Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines How much is my Chevy 216 engine worth?

casting number 839910 date code 11 42 and block ID number BA703602

it is a 1942 Chevy 216 all original and pretty clean. you can turn it over by hand with a flat bar but it hasn't run in about 20 years. garage kept. no carb but everything else is there including distributor, starter, head, valve cover, fan, intake, exhaust, and bell housing.

I pulled it out of a 36 wrecker so i'm not sure what it was in originally but the guy i got the 36 off of said he had it running in the late 80's early 90's

need to make room on the bench and not sure i have a need for this one. how much do you think i can ask for it?

Tony
Hammonton NJ

i am unsure but if you really are interested in selling it ask the web master to put you on out swapmeet section

interested in selling but don't want to give it away... was just hoping for some info before i put up a post on craigslist or here.

A 216 isn't probably going to bring much in money or interest, there are actually many guys over on the Stovebolt forum that do just give them away, so that kinda' hurts the value of them when your trying to sell one.

A 216 generally has more value to folk undertaking restorations than to those seriously considering modifications for performance. Your local chapter of the Vintage Chevrolet Club of America might help you find someone who could use it or, at least, take it off your bench.

God's Peace to you.

d
Inliner #1450

CONDITION,CONDITION CONDITION. YOU CANT SELL SOMETHING OR DETERMIN ITS VALUE TILL A MACHINE SHOP HAS EVALUATED IT. THEN YOU HAVE A STARTING POINT.

Not sure i want to tear it down and get it magnafluxed in hopes of getting it sold. I suppose i could just rebuild it and get it running if it was worth the trouble. sounds like there isn't a huge demand for this size engine so i might end up putting more into it than i can sell it for. Maybe i should be asking around for a 42 coup of some sort and start yet another project :-)

It has to be worth more than scrap iron prices to someone who is doing a restoration. I'd like to see it go to a good home instead of collecting dust on my bench.

There is/was a guy in Pitman selling pretty much the whole running engine and rolling chassis from a '36 for 300 bucks. That gives you an idea of demand.

. . . and a '36 is a 206 cid engine with a longer block, useful in restoring cars and trucks of the early 1930s. In comparison, the '42 216 is a "late model."

Anyone who bought the '42 216 would likely want to rebuild it. It is "parts." Those parts could help somebody out, perhaps as much as $50.00 worth.

God's Peace to you.

d
Inliner #1450

I can scrap it for more than that. oh well i guess i'll hang onto it a bit longer.

These engines are still too plentiful to have a lot of value to them, plus most anyone fixing or restoring puts a 235 in there truck and sticks the original engine in the corner. These engines are always a tough sell because so many people do just scrap them or give them away.

Here's one on the Stovebolt forum now, he has been trying to give it away for 2 months now, and it runs and doesn't smoke. Freebie

I agree with the above but have to add this. At this point I'd build a 216 over a 235 or 261 just because of the "cool factor". These are much maligned engines, They are tough, dependable, and full of potential. They can be a Flathead eating monster. They are what the original Wayne Horning heads were designed for. It would not be a cheap or easy build but when you raised the hood even at an Inliner event it would be unique. A carefully built 216 for street use would put you at no disadvantage for what most of us do. That said stock ones don't sell for much.

I tried to sell a few running 216's over the years.No one wanted them,even for less than scrap valve.I scrapped them,a 216 was worth 70 bucks when scrap prices were up last year.
If you find a local guy ,it might sell.

i have long thought that when the never-a-wrench-on-it 216 in the pretty '52 four-door, which belongs to the Executive Committee, begins to deteriorate, i should give it a first-class rebuild with full-pressure oiling and inserts. At 48,6xx it's not failing in any way -- although it's a prolific leaker -- but Betty wants to sell her car now because she can't shift gears without pain.

In its time and place, the 216 was a durable, hard-working engine, and it would suffer a lot of abuse, as i can testify. Rebuilding it for speed and power is not unlike hot-rodding a Model A or B fourbanger, but the 216 is, inherently, a far better basic design, even if it does not convey the same romance and mystique. If i had the money and the resources, i'd love to build and drive either a fourbanger or a 216 -- or both!

God's Peace to you.

d
Inliner #1450

I have two 1928 Chevy 4 bangers. A way cooler engine than a Ford four.

jes don' ketch yer fangers in them exposed pushrods/lifters!
probably easy to do a sugar job on one.

"I have two 1928 Chevy 4 bangers. A way cooler engine than a Ford four."

Right on . . . and yet, the speed equipment was never out there in the same magnitude. Them what started on the Modern T stayed with the A and B, and made heads and manifolds and ignition pieces for them, and figured them out.

Now then, if only you had Bob Rufi's Olds head . . . but the 216 would still be superior.

God's Peace to you.

d
Inliner #1450