Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines 216 Back in the Saddle!

Greetings . . .

With Engine Bay at the ready I got to work assembling the bell-house and clutch assembly. I had shopped the various specialty places for vintage parts - but was surprised to find that NAPA had then entire kit (clutch, pressure plate, throw-out bearing and alignment tool) for 150 bucks:



Everything I have read suggested that Chevy did not paint gearboxes. There wasn't a lick of paint on mine when it came out of the car. So I de-greased it and top coated with Eastwood's Diamond Clear satin - which is suitable for bare metal:


With the help of my wife we were able to guide the engine home. The crank-adjustable hoist-leveler gets the right angle of attack (tranny tail shaft low - front mount high). Without it we would never have gotten it in. The bell-housing just clears the firewall:


With my 1/2" electric drill chucked to an old dizzy body I can spin the crank with oil pressure present. This makes it safe to turn the engine over and over in setting the initial lash of the valve train. Getting moving on these major assembly steps really has me motivated:



regards,
stock49

Good progress and nice looking set up. I like the valve cover.

It's a C.A.W. valve cover

I collected it shortly after I bought the car. I like the rough casting look - and its a beefy piece of aluminum.

Thanks for the encouragement.

BTW will6er recently pointed out the patent for Charles A. Wefing's design:
Inliners Post circa Jan '14

Looks good!

You're doing a great job. Thanks for sticking with the 216 and for all the detailed information you've posted here. These engines are victims of negative folklore from mostly folks who never had one or didn't understand the ones they had. I ran a couple of cars and trucks for years on good sound 216s that were pulled and given to me because they were "Babbitt Beaters". They never let me down.

I wonder what is at the address on your valve cover today? GOOGLE

So much good progress! Thanks for those wonderful pictures. I notice that the front springs ect are also installed not just the engine. A lot of work in a short time. Jay 6155

Hi integrated . . . yup. Before installing the engine I rebuilt the steering gear. There was a lot of slop that had me thinking that I would need to redo everything. Which had eyeing the full rebuild kit$. But upon closer inspection during tear down I found that only three items really needed replacement - the Idler Arm shaft/bearings - the lower outer control arm shafts and the tie rods. Everything else was tight and running smoothly. These few items coupled with the Steering Sector adjustments from the Shop Manual removed all the slop and play. While it was all apart and de-greased I got a coat of POR15 and some chassis paint on it.

Thanks to all for the words of encouragement.

regards,
stock49

Do you think it will be running for the convention? I hope to see it.

Doubtful . . . still working full time these days. And there is so much to do just to get to a fist fire up. Let alone having it sorted out enough to drive across the state.