was made in Flint, Michigan. The “3” indicates the third month, March. The “02” signifies the day of month. The “B” stands for the model/series of the car engine with Powerglide (hydraulic lifters).
So, March 2, 1959, is the date! When you stop to think about it, the line must have been busy at the time because the serial number only lagged the casting of the engine by two to three days.
The head follows a similar numbering scheme. On the driver’s side on the outside, not covered by the valve cover, is the casting number; in this case 3836848. It indicates that the head was made between 1955 and 1962 and was used on cars and trucks. Just inside the valve cover in almost the same location is another clue: CON9 (the ninth conveyor at the factory), and about four springs to the right of that is another number H 3 0, which is the date that the head was made, August 3, 1960.
So, this probably isn’t the head that originally came with the engine, unless the engine sat on a shelf for about 18 months. When you see a casting number ending in 848, you know you have the highest-compression head Chevrolet made for that engine. ■
The year 1953 was a transition for Chevrolet. In early 1953, cars were equipped with the older-style engine; in the latter part of the year, some were equipped with the newer style as the factory ran out of old parts. The factory did not start everything new at the beginning of a year. So, some 1953 cars had the new engine, some did not. As far as I can tell, all 1953 trucks came with the old-style engine. This is why I use pre- and post-1953 to describe these engines. ■
The coil was mounted in the center of the engine until late 1953. At that time, Chevrolet located the coil between cylinders number-4 and number-5. This is a 1950 216. You know it’s an earlier engine by the long side cover, short cap distributor, and acorn nuts holding down the valve cover from the top.
Notice the space between the center of the harmonic balancer and the center of the fan. It is considerably more than the post-1953 engines. Prior to 1953 all the engines had 5/8-inch-wide belt pulleys.
Pre-1954 216/235 Engines with Babbit Bearings
• Two acorn nuts on the top of the valve cover holding on the valve cover
• A side cover that extends from above the spark plugs, all the way down to the oil pan
• A water pump arrangement that centers the fan on the radiator (this is on the vehicles that the engine came with due to a taller radiator)
• A short cap distributor
• A horn mount on the intake manifold
1954–1962 Engines with Modern Insert Bearings
• Four screws at the base of the valve cover to hold it down
• A short side cover
• A lower-set water pump
• A tall-cap distributor
There are other much-less-noticeable differences, such as carb style, generator, and starter differences, but these are the best identifiers of the era of the engine.
The short cap distributor cannot use a tall cap because the internal shaft is too short. This prohibits installing HEI, but other than that, the distributors are interchangeable.
Post-1953 intake manifolds have the knob sticking out for mounting the horn, just no holes drilled.
It is easy to put an older-style valve cover on a new-style engine because the rocker assembly bolts are in the same place. It is not recommended, however, because they tended to leak more. If you want to preserve the shape of the holes, be sure to add reinforcements.
Engine Condition
The project engine for this book was completely unknown to me. It was sitting in a garage, all taken apart in boxes. I had no idea where each specific lifter was located when it was running nor the condition of the engine. This was good for documenting because you can’t take anything for granted.
In your case, you might have a good reason for rebuilding it. One good indication that an engine needs a rebuild is excessive blow-by. This is obvious by the amount of visible smoke that comes out of the valve cover cap. There shouldn’t be any. This could be valve adjustment, worn piston rings, or worn cylinders. Another obvious sign of wear is low oil pressure at idle.
Compression Testing
If you have a desire to know the overall health of your engine, a good place to start is with checking the compression. A few things contribute to low compression, such as piston ring wear and valve issues. Purchase a compression gauge kit. It will come with all the connectors and fittings that you need. The following is a quick procedure that works well.
The side cover is much shorter, starting below the spark plugs, than in previous years. This is a better design. Chevrolet made many subtle changes between 1938 and 1962.
With the ignition switch off, remove all the spark plugs and the distributor cap. Prop the throttle wide open to get the most accurate reading. Screw the fitting into the number-1 spark plug hole until the rubber O-ring squashes just a bit. Turn the engine over (with the starter) long enough for the compression gauge to register the compression number of the cylinder. Keep cranking until the gauge needle stops rising. This is important. Record the number, release the gauge’s pressure (small pushbutton on the gauge), and do it again to make sure it’s reading very close. Do this on every cylinder, one at a time.
They need to be within 5 percent of one another. Any numbers above 95 psi means that the engine is okay and will run well. Compression as low as 65 psi should be okay but may smoke and idle poorly. With a new engine, they are in the 130 range.
The tall-cap distributor has a taller cap and a taller internal shaft. Also, the rotor is taller, so those parts are not interchangeable with the pre-1953 distributors.
On the 261 engine I recently worked on, the measurements were number-1, 140; number-2, 137; number-3, 138; number-4, 137; number-5, 137; and number-6, 138.
Flywheel Identification
The flywheel is something you don’t automatically think of as a big deal; however, these engines are in the transition years, so be careful. Chevrolet introduced the 12-volt system in 1955. Prior to 1955, everything was 6 volts. Why this
