Thanks Larry, Mike . . .

Hey GMDad, they're not stainless - they're powder coated steel . . . one of a handfull of things I'll be cheating on in my circa '53 hop up. I chose them cause they are closest thing to Clark headers I could find.

I am going to do a frame on resto - leaving the trim on for an outwardly stock appearance. The guy I bought the car from took great care of aesthetics but rushed into a repaint. I'll leave that to a body-man to block sand and clean up before repainting back to the original blue.

As for the engine mods, I am reading Roger Huntington and Bill Fisher for advice on what to do with the block that is original to the car.

For the lower end I have an NOS Power Glide crank for increased stroke. I have a set of donor rods that have been converted to use insert bearings. With insert rods and mains and a NOS crank I can fit everything to stock tolerances with no shims and no need for line boring. The jet oiling will stay - just like most 'road jobs' in the day.

To finish the short block I'll need custom pistons. Venolia and Ross both have offerings for the 216. I need to go custom to get the right wrist pin geometry given the longer stroke. I'll likely go .040 over on the bore to leave room for one more rebuild. I am shooting for 8:1 compression unless it makes sense to go higher on such an old head.

For the cam I had the guys at Delta regrind a NOS TRW High Torque cam based on the Iskenderian D.P. #2 spec. I chose a 235 High Torque core because it has the necessary 'reliefs' in the shaft to prevent rod contact from the longer stroke. This is the 2nd of the original 'dual pattern' grinds that Isky developed for the 216. It's a very asymetrical grind that holds the exhaust valve open for scavenging. The specs at .050 on the work done by Delta are 204 duration on the intake and 232 on the exhaust. Lift on the exhaust is better than the Isky spec at .398. Lift on the intake will be way better than the Isky spec at .463 with the help of Barker High Lift rocker arms.

I am open for suggestion on the springs for the valve train. The old school calls for '31 Buick inners and stock '46 on up Chevy outters - or McGurk inners if you can find em. A modern aftermarket spring for the 235 will likely out perform the old school approach . . . like what Patrick's sells for use with the Howard Johansen spec cams they sell.

For the head I have a donor from a '48 that I have been doing a light port and polish job with hand tools. Both Roger and Bill do a good job of descibing what to do and what not to do. I'm mostly just smoothing the barnacles from the casting. And if I screw it up I have the original on the car to fall back on.

As you can see from the pics the intake will be fitted with two Strombergs. I'll likely get the carbs and linkage from Charlie Price at vintagespeed.com.

The only other significant mod is the rear end - I have harvested the guts from a '52 Power Glide for the 3.55:1 ratio. I intend to swap the carrier and spiders into my stock '49 rear end cause the plan is to stay with the original Huck brakes.

Advice on my old school plans is welcome . . .

regards,
stock49

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