Yep, I learned just now some 216's did have a angled exhaust manifold. The search goes on!

Usually a bad vacuum advance, or a engine that has been run with the timing retarded will cause the exhaust manifold to get red hot. Multiple overheating then cooling will crack them.

Thanks to a lead from Martin, I now have a manifold! Went and picked it up this morning, and am off to clean it up and install.
Thanks for the explanation, Dave. I know the timing was off when I first started working on the truck, so maybe that was it. I'm running it advanced now, so should that cause any issues? I'm not sure how advanced, since it's been a while since I set it. I timed it with the engine running, and the pointer in the timing hole was pointing near the triangle stamped on the flywheel. That is where the engine seemed to run the best.

If you separate the exhaust manifold from the intake to clean it up and put in a new gasket, be sure to leave the two loose when you reinstall the assembly. Then tighten the bolts after you get the assembly in place. Makes it easier to line everything up.🛠

I got the manifold cleaned up and installed, but the two exhaust ports in the center aren't sucking down on the head. All 3 intake ports and the exhaust ports for cylinders 1 & 6 are sucked down good and tight, but on those 2 exhaust ports in the middle, I can see light between them and the head. Any advice?
Thanks

Did you leave the intake to exhaust bolts and stud/nuts loose while you secured to the head?

Going from memory here, but I think shop manual says to tighten center manifold bolts first then the outside.

No I did not leave the intake to exhaust bolts/studs loose. I never loosened them to start with, so I may try that tomorrow.
When I put the manifold on, I put 2 bolts in on the outside edges to hold the manifold in place, then threaded the bolts in the center and tightened them first, as you said.
Thanks

Separating the intake and exhaust manifold might be easy; however, it was not easy on a few of my manifold assemblies.

Did you have the intake/exhaust manifolds apart?
If you did, try JW51s suggestion (maybe with a new gasket, unless you trust the old gasket).

Or:

1. try two manifolds-head gaskets and tighten gradually, "in several steps", from the inside outwards.

2. if that does not seal, have a machine shop machine the mating surface (head-to-manifolds surface) on the manifold assembly.

Machine shop had to torch mine to separate. Couldn’t touch it with my map torch.

I never did have this manifold apart, no, and the reason is the nuts and bolts looked pretty rusty and I didn't really want to mess with twisted off bolts. However, after heating them up with an acetylene torch, they may come loose after all.

This may sound like an insanely crazy "farmer fix" idea, but would it be a viable option to carefully use a belt sander to gradually touch up the ports until all made contact? Just a thought I brainstormed right now.
Also, if the manifold must be surfaced professionally, would that not make the rings in the intake ports stick out too much so the rings themselves prevent the manifold from snugging down on the head?
Thanks!

"This may sound like an insanely crazy "farmer fix" idea, but would it be a viable option to carefully use a belt sander to gradually touch up the ports until all made contact? Just a thought I brainstormed right now."
I'd try two gaskets before trying the "farmer fix" (we'd have called it a "cob job", instead of insulting a farmer)

"Also, if the manifold must be surfaced professionally, would that not make the rings in the intake ports stick out too much so the rings themselves prevent the manifold from snugging down on the head?"
You are correct - that is a distinct possibility (and, it is perceptive of you to recognize this potential problem). You would have to grind-down the width of the rings.

Those are why I go to two gaskets, first. Are you using the very nice, but expensive, one-piece gasket? If you are, you might find the cost of a machine shop work is less expensive than the cost of two of those nice gaskets?

I think the machine shop separated mine and surfaced lightly for $20 or so.

Tim, I am using a kit from Fel-Pro, and there are 3 gaskets for the manifold. Not too fun trying to get them lined up, but I sprayed them with copper coat gasket spray, and put a tiny dab of grease on each end of the gaskets to help them stick and not fall down into the abyss of the engine bay. Probably another wacky idea, but in that past it's worked for me. (I said "farmer fix" in the last post, because growing up on the farm and still being a farmer myself, I've seen and performed lots of operations like that, knowing they may not be the "best" way to do something, but they work in a pinch when time and money is tight. No insults to any farmers intended)
I'm going to call a couple machine shops real quick and see what the cost of surfacing will be, but before I take it that far, I will see if I can get the manifold disassembled, then put it together loosely on the motor, tighten the bolts on the head, then tighten the two manifold halves.

