I'm in the process of building up a couple of early Chevy spray-oilers, a 216 and a 235, with a pressurized crankshaft and connecting rods for a later model 235. It's necessary to tinker with the thrust surfaces on the #3 main bearing since the spray-oiler crankshaft has a wider thrust. Either widen the flanges on the crankshaft or narrow the main bearing web in the block- - - -either way works. The 216 can be bored 60 over to accept standard bore 325 pistons, making the "216" a 235, or it can be run with the original cast iron pistons to become a "224" with 292 Chevy connecting rods. None of the above is a bolt-in swap, but no exotic high dollar parts are needed.
There's even a way to increase the stroke on the 216 and make it a 258 cubic inch engine that looks "bone stock" from the outside. That involves using H-beam connecting rods for a Nisssan 4 cylinder, and aluminum pistons for a Buick/Olds 215 V8. Similar mods to a 235 turn it into a 270, and a 261 with the stroker crank approaches 300 cubic inches. "All of the above" can be done without altering the stock appearance of those engines. Jerry
Very interesting. There are several 216s & maybe 235s headed to the scrapper near here. Too bad more guys don't want to play with these anymore. Please keep us up on your builds.
"I wonder if God created man because he was disappointed in the monkey?" Mark Twain
The early cranks can be rifle drilled as well. Not sure which is more economical - fixing the thrust geometry to accept a later model crank - or drilling an old crank already in hand.
My hopped up '49 stovebolt is running a '52 Powerglide crank with insert rod bearings and stock jet oiling. The Ross pop-up pistons provide 8.5:1 compression and at .030 over the engine is technically a 230. The red-line is roughly 4 grand. The stock heads quickly run out of flow at this point. Alas, the jet oiling system is enough given the useful RPM range.
Add a 12 port cross flow head and now the rod bearings become limiting . . .
Since certain sizes of main bearings are getting scarce and expensive, I'm modifying the block to accept mains for a small block 400 V8. All the crankshaft journals end up the same diameter (slightly smaller) for less rotating friction. That procedure involves fitting some reducer sleeves to the bearing bores in the block, line boring the block, and fitting a permanently-mounted bronze thrust washer to the #3 main bearing cap.
1.94" intake valves for a spray-oiler 235 with a Powerglide and 1.6" stainless steel small block V8 exhaust valves, plus some pocket porting will make the 216 cylinder head breathe a little better, but there's not much that can make any stovebolt a tight-winding screamer- - - -build the engine for increased torque and gear the rear end appropriately.
I love the creativity. And the objectives are practical - lots more displacement and torque in a stock looking stove-bolt. Keep the photos and details coming as you progress on the builds.
I agree. This is the most exciting thing that has come here in a long time. Bringing new life to these engines just because you can is what Inliners is about.
"I wonder if God created man because he was disappointed in the monkey?" Mark Twain
Bring it on! Those were the kinds of builds that gave this site a life a few years ago. Back before FaceBook took all the easy stuff and pictures and editing was easier.
Last edited by Beater of the Pack; 10/12/2306:35 AM.
"I wonder if God created man because he was disappointed in the monkey?" Mark Twain
Currently, I'm building a spray-oiler 235 engine for a 1951 Chevy 2 ton grain truck. It's been working on the same farm in central Oklahoma since the current owner's grandfather bought it in 1955. It's getting the pressurized 235 crankshaft modification, with 1954-62 insert bearing connecting rods and aluminum pistons, and a reground camshaft that has the same specifications as a 261 truck engine. There's also going to be a full circle lip crankshaft oil seal to replace the leaky rope seal. I've got a fixture I built to mount my Van Norman cylinder boring bar to the back of the block to cut the counterbore for a double lip neoprene seal. Jerry
Jerry, Thanks for posting about your work. I hope you figure out how to post pictures here. I remember when these engines, GMC, Internationals, Dodges, and a few Ford flatheads (6 & 8) were the work horses of the Texas Panhandle & hauled millions of bushels of grain each fall. There has been no real new information published for these since Bill Fisher's book in the 50s.
"I wonder if God created man because he was disappointed in the monkey?" Mark Twain
Thanks, Larry! I can do the picture posting- - - -the software is the same as Stovebolt.Com uses. Most of my pics are too big- - - -got to downsize them with a photo resizing program I'm still learning to use correctly! Jerry
Here's another view of the roller rocker arm cylinder head I'm working on. It will have oversize intake valves and oversize stainless steel exhausts for a small block V8. That engine will also have H beam connecting rods, aluminum pistons, a roller cam, and main bearings for a Chevy small block 400 V8- - - -1948-53 216 main bearings are almost impossible to find, and cost over $200.00 a set when they're available. SBC 400 mains are usually less than $50.00. That conversion requires some pretty serious whittling on the block and the crankshaft- - - -it's not a drop-in fit!
What is interesting to me here is that you seem to have brushed aside much of these engines' history and are going with newer tech than has been used on them in the past and yet are using a lot of off the shelf parts that are common. Actually much like what was done early on but with parts that weren't around yet. And like the early days there is a lot of innovative machine work.
