The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 261 Engine Price

Would someone please give me an opinion or indication of a fair price for a 261 engine. I realize it will vary by location. Near me, there is a 261 described as "very good", but the car goes with it. So I have to figure out how much is too much. This would probably sit in storage somewhere until I need or want it.

$100-500............it may say very good but beware. If tranny goes with it a package deal may be worth more.......261 engines originated in big 2 ton trucks.

Thanks alot. In Canada the 261 also came in Pontiac cars. I'm leaving now to have a look.

I think that the 1955-62 Canadian Pontiac 261 engines had hydraulic lifters.

This is FYi - it is not a positive/negative comment.

I apologize for placing the thread in the wrong forum. The engine didn't have captain's bars so I passed. Has anyone ever seen a 261 without captain's bars? It looked like a 235 to me.

Yes, the early 261's (out of the 1954 mold) do *not* have the Capt's bars. I have one in my truck. They are the ones most desirable for retrofitting into the Advance Design (Chevy) trucks because they are already set up for the front engine mount and the high water pump.

Absence of Capt bars doesn't mean its not a 261. You *Must* check the casting code to be sure. Go back and get the casting code and tell us what it is. We can confirm the motor id.

Would those bars be Navy Lieutenant bars and Marine, Army, and Air Force Captain bars?

Has anyone seen a 1954 261 without any Captain bars?

1954 Corvette 235s with Powerglide transmission supposedly had captain bars?

I think that it has been posted that some 1954 235s had one set of bars?

Has it been confirmed that Canadian built 261's had the Captain Bars?

Did you think to get the block casting numbers and engine code? That would help a lot in knowing what you were looking at.

Mike B

My Canadian built 1962 261 has captain bars.

I’d have to check the 57 261 I have on the stand.

Tim, As stated above, *my* 261 is out of the '54 mold (per the casting code) and has no capt bars. And oh by the way, the 261s were *not* built in Quantico, VA so they would *NOT* be Marine Corps Capt bars

I wonder if the Capt bars are related to whether or not the engine is for an Advance Design or Task Force application -- water pumps are in different locations, and somewhere in there the main bearings change in how they are retained in the journals. Why is this important? Read This -- why knowing your casting and date codes are important Not all 261's are the same.

Does *any* of this apply to Canadian engines?

Ya got me As asked above, maybe one of our Canadian engine guys can tell us.

I've got a USA 261 from a 55.1 truck stashed away, it has Capt bars above starter & high mount water pump.

Be careful, some 1953 powerglide engines 235 s had captain bars above the starter, a true 261 will have a set of captain bars on the drivers side of the block too.

I pulled mine out of 55.1 truck. Cast numbers indicate 261, has exhaust valve rotators, closed PCV system.

Yep nice, exhaust valve rotators were definately 261 heads. Look for the other set of bars

Stove, get those numbers. Doc

That's interesting. What is the casting code?

Cast June 21, 1954
F 21 4
3703414 cast in front of fuel pump
Stamp on pad behind dist: 0006339F55N
Has old style (2 bolt on top, one bottom) side bosses cast in block but not drilled, no side mount provision.
Found it in the Nickel Ads years ago, guy was sell "235 in 55 chevy farm truck, you pull". I went to check it out, not even thinking about it being a 55.1 but hoping it was a 261.
He drove it into his heated shop & I pulled it out, gave him cash & everybody was happy.
A few weeks later I found another Nickel Add "1959 C60 for sale, 235 4 spd". Bought if, drove it home on back roads (no bed, no tags), pulled the 261 out of it & sold the rest for about what I paid for the truck.
Haven't had that kind of luck in along time.

I've got three 261's- - - -two high pump types and one late model with the full flow filter option available. Two of them were given to me, and I paid $100.00 for the other one because it also came with a SM-420 attached- - - -with a PTO!
Jerry

Sorry Doc, I just didn't get a very good feeling. The car was basically a shell so I don't think it had much value. To me it looked difficult to get the casting number. In other words, I'll keep looking.

I have a 1954 261 out of a big truck and it has the captain bars .
1954 and early 1955 261 engines had the high mount water pump.

Tim

Cool, yea did the same bought a 55 GMC @auction 230.oo and got real nice 261 with it sold truck for 500!

Cool, yea did the same bought a 55 GMC @auction 230.oo and got real nice 261 with it sold truck for 500!

Once again, we find out there are no absolutes ...

