A sign over the urinal in the men's room at one of my local watering hole reads "We aim to please- - - - -you aim too, please!"
That is also a real necessity if someone is running one of the old spray-oiler 216 or 235 stovebolt engines. The spray nozzles in the oil pan are there to keep the connecting rods lubricated at any speed above idle, by squirting a stream of oil into the rod dippers as they approach the bottom of the piston travel where the load on the Babbit bearing goes away. It's easy to get one of the spray tubes misaligned when the oil pan is off the engine for any reason. Back in the dark ages when these engines were daily drivers, adjusting the connecting rod clearance by removing a shim or two between the rod and the cap was a routine maintenance procedure. GM dealers, and any well-equipped private shop would have an aiming fixture to check the spray tube alignment as part of that procedure. Sadly, those fixtures are hard to find these days. I just happen to have one, a gift from fellow stovebolter "Coilover" a couple of years ago. Here's how to use it- - - - -Instead of connecting a water hose or a parts washer to the pan, and making a big mess, a piece of round steel rod can be fabricated to check the alignment of the nozzles with the holes in the checking fixture. Bend the nozzle tips up, down, or sideways to make sure the stream of oil from the pump actually makes it into the dippers on the rods at normal engine speed. These engines are not "Splash Oilers" like most people call them- - - - -the pressurized oil just gets to the rods from outside the crankshaft. Jerry
Last edited by klhansen; 03/24/202512:26 AM. Reason: revised title
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
I just bought another 216 from Facebook marketplace- - - -Complete engine and torque tube transmission- - - -starter, carburetor, distributor etc.- - - - -$75.00. 50 miles south of me down I-65. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Thanks for the tech lesson Jerry, I have wondering how a splash dipper engine really worked.
Don
1967 GMC 9500 Fire Ladder Truck "The Flag Pole" In the Stovebolt Gallery '46 2-Ton grain truck | '50 2-ton flatbed | '54 Pontiac Straight Eight | '54 Plymouth Belvidere | '70 American LaFrance pumper fire truck | '76 Triumph TR-6 Of all the things I've lost in my life, I miss my mind the most!
Don, I'm going to use my factory aiming guide as a pattern to make a few copies, in case someone wants to do a spray tube alignment the right way. Of course, the simpler way to deal with the situation is to put a pressure oiled 235 crankshaft into a 216 and use connecting rods and pistons from a different engine to make everything play well together. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Jerry, I may be a 216 owner this spring? If I do get one, I may hit you up for that tool or measure it out and make my own.
Thanks Don
1967 GMC 9500 Fire Ladder Truck "The Flag Pole" In the Stovebolt Gallery '46 2-Ton grain truck | '50 2-ton flatbed | '54 Pontiac Straight Eight | '54 Plymouth Belvidere | '70 American LaFrance pumper fire truck | '76 Triumph TR-6 Of all the things I've lost in my life, I miss my mind the most!
No problem- - - - -just let me know when you need it! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
I've got the Target Tool set for the 207 engines. Had a friend with a 1935 Chevy Coupe that somehow found the original blueprints for the tools and he had a couple sets made...that was 40 years ago!
I'm working on designing a spray oiling system for the 4 cylinder engines, (1928 and earlier) using a higher volume oil pump, possibly from a 216, and spray nozzles silver soldered into the lube troughs that the splash-oiler rods dip into. That's going to take some creative cobbling on an oil pan with the bottom removed temporarily, and then welded back in. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Hotrod, tell me more about put a pressure oiled 235 crank into a 216 block. how is this done? does it then change the HP output of the 216? interesting. thanks, Curt
The 216 block requires some machining on the #3 main bearing web and the main cap, since the thrust faces on the 235 crankshaft are narrower, or the crankshaft thrust faces have to be machined wider to fit the 216 main bearing. I choose to machine the block, since the 1948-53 216 main bearings are almost impossible to find. You'll also need to use a piston with a shorter compression height, because the 235 crankshaft has a longer stroke than the 216, and the 216 block has 1/8" shorter deck height. Pistons for a Buick/Oldsmobile 215 cubic inch V8 can be adapted for that purpose.
The 235 crankshaft IS NOT a drop-in fit. It requires some very accurate machining and a willingness to think outside the box. I've been making "non-standard" parts fit in places they're not supposed to go for over 60 years, and won a bunch of oval track races in the process. The crankshaft conversion, along with a .060" overbore and the Buick pistons, makes a "216" a 235 with pressurized connecting rods, while the engine keeps its "original" appearance. Ray Charles could "see" a regular 235 dropped into a place where a 216 once was.
It's also possible to alter the stroke on the 235 crankshaft to make a 216 into a pressure-lubed 258 cubic inch, a 235 becomes a 270 with the same crankshaft, and a 261 goes to 300 cubic inches. Those conversions take a LOT of machine work and parts from about 4 different engines. Drop me a PM and I can give you the details on some of those conversions. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
The Buick pistons that Jerry is recommending will come about 1/8" short of the block deck, which will reduce the compression ratio (and power) a bit.
If your 216 is standard bore and not worn badly, pistons for a 1950 Chrysler in 0.080 oversize will work with the piston crown less than 1/64" above the deck. They have piston pins slightly smaller than stock, but can be reamed out to fit stock piston pins. If your 216 has been bored and the wear doesn't clean up at 0.0175 oversize, the Chrysler pistons won't work.
My block is due back from the machine shop for the modifications to the bearing web. A Melling M29 oil pump has been adapted to provide more oil. Here's how I did that.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
interesting. currently the 216 in my 1949 4400 is fine, just thinking down the road should it become not so fine. Hotrod, I may very well send you a PM some time to try understand this better. thanks guys!
Kevin, that 1/8" height difference can be corrected by modifying the 228/248/270/302 GMC connecting rod to fit the 235 crankshaft, or using a flathead Ford connecting rod- - - -both of them are 7" long, and can be adapted to fit a 235 crankshaft. I also have an Oldsmobile 394 connecting rod (7" long) on order to see if it can be adapted to the conversion. There's a custom length big block Chevy H beam rod that's 7.1" long. "All of the above" need machine work- - - - -they're not a drop-in fit. That extra 1/8" of deck height can also be corrected by increasing the stroke of the 235 crankshaft 1/4 inch to 4 3/16". Some of the modified 235 cranks I have on the drawing board can be stroked to 4 3/8", also. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
I understand that there's lots of option, Jerry. But the one I chose didn't involve any creative machining. Not every 'bolter has the array of machine tools available like you do. Just throwing that option out there for guys to consider.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
