The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 216 bell housing on a 261

Will my old '49 216 bell housing, flywheel, and clutch bolt to a '59 261 block? I'm looking at building a 261 to replace the 216 but want to keep foot starter. Does the 261 come with the front mounting plate like on 235's? Thanks.

1942-62 flywheels all have the same bolt pattern for the crank.

1937-62 216, 235 and 261 engins all have the same bellhousing bolt pattern.

The timing plate is about the same on 1937-62 engines but will have different mounting holes or even none depending on what it came out of.

OK. So does the 261 have a drillable plate for the front mount too?

Your 216 front mount will bolt onto the 261 no problem.

Does the 216 water pump fit the 235 & 261 engines and is the length of the same on all three engines? If the 216 bellhousing and flywheel bolts right up to the two newer versions, then where is the problem with re-using the old foot starter?
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

You need to get the short shaft water pump for it to fit into an AD truck. Here is a link to the Carter Site the part number is REME205

Have read this general info several times on this board, but watch out...

Earlier 9-1/4" flywheels do have a DIFFERENT bolt pattern than later 11" ones !!


Couple of years back I wanted to upgrade my earlier flywheel to the larger 11", but it wouldn't work.
Putting both flywheels on top of each other clearly showed the different spacing of the bolt pattern.
I posted this mystery/alert a few times since my experience, but nobody had a good explaination so far.

You can use the stock 216 waterpump with an adapter which also puts the fan up at the original height for better cooling.

I have a '62 261 in my '50. I replaced the 216.
I made my own short shaft water pump and I run an electric fan and 12V alternator. I found a Ford pully in a junkyard that fits great. However, I don't have enough room between the radiator and the water pump to use a mechanical fan, and it also sits too low on the radiator. The 216 water pump is partway in the head and partway in the block. The 235/261 waterpump is in the block. I wish I had used the adaptor plate the Buffalo and others sell to use a 216 water pump, it would have been cleaner.

Here's what I did about the rest of the motor:

My block already had the front mount holes drilled. It came out of a 62 Suburban. It really is a 261, and it was the original engine in the burb. It was optional that year only. You can drill them yourself or change the front plate with your 216 plate. This is harder than just drilling the holes.

The bellhousing bolts up great. You can use the 216 flywheel and clutch if you want, but unless you have the optional big clutch you don't want to use it with the 261, since it makes quite a bit more torque than the 216. If you want to keep the footstomp starter you have to use the 216 bellhousing.

The engine I got came with an 11" clutch flywheel. I really wanted to use the big clutch so I figured out how to make it fit in the 216 bellhousing. The later ring gears have more teeth so if you want a footstomp starter you have to match them. The ring gears are not interchangable, the inner diameter on the late ring gear is bigger than the early one. I kept my 216 starter and had a machine shop turn down the 261 flywheel on a lathe to fit the ring gear from the 216. This has held up fine. It only cost me $50.

I am running my 6V starter on 12V and it cranks really fast. It has not had a problem with this in over 4 years.

I mounted a GM 12si alternator to the block by flipping over a generator bracket and re-drilling the holes. The alternator works great and only cost $30.

You will need to do something creative with the throttle linkage. I cut the pedal rod shorter and re-bent it with a vise so it met the bellcrank and did a full stroke. Then I bought some threaded rod and pivot ends at the hardware store for the run up to the carburator. It took a few special bends and tweaking to keep it from binding but it works pretty well.

I mounted the electric fan in front of the radiator. This was a pain and I recommend avoiding this if you can.

It does work, though. I used a 2500 CFM fan with a thermostat switch that senses the surface temp of the radiator and comes on when it wants to. It keeps the engine cool just fine but it draws 20 amps when it runs.