"I wonder if God created man because he was disappointed in the monkey?" Mark Twain
Like Hank Williams Jr. says, "It's a family tradition!" In the very early 1950's my father was doing similar stuff to flathead Ford V8s- - - -moving the cylinder centerlines apart on the two in the middle of the block to avoid a thin spot in the casting around the exhaust passageways and boring the block 1/4" oversize, and stroking a 49-53 Mercury crankshaft to 4 1/8" to get almost 300 cubic inches from a 239 engine. Connecting rods for an 85 HP flathead. Then he raised the compression ratio to 11.5:1 and ran methanol and Hydrogen Peroxide for fuel on a lot of southeast dirt tracks. He was outrunning most of the grandfathers of current NASCAR drivers with engines he built in a little shop in Nashville Tennessee.
Back then it was truly amazing what was going on in little machine shops all over this country. Almost every gas station had a shop and most of them had at least a lathe. Many parts houses had full machine shops. There were thousands of WWII vets that had grown up on farms where things were fixed and had become machinist during the war. Many women had done intricate work during the war and had vast skills. Much rubbed off on their children. My dad was a machinist at Douglas. He built a bench lathe from a brake lathe & a piece of railroad rail for his shop at a grain elevator near Happy Texas. It was good enough for most repairs until he made parts runs to Amarillo where he had access to better machines. That man could literally fix anything. There were many like him who looked for a challenge. Sounds like your folks were some of them. I'm very interested in your work here and your mind set. I wish I had payed more attention and had more time with my dad. He died when I was 21 just as my experience was showing me that most other men did not know what he did. Sorry for the rant.
Last edited by Beater of the Pack; 10/26/2304:09 PM.
"I wonder if God created man because he was disappointed in the monkey?" Mark Twain
One of my other "one of these days" projects is a dual overhead cam cylinder head for a MOPAR 4 cylinder (PT Cruiser)- - - - -adapted to a Ford Model A block. It will have a belt cam drive and an electronic ignition distributor driven off the end of one of the camshafts. That one should be an attention-getter at a car show sitting on a run stand with my Go-Power water brake dyno attached to it.
With all the overhead valve head adaptions to Ford flathead fours several years ago I was looking at a pile of Studebaker V8 heads I have and thinking that would be a good match. Right valve order close enough spacing. I had a connection to a guy that was working on some killer Stude heads that would have been even better but he died and his work went away.
"I wonder if God created man because he was disappointed in the monkey?" Mark Twain
As parts sources dry up, and the skill set involved in fitting Babbit bearings on the old inlines also becomes a lost art, we're either faced with scrapping the old stuff, or finding a work-around. The old stovebolts were way over-engineered for the amount of power they produced, so it's possible to dramatically increase the performance and reliability without going to some modern "belly button " (everybody's got one) small block V8.
For those engine builders who are interested in less radical modifications to the spray-oiler sixes, it's possible to machine Babbit connecting rods for an insert bearing for a Perkins Diesel engine, and regrind the crankshaft to fit the new bearings. That takes the Babbit rods out of the equation. Jerry
The GMC rod swap was a common modification back before the Stovebolt became full pressure. Adding a 12 Port head to a pinch bolt setup probably would make a person sweat bullets if they revved it very high....
The rods I'm using in my stroker engines fit a Nissan 2.4L 4 cylinder. They are available in an H beam type, rated for 1K horsepower or more, depending on the rod bolts used. That's far above any power a stovebolt could ever make, no matter how it's modified. Smaller rod journals, lightweight aluminum pistons, and a few other sneaky tricks should let the guys who want to outrun their friends with a stock appearing rig with a 258 cubic inch "216" wear a big grin, though!
I wonder if a GM Atlas cylinder head (Chevy Trailblazer, etc.) could be grafted onto a stovebolt engine block????? Dual overhead cams, 24 valves, cross flow intake/exhaust, light weight aluminum, and a few other advantages. I'm working on making an Atlas engine a "dumb" design- - - -carburetor, distributor, variable cam timing disabled, etc. A friend who runs a hotrod shop in Texas installs those engines in older vehicles, but some of his potential customers don't like electronic fuel injection and computer controls.
That sounds interesting for sure. I have wondered for a long time if there is a v8 donor to make a cross flow head for 216 or 235 like they do with small block Chevys for the 250-292 sixes.
"I wonder if God created man because he was disappointed in the monkey?" Mark Twain
I just happen to have a couple of Atlas 4.2 engines on hand, and one spare head. Sometime soon I'll dig out a stovebolt head gasket and compare cylinder spacing, width, and coolant passages to see how closely they would compare. I have an idea a solid plate bolted to the top of the block could be drilled and tapped for studs, and coolant flow could be routed from the back of the block up to the head, then forward again. It also looks like the cam drive could be converted to a dry belt instead of a chain.
The bore spacing is going to be the trick with the Stovebolt. Starting with the #1 cylinder, the bore spacing changes considerably with each consecutive cylinder, with no two consecutive cylinders having the same spacing as the previous cylinder or the next cylinder down the line. Similar to the GMC 6's....
A quick and dirty tape measure comparison between a stovebolt head and the Atlas looks like it's doable. I'll need to make an adapter plate to bolt to the top of the stovebolt block with flat head Allen bolts, and drill and tap the plate for studs to secure the Atlas head. Longer connecting rods and a stroker crankshaft will put the piston tops and some pressed-in sleeves a little above the top of the stovebolt block, so the compression won't suffer much. There will also be almost 10 cubic inches more per cylinder (300 VS 250) and a MUCH smaller combustion chamber, so the compression should be more than adequate. I'll also be converting the cam drive to a dry belt and eliminating the chain cam drive and the variable exhaust cam timing.
12 port crossflow head- - - -24 valves, and dual overhead cams- - - -what's not to like?
God doesn't like ugly.
