The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 216 mainbearings

I had the pan off my 216. The mains are .040 I was going to replace them while the pan was off but none are available. So are my only options replace crankshaft and rebuild the engine? Are there other bearings that will work? 1949 216. The engine runs fine doesn’t burn oil. More just trying to give myself a fuzzy feeling inside to the reliability of this engine. I put it back together for now. Until I find parts . Any suggestions?

1948-53 216 and 235 main bearings are extremely scarce, but not impossible to find. However, 216 crankshafts are pretty available, since very few people have the knowledge or ability to work on a 216 engine successfully. Fitting the Babbit rods and aiming the spray nozzles in the oil pan have both become pretty much of a lost art. It's possible to do a little machining of the 216 block and run a pressure lubricated 235 crankshaft in a 216 block, but several other modifications will be needed to compensate for the difference in the height of the engine block between the 216 and the 235.

Replacing main bearings on a 216 is a very difficult procedure, since the crankshaft must be lowered almost an inch to get the upper bearing shells out of the engine. If they're in good condition, try adjusting the clearance instead of replacing them. Even if all the shims are gone, there's a way to tighten up the clearance. Drop me a PM.

EDIT:
10 minutes on Ebay turned up this ad:

www.ebay.com/itm/275642464377?

Jerry

I read what you wrote on installing a 235 crankshaft in a 216. So as long as this engine is running fine and not using any oil I will run it. When it blows I will do as you suggested and convert it to full pressure and a 235 crank shaft.. Thank you. The small block gears in the pump work pretty good. When hot it now idles at about 15 psi and going down the road hot around 25 psi with 10 w30. Thank you for your help.

We're sort of in the same boat as the guys were 60 years ago with Model T and Model A Fords. It was simpler and less expensive to swap in a flathead V8 instead of going to the effort to salvage and upgrade the 4 cylinder engines they rolled off the assembly line with. Those engines got turned into trucks, tanks, artillery shells, and radial aircraft engines during WW II. Now, even finding one to rebuild in any sort of condition is a challenge. The more of the "obsolete" 216's and spray oiler 235's we can save from the scrappers by doing some modern upgrades, the better. I've even got a Model A 4 cylinder engine on the "to do" list, scheduled to get a set of 283 Chevy V8 pistons and a PT Cruiser 16 valve overhead cam cylinder head!
Jerry

Are you sure the engine is truly fully warmed up? Because those numbers are great and wouldn't indicate a need for new main bearings, IMO.

He has modified his oil pump according to instructions I posted several years ago, using Melling M-55 small block V8 pump gears in a 216 housing, with a spacer plate between the pump housing and the cover to accommodate the taller gears. It produces about 50% more volume than a stock 216 pump, which is why the pressure is higher than normal.
Jerry

Thomaslb Sounds like your home free !! I'd stay away from that rear main seal and cruise.

I went ahead and replaced rear main seal with an old rope seal I found in a gasket kit. Was an old felpro kit. Put it back together and right now the only leak I have is the valve cover. I have a new aluminum one I am going to install with newer style breather. Don't think I will install pcv. All the engines I work on have road draft tubes. They run like that for millions of miles.

Is the oil pump mod described here only for a 216? Or would it work in a 235 as well?

Thomaslb I think the key word in your post is "old" hopefully that rope seal is an asbestos one. What we have now is fiberglass,not very durable. The best fix of course is put in a real seal back there with the boring bar !! Your call on PCV ,I think a slight flow INTO the crankcase is helpful on oil leaks.

The 235 has a higher volume pump already. The Melling M29 pump used on the 54-55 235 engines with the straight oil pan rail can also be substituted for the 216 pump to increase the oil flow by doing a little creative plumbing. The Melling M45 pump fits the 55-63 235 and 261 with the offset in the passenger's side oil pan rail that clears the bigger pump housing.
Jerry

Gotcha. Reason I ask…just noticed last night that my 62 235 hot idle oil pressure is in the 10 psi range. That’s at 500-ish rpm idle. At a fast idle, it’s 15, and anything over idle it pegs the 30 psi dash gauge.

No weird sounds. I’m not especially worried about it. The engine runs so well, that I’m interested in “get-me-by” fixes like some in-frame bearing freshening and perhaps an oil pump freshening if that would make a difference.

Step 1 is getting another gauge plumbed under the hood. Step 1A is probably stepping up to 20w-50 at my next oil change. Been running 15w-40.

That's pretty much normal pressure. It you had an idiot light instead of a gauge, you'd never see what the hot idle pressure is, since the light doesn't even begin to flicker until the pressure drops to 7 PSI or so. Getting obsessive about hot idle oil pressure has given a lot of people a case of the vapors for no good reason.
Jerry

Just wondered about the vapors, not being Southern enough, I guess
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinical_depression

But, no , you wouldn’t want to get them!