Did we ever, on Stovebolt.com, hear a reason/explanation of the captain's bars??? Because now we have two 261's with the same casting code (BowTieTim's) and mine. Both with the 9733950 code, yet one with captain's bars (Tim's) and one without (mine). Okay, the captain's bars obviously mean something ... What? Sorry if we've talked about this before ...

Tim, What is your engine's date code? Mine is B 6-9 (as shown), meaning it was cast in February of 1959 -- Presumably as a "crate Motor" or replacement engine for the '54 and '55 1st Series trucks (it has no serial number stamped on the boss behind the dizzy, which is typical for a crate motor, yes?).

The things you learn around here ....

"42"

John, was one engine casted in Tonawanda and the other in Flint?
Bow ties engine looks like a Tonawanda engine, was yours a Flint replacement engine?

Hmmmm -- excellent question! Maybe. How do we tell T from F?

On the 261's, anyway, there appear to be two different locations for the casting number -- to the front of the motor of the distributor or just below and to the front of the fuel pump. Does this correlate to "later" and "earlier" 261's, by plant location (Tonnawanda or Flint), or just by the whim of the mold makers when they were setting up each mold? See my two working exemplars below. Do they reflect reality?

And while we're at it, here's a later 261 (with Captain's Bars) -- what is the clock face looking mark in the date code and what is it telling us?

Can you tell I'm working on a casting code Tech Tip??

I believe there will be a T or F cast in the block to ID the engine foundry...maybe some of the members with open blocks can look them over...it may be on the inside by the crank.


The cast clock indicates the 10 hour shift, 10 dots in a circle with the dot outside the circle and a pointer which indicating the time of day and shift (I forget which is which). It was another way to help isolate problems in the casting process.

Mike B

Mike B -- In Bowtietim's post above, he has a picture of inside his black with a stylized "T" under cylinders 5&6 ... Tonawanda, then? That was sstock's clue?

So I went through the pictures of our 261 rebuild weekend and here's the best shot I could find showing the inside of my block. It appears mine is a Tonawanda block, too. Oh well, so much for that theory ...

So we have two Tonawanda 3733950 blocks, one with Captain bars, the other without. The one without bars (mine) was cast Feb 6, 1959. It could be interesting to know Tim's date code. On my block, there is a raised circle where the bars would be.

My date code is CON4 L14 6
The last four digits of my serial number stamped by the distributor pad is F54N
F- Flint
54- model year
N- 6000 series truck Heavy Duty Engine
I'm not sure what the T stands for inside the block (truck) ??

Now we need to see if anyone has an "F" in the same area...

I firmly believe nothing was done by chance, there's a reason you have a circle and not bars...could it be because your block was destine to be made for the resale/replacement market and the internals were more generic or different than one destine to go in a new truck? This may be one of those questions that never get answered because we collectors/historians never had a link to the foundry paper trail...

Mike B

Tim -- Apparently, per the posts above, the "T" means the block was cast at Tonawanda, NY. A Flint, MI block would have an "F"

Mike -- Concur -- could be that we are barking at ants, here ... Another data point is that my truck's main journals were cut for the newer style bearings -- Why this matters. Not sure if that has anything to do with the present discussion.

Also possibly important is that so far, *my* 261 is the only one we've seen (in this discussion) without the bars. It might be interesting and informative if someone else could chime in who has a bar-less 261. Mine can't be the only one ... If it is, I probably owe 48bigtrucks more money ...

I think, if nothing else, we *can* say that not all 261's have Captain's bars and thus, they should not be used as the sole identifier. Absence of Captain's Bars may *indicate* that it isn't a 261, but isn't conclusive (as my engine proves)-- the casting code is still the only way to know for sure.

Sorry if I took this conversation down a rabbit hole. I needed a distraction.

If you owe 48bigtrucks more money?
What do you owe me?
You do know I'm on a fixed income now!

Another truck haul next month. It's still in the works.
Don

So would my motor been cast in Tonawanda and my serial plate stamped in Flint ??

I doubt it. Do you have a "T" somewhere on a Flint engine?

Mike B

I bought this 261 for 100 dollars,the seller did not know what it was other then a old Chevy six and had many others look at it and I do not think anyone knew what it was. I could see the oil filter in the picture and instantly knew what it was.

Looking at the above pictures I posted, you'll see the T that is cast on the inside of the block.
My pad where the serial code is stamped has F54N stamped on it.
I wonder what the G1 stands for that is above the T ??

Tim

Ok, I missed that those were your pictures...

In that case you could have a Tonawanda block with a Flint serial number because you have a replacement block. The date code on that block is L 14 6 which tell me it was cast on Dec 14, 1956.

Mike B