JW51, thanks. I'll see what my shop charges, if they can do it. He's a little shady, and you have to pretty much babysit his work. Gotta go over with a fine-tooth comb, because sometimes he tends to half-do things. I've got a reputable machine shop about 20 miles away, and I might just go there, if he can do the work.

With the alignment rings in place in the block, I put the 3-piece gaskets in place over the rings.
Two sets of gaskets are as easy/hard to install as one set of gaskets.

Here is the thicker and $$ one piece set.

A 3 foot carpenter's level or other straight edge, a big file or a belt sander, and some time and patience are all that's necessary to true up manifold-to-head gasket surfaces. Use the straightedge and a bright light to check for low spots, and file/sand the high spots as required to get things leveled up. If the alignment rings are too tall afterward, they're not grinder-proof, either.
Jerry

Thanks for the advice, guys! I went out this morning, pulled the manifold, heated the bolts up, got them broke free, cleaned the gasket surface up, installed a new gasket, put it back together loosely, installed on the head, tightened the head bolts down, and couldn't believe it, it was actually all snugged down! The trick you guys suggested about mounting it loosely assembled, then tightening everything, worked! I'm back in business now, just need to bolt the radiator in, put the carb on, hook up some linkages, and I *should* be ready for the first startup. Hopefully I can get that far today, but if not, no worry.

For what it’s worth guys, he is working in an unheated barn and the temp is 18 and the wind is blowing a steady 15mph. Tough Oklahoma farm kid.

Thanks, Martin. I'm able to shut the door and kill the wind, but then it's almost dark inside, so I keep several trouble lights hanging around. I have to kinda breathe out of my mouth, and try to blow the fog away from my line of sight, because it tends to cloud up my vision.

I'm feeling pretty giddy right now, as I got the engine assembled enough that I could do a test start. I didn't want to get everything completely back together, then start it, in case there was a big problem that would require some disassembly, so I did just what needed done. (really all the engine needs is the valve cover put on, coolant added, fan belt installed, and the muffler hooked up, so it's pretty complete). I cranked it for about 20 seconds to hopefully get some oil oozing, but since it's 18 degrees, it doesn't want to flow too well. I'm thinking I may need to drain the straight 30 weight and pour in some 10W-30. I turned the key on, and once the carb filled and got gas to the cylinders, it roared to life! Without the muffler hooked up, it sounds pretty cool. However, I may have some linkages sticking, as low idle seemed very high, so I'll have to check that out in the morning. In all, it only ran about 8 seconds. I shut it off because I wasn't getting but about 2 or 3 pounds of oil pressure, but I realize that's probably just because it's so cold. I was surprised how easily it started with the 6V system in such cold weather, pushing such thick oil.

If one uses brass nuts on all the manifold studs, they will always be easy to remove.

Ed

My manifold is held on by bolts, not studs, per se. Originally it had 2 alignment studs, one on each end, but I pulled those short studs out and put longer studs in that I could get a brass nut on.

Bet they could see the smile on your face all the way downtown. Rivaled the Christmas lights.

Good one, Martin! After starting it, I understand why you had straight pipes on your grain truck. It sounds pretty mean!
So today I started it up again. I found my problem with the high idle was just the stop screw on the back of the carb was screwed all the way in. I backed it out about halfway and now it sounds really nice. I only ran it for about a minute today, then shut it off because I wasn't getting oil to the rockers. I assembled them with lots of assembly lube so they wouldn't run dry, but I'm wondering why oil isn't making it up there. The gauge in the cab came up to 15 psi after a little bit, but still no oil at the rockers. Could part of the reason be it's trying to pump straight 30 weight oil and it's 15 degrees outside? Should I have just run it a little longer? Or maybe place a heat lamp under the oil pan to try and warm it up a bit?
Thanks!

I don’t think you are in trouble yet. As you say it is cold and your running 30wt. Go ahead and throw an old blanket over the engine and put the heat lamp under the pan. Don’t leave it unattended or change it to a 100 watt bulb. If your getting 15 lbs at the gauge I’m guessing you will get oil to the rockers. Your engine is not a full pressure (I think) and so the amount of oil will not be massive. You got this.🛠

Just drizzle a little oil on top of the rocker arms in the general vicinity of the holes where you are looking for the oil to show up at, and run it until the engine warms up. Once the oil warms up, it should show up at the rocker arm holes.

