The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop To keep the 216 or not?

I know when you read the subject for this post you rolled your eyes and said. Ugghh not another one of those 216 questions again. Well guess what.. YES YES it is.. LOL

I was finally able to crack in to the engine of our truck. Everything looks fine. The engine spins over freely. it could probably use a refreshening.

My question though is this. i know the limitations of the 216 from doing a lot of reading here. i am prefectly happy not driving the truck at highway speeds. My question thought is this:

Since the engine is the original engine to the truck does it make sense from a "value" stand point, to keep the original motor in the truck? I understand that there is some inherent "value" in drivability as well. However this truck is not going to be sold, as of yet. I plan to use it as an around town commuter and not going over 45MPH.

opinions? Thoughts?

Nothing wrong with keeping the 216, especally for how you're palnning to use the truck. I have a freind who used a '50 Chevy DeLuxe sedan with a 216 as a daily driver for years without any issues. Just make sure to change the oil regularly and keep up with the maintainance (valve adjustments, points, etc) and it;ll go forever.

I wouldn't replace the 216 either as long as you know it's in good shape. Have the block magnufluxed for cracks. 216's are known to develop water jacket cracks.

Even though original 1/2-tons seem to me to be getting rare, I doubt there's any value benefit, Market-wise, to keeping the 216 in the truck. But, there's tremendous value to people like ME, who put a premium on originality.

I figure heck, it worked fine when it was born with the 216, it can work fine NOW.

Lots of those 216s went out the door, there's a reason there's still so many around. Good engine, long-lasting when taken care of, and even when not! And, easy to care for.

Why not stick with it until you have a legitimate reason to dump it?

My thoughts, anyway . . .

-Michael

I have the original 216 in my '48, and even though I have a late 235 that I want to build up for it, I am going to run the 216 until it dies. I recently got it running and with the T5 behind it it runs fantastic right now!

I'm keeping mine, but I did a couple of modifications, I got the crank drilled for rod oiling, tapped for a full flow filter, full circle rear seal, kind of making a hod rod out of it. Don't really expect a whole lot, but it should be pretty nice.

I just joined Stovebolt yesterday. I have a 1939 Chevy 3/4 Ton Stake Truck with the 216 engine. I couldn't get it over 45 mph with a tail wind and downhill. I had 4.11 gears in the rearend. I had 3.33 gears made for it. Now it'll do 55-60 all day long. The 216 loves it. It's not the engine that has problems, it's the gearing.

Keep the 216 .It can out last you if well maintained .

Hey rickmg where did you get the gears made for you?
I have a 41 1.5 ton with the original 216, I'm keeping it til it blows up, also before you get rid of the 216 make sure that the truck wasn't titled with the engine number, if it was and you switch out the motor you might have problems at the DMV.

EXCELLENT point!! I personally am a fan of keeping the engine a vehicle is "born" with in the vehicle unless circumstances (cracked block, etc.) necessitate replacing it. If the vehicle was/is titled using the engine number and it becomes necessary to replace it be sure to re-title to either the new engine number or other number approved by your state and attached to the vehicle. You will save you and/or a future owner substantial headaches down the road.

Another vote for the 216.

My daily driver , I've done near 90,ooo kms and its just FINE

Actually I bet that truck a had 4.57:1 gear ratio. 45 to 50 was the top speed on those.

Walt Williams
La Verkin, Ut

Zleviticus -

Keep the 216 but swap out the rear to higher gears. You'll get the best of both worlds...original engine that'll do ok (not great, but ok) on the highway.

I used to have a '51 Chevy Fleetline that would top out at 55mph (engine was screaming). Swapped out the 4:11 rear for a Powerglide rear w/3:55 gears, and it would run happily all day at 65mph. Never even noticed a difference in performance, either.

If you can use the center section of a Chevy car rear in the truck housing, it's an EASY swap. Have all the parts in hand and you can do it in half a day.

Chris

Chris

Hi, Zleviticus, Keep the 216 because it is the motor that came with the truck. My 49 has about 130,000 miles on it and runs fine. I did change the rear gears to 3:55 for a top speed of 65 MPH. The 216 will go faster but the con rod dippers stop getting oil at higher RPM ( pushes the oil out of the channels in the oil pan). It is a high torque/low RPM motor. Have fun and enjoy.

Actually, at speeds much above idle, the oil squirts right into the dippers, and the troughs are not necessary. An out-of-alignment squirt tube will result in a burned rod in very short order. There's an aiming fixture that was used in all the better-quality repair shops to assure proper squirter tube alignment during rod shim adjustment jobs.
Jerry

one more note, I have been driving the same 216 that was rebuilt in 1979, (I have owned it since 1984) With lots of freeway time, I drove it from sandiego to montana, (at a GVW of 5500 lbs, I was loaded) from montana to seattle, never missed a beat. I replaced the head and cam a few years back, and it smokes a bit, (but it seems to be healing little by little) I can't remember where I saw it, but there is at least one place that will rent the squirter aligning tool. and one more time because I am so excited about it, converting to full pressure is CHEAP AND EASY if you are so inclined. It can be done with no exterior signs that there is anything special going on if you so desire, personally I am taking a different approach. I will post the full program for this conversion kind of soon. I have a 4 year old to spoil, so my time for the truck is kind of hit and miss, not to mention the fact, the engine is still in the machine shop. (hopefully to be picked up today)

Keep the 216!! ;-) That's my vote.

If you would like to see the pan target tool for aligning the squirt tubes I posted 3 shots of mine at http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/coilover/ It is a very simple tool that one could make a copy of in less than an hour. I have found that if you use a straight edge and a scratch awl to make a diagonal "X" in the pressed in rectangle that's in the pan opposite each squirt tube and adjust the tube till the water stream hits right in the center of the "X" the tubes will be aligned correctly.

anyone heard from the new guy rickmg about where he got the 3.33 gears made? Not that I neccesarily want 3.33 gears, I just want to know where he got them made, I like many of you want a bit higher gearing.

coilover
Sorry I am not following your "use a straight edge and a scratch awl to make a diagonal "X" in the" explanation very well. Will you elaborate? Thanks!
brokenhead
I wondered about those 3.33 gears too. I think I will PM him and ask him to make a post about it.
Zleviticus
Sorry to hi-jack your thread. I love my 216; they are tough, strong, simple motors that seem to run forever with surprisingly little maintenance - though some things are necessary - like checking the oil (LOL). Good luck with yours!