Thanks Josiah, glad to hear from someone that has actually been through it successfully. I’m stickin with the 216 for now but I want to keep my options open, in fact just last week a guy offered me a 235 free for the taking., and I’ll take it if he doesn’t back out. I had a 261 in my ‘60’ Biscayne and thought it was a good little engine. So I am assuming from what I hear here, that the length of the block is the same, the only problem you encounter with length is with the water pump, correct?
I have machine shop access, in fact if I ever get the 5hp motor mounted up, I have a 16” lodge and Shipley engine lathe in my shop that I have been restoring for 15 years. That would be nice for things like flywheels, brakes and hubs. With the steady rest I could even do a drive shaft. Did you have to heat, expand/shrink the starter ring on the flywheel? And it sounds like there is enough room for the larger clutch in the 216 bell housing.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

4onthefloor...
What did you have to do to get the 11" flywheel fit the 216 bellhousing?

Are there any 235 bellhousings with footstarter that can handle a 11" flywheel and fit between a late 261 and 47 3-speed without any or little modifications?

Sorry I didn't notice the post sooner, I've been out on the coast.

The flywheel fits in the bell housing just fine. The tricky part is making the clutch and pressure plate fit while still having enough throw in the fork to engage and disengage. I had to change the throwout bearing. I can't remember if it was too short and I put a long one on, or too long and I put a short one on, but it was the opposite of what it came with. I had a couple of extra 216 bellhousings and some 250 clutch parts on hand. I think I might also have changed the stud that the fork pivots on, but if I did I just swapped them between bellhousings.

As far as the ring gear, I was not in the shop when my machinist did the work. He said he just used his brake lathe and measured and pressed on the ring gear, no heat. It looks just like the factory did it. I heated the 216 gear off the old flywheel by heating the whole thing up in a propane bbq grill for about an hour and tapped it off with a drift and a framing hammer. It was dang hot but it came off easy enough.

If you have the right press anvils you can press ring gears off and on to the flywheel, but I like to do it with a gas grill. You can heat the whole assembly to remove, or just the ring gear to install. You want some tongs for handling. You can also do it with a weedburner torch but the grill is easier.

If you want to use the same rear mounts on the bellhousing you have to use a pre-'54, after that the mounts don't fit.

You should be able to use a 235 foot stomp starter from '55-57 with a 216 bellhousing. ( I don't know when they switched to solenoid). The only differance in starters is that the teeth change depending on whether they are 6 or 12 volts, they both bolt up. I used the 216 starter because I wanted to be able to keep the truck 6V, although I ended up converting to 12 anyway because I needed the electric fan.

Thanks for the insights.
I am basically putting a late 261 into a stock 47 car swapping the 216.
I just want to keep the large flywheel with matching 12V starter and wondered if the 216 bellhousing and footstarter will bolt right up before I go for it.
Your post gives me more confidence it might work with no or little modification.

What about the front motor mounts?

The block I got already had the front motor mount holes drilled out and it dropped right in. The 261 is exactly the same length as the 216 from front plate to bellhousing. If your block doesn't have holes drilled you can just center punch and drill them yourself.

I'm assuming the '47 car has the same mounts as the truck. If not, you will have to figure something out. My block has undrilled bosses on the block casting but I don't know if they would be the right ones for a car.

4floor: I'm new at the stovebolt thing and just picked up a 53 3100 with a 235 out of a 53 car with powerglide so I believe its a full pressure oiling system. However the engine sat with the truck for a number of years in a pasture and a number of accessories were taken by the time I got it. Its condition is unknown so rather than try to fix it, I found a 59-62 261 with 3 spd and OD that I am putting in the 53. I have already figured out that I need to change the transmission crossmember and have yarded out the crossmember for the old 4 speed. I also note that the front mount is different than the 235 mount. Front mount came with the engine and trans so I have that and can see I'm going to have to do a little fitting but it looks like I can use the same front crossmember and mounting location. What I hadn't anticipated was that I may run out of room between the front of the engine (fan) and radiator using the 261 as was discussed in this thread. Is that the case for my 53 as well as the 49? What do I do about it? I'm trying to keep this a low budget "get it on its feet" project. Can the radiator be moved forward if clearance is a problem?

A neighbor from Woodland WA
Jerry