The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Issue with original engines

I had a conversation yesterday with an expert on the old 230/250/292 engines and he said the problem you run into with them today is obtaining distributors, carburetors, manifolds, because what is available is junk.

So if you want to go all original like I do, you have to compromise and upgrade to more modern components for trouble-free operation/performance.

I would be interested to hear anyones thoughts on this.

Thanks

"Expert"- - - - -

"X"- - - - -an unknown quantity used in math calculations- - - - - -

"Spurt"- - - - - -a drip of water under pressure- - - - -

"Expert"- - - - -an unknown drip under pressure! You need to start looking for someone who actually knows what he's talking about. On the other hand, if your guy could find time to visit my farm, he could talk to my garden and save me a fortune on fertilizer! Ebay, among a lot of other places, is full of serviceable parts, at bargain prices. Also, the Chevy 230 and 250 was used extensively by Mercruiser Marine as their base engine for several models, and there are plenty of those things with very low hours in junked boats, if you're anywhere near a marina. There are plenty of those places in your area- - - -anywhere on the TVA lake system. 292s were used in combines and other pieces of farm equipment, and "Made in Mexico" engines were available brand new, at least until fairly recently, from farm equipment dealer parts departments.
Jerry

Kevin ... Jerry needs to get over his shyness and just come out and tell us what he really thinks ...

But I'll concur with his bottom line -- No one on this site seems to have very many issues with either maintaining these engines or finding parts for them. Nor do we consider the later sixes "old." The 230/250/292 engines are relatively new compared to the bulk of the engines we deal with on this site.

People all over this site are rebuilding 216's and 235's without too many insurmountable issues. And as for myself, Jerry and I are working on a 1927 171 engine. Parts aren't exactly on the shelf down at NAPA for this engine, but they aren't impossible, either.

Your friend, the expert, may be used to dealing with these original engines by just yanking them out and replacing them with a crate v-8.

Also, I'd be curious to know how he defines "junk." One man's junk is merely another man's rebuildable core

Roll Tide!
(We have an UAB grad in our family)

I think on one level his expert is correct in that “new aftermarket” distributors, carburetors, and manifolds are for the most part junk.

The way to rebuild and keep these workhorses running is not about parts changing with new but about rebuilding original parts and or finding what parts are interchangeable, some rebuild workarounds, and even upgrades to factory parts to achieving that reliable engine.
This website is full of examples, and people, who know how that is done and are willing to share expertise.

Chuck

230s, 250s, and 292s share a LOT of parts with Chevy V8s of similar vintage. 250 pistons interchange with ones for 307 V8s, except the V8 pistons have a higher comppression ratio, 230 and 250 connecting rod bearings also fit 283 and early 327 V8s- - - -292 rod bearings fit every 350 ever made up to the early 1990s. The bell housing bolt pattern on all the 63-up inline sixes is identical to the Chevy V8. flywheels, starters, and transmissions (automatic and standard) are a bolt-on fit. Those things didn't happen by accident. UPS used thousands of 292's in their "Big Brown" delivery trucks, although anything surplus from that company has probably been worn out, rebuilt, and worn out again- - - -several times! Ditto for school buses and medium duty trucks made by Chevy and GMC.
Jerry

Thanks for all the opinions, very interesting. And he was talking about the aftermarket parts

I think it depends on the part. I recently purchased a new harmonic balancer for a 292 from Tom Lowe over at 12bolt.com. Tom sells what I consider to be excellent parts. One reason, he actually inspects them and many times makes them better quality then when he received them. Case in point. My balancer was not only inspected by Tom, but Tom balanced it in-house. I purchased a machined crankshaft from him for a 292. Fully machined and balanced in house, everything checks and correct.

But then, you have the opposite. Off-shore parts, low quality control at the manufacturer level, poor metallurgy, poor machine work, poor to no quality control at the distribution level. Jon (carbking) has detailed some of what he has found in the new carbs being sold. Lifters, oh don't get me started.

I just recently rebuilt a vent window. New rubber, new whiskers, new glass, new hardware. Cleaned, painted. installed the unit and used the "reproduction" adjuster for the bottom the the vertical track. The threads were not cut right and the nut would not install properly jamming the adjuster up. I actually threw it across my garage, went and got a crusty, rusty original, re-habbed the original, and installed it. Perfect.

I thought to myself, heaven almighty, can we ever get a new part that does not have to be modified, altered, adjusted, fiddled with , ground on, or totally redone just to have it actually work the way its supposed to.

What you said about the repop vent windows, AND they want an arm and a leg for them to boot.
I bought a used pair and built a good set from those and my originals, which had suffered a little corrosion in critical spots.

No, no repop. Dragsix wastes nothing if I can help it. I rebuilt a pair of originals. But I used repop rubber, whiskers, glass and hardware. But the manufacturer could not even get a simple thing like the hardware, a screw and nut, to be made properly. I am on my soap box I know, lol. But geeze.

Some of you will remember when every town had a little shop that sold auto hardware, screws, clips, springs, pig tails, bolts and everything in between. Auveco products was one brand. USA made, always worked with few if any exceptions. Now, nothing seems to work out of the box.

Preaching to the choir, my good man, preaching to the choir.

Mike, I had good luck with rebuild parts I got from The Filling Station. We'll see if the rubber lasts. Some of the stuff I've gotten (like parking brake cable boots) didn't even last over one winter before it basically disintegrated.