The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 216 to 261, and 261 "hopping up" question

The engine I've located does need a (partial) rebuild.

Heads are good, but the bottom end needs a rebuild.

Here's the plan to get some more juice. Bore out. New Pistons. Performance cam. Split Manifold and Dual Intake.

What is the biggest bore out it can get to(and still be stable)? I've heard 301 CI.

Any tips to squeeze out more juice?

Thanks for the sage advice.

Oh yes. There is a second part:

I'm in the Los Angeles area. Any leads on a good machine shop that's familiar with the vintage inline 6's?

I'd have to get this puppy butchered.

A few thoughts. Can be bored to .125 if lucky. Why not bore .060 and leave a little room for error and a future overhaul. If you are considering the dual carb Offy intake and Fenton header set up you will find there will be a lot of custom fitting of the intake required. (It took me about 4 hours of grinding, fitting, checking, grinding. Unless you are going racing the 261 truck cam has plenty of tourque. I replaced mine because of worn lobes. Good luck.

40 Chev, man you guys in CA are lucky. There are lots of good Inliner shops out there.

Here's a few:
Clifford Performance
Temecula, CA 92592 909-303-2333

Ross Forged Pistons
El Segundo, CA 310-536-0100

Sissell's Automotive
Covina, CA 91723 626-331-2727

Cap's Hot Coatings
Fresno, CA 93725 877-647-2628

That should get you started. Good luck.

I wasn't going to mention my guy here in Temecula but since 53Moneypit mentioned Clifford Performance. I will say Dave Shaw at Arrow Engines. He just finished my 216.
Great guy!
You probably want someone a little more northern though.
Good luck!
P.S. Temecula is 951 area code. We just changed from 909.

Boring more than 60 over is possible, but a sonic test must be done. Problem is mainly in the wall thickness to the water pump cavity. One improvement not mentioned is HEI. Also, get the head milled for more compression.

Becks Machine
(805)925-7411
2240 rayville lane
Santa Maria,Ca 93454

Instead of boring the 261 way over, do a search on the Inliners.org site and order the back issue with the Caddilac 261. You can offset grind the stock crank and fit caddy pistons (and rods, I think) and make a 261 stroker with less piston and rod mass and keep the same rev range as the stock 261 with a heck of a lot more torque. Good 261 blocks are going to get more scarce and don't bore them any more than you have to.