Ok guys, yesterday it was about 50 degrees or so, so I started up the 235 and let it run a little bit. I started getting some oil to the rockers, so I'm good there. Only thing that seemed funny is it only pushed oil up there when the engine was above idle. Just idling the oil wouldn't show, but rev it up a little and oil would start to drizzle out.

Next question....what all years of trucks will the radiators interchange? I took the radiator (never leaked or anything) out of this 2-ton to a shop to get it cleaned up and gone through. The guy said the radiator wasn't worth cleaning, because of some deposit buildup at the bottom of the core. He said if he cleaned it, it'd leak. He said the best thing to do would be just back flush it with water, and reinstall it if it wasn't leaking before. I may do that, OR I have a radiator out of a parts truck out at my grandpa's place. It's 110 miles away, so I don't have ready access to it, but it's out of an older 2-ton truck. The truck was scrapped years ago, but some parts were saved out of it. Its radiator looks good (a lot better than this one) but I'm not sure it would fit. I don't know what year the truck was, but it was a 2-ton, no vent windows in the doors, but it had the vent on the driver side cowl that my '51 doesn't.
I saw the radiator hanging in the barn a while back, and the only distinct difference I remember was the location of the fill neck. It was off to one side, where as the one that came out of this '51 has it closer to the center, yet still off center a bit.

So to sum that up, across what year range will radiators in 2-ton trucks interchange?
Thanks!
Edit: After doing an internet search, I'm thinking the parts truck may have been a late '49 or '50. It did have the "6400" designation on the sides of the hood. Think the radiator should swap into a '51?

As long as the size of the radiator is close, a little tinkering with the mounting flanges will probably make it fit OK. The position of the top and bottom hose nipples is the important thing- - - -if they're pretty similar on both radiators, flex hoses will get you going- - - -at least temporarily.
Jerry

That other radiator might be thicker, which is OK. If the top or bottom hose nipples are on the wrong side, it is relative easy for a radiator shop to move them to the best side.

Ed

I used a radiator out of a big truck and it was thicker and I had to remove metal from the top of the radiator support to make it fit, The clearance from the fan remained the same as the original radiator.

Today was the big day! The radiator and valve cover are installed, all the fluids changed, etc. Even though the windchill was about 8 degrees, I went for a cruise. I only went about 8 miles, but it's a start at least. Taught my 16 year old sister to drive it, and she enjoyed it. Truck ran like a champ, but just before I parked it in the barn, I let it idle in the driveway for a max of 2 minutes. I crawled underneath to check for oil, and unfortunately, there were about 10 tiny oil drips, (wind blown) under the flywheel area. Guess my rear main ain't holding anymore.
This is the first time it's leaked. Yesterday I let it idle outside for about 10 minutes, to get to temp and make sure the radiator wasn't going to leak. It never leaked then, and all was dry underneath. Today there was a tiny drop hanging off the rear main bearing/seal retainer cap. I was told it might be oil leaking down the back of the valve cover, since I still used the old gasket. (I have a new one, but I'll put it on after I set the valves the next time I get it hot). I'll have to check that tomorrow.

When I parked in the barn tonight, I hurried and pulled the pan plug and drained the oil. It was gray looking and had a metallic sheen to it. I've read in some places on the internet that it's normal, as the rings break in, but I've also read it's not. I'm just unsure. I've rebuilt 2 small 4 cylinder gas tractor engines and never had anything like this happen. I did make sure to use plenty of assembly lube on all the rod bearings when I put them back together. I also honed the cylinders, but I washed them out vigorously with a rag and some diesel. (But maybe not enough???) Always worked well in the past, but maybe my bearings are getting shredded by some of the "world's finest lapping compound"? I sure hope not.
Any advice/opinions?
Thanks!

I once changed the oil on a 216 for the first time after the rebuild and the oil looked like silver paint.
The engine never developed a problem, so I decided it was from the rings.
I did not rebuild this engine, and have never seen oil from the engines I rebuilt this silver, but this one sure did.

Glad I'm not the only one. I agree, it is strange. Hopefully it clears up after this change and stays that way.

Still a little disappointed about the oil leak, but I'll have to look into it and try to figure exactly where it's coming from. Hope it's not the rear main. Anything but that...