216 died while driving home from work

Hey guys hope you can help me with this. I have a 51 Chevy styleine deluxe with the 216 in it. I was driving home from work and all of a sudden the thing quit running. So i get it towed home. Once its there I pull the valve cover off crank it over and none of the valves are moving. Did I snap a timing chain or something else. Just hoping someone here can give me a few ideas before I start ripping it apart. Thanks in advance.

 

Don't think you ate a chain. maybe a gear. Whatever it is the engine needs serious work.

 

No chain on those Chevys,they have gears,most are fiber cam gears,you just found out the lifespan of the gear.Need to pull the cam,the new gear can not be pressed on with the cam in the engine.Also check for bent intake valves.And the oil pan needs to be dropped to get at two timing cover bolts.....Big Job,but routine,good luck

 

Trucked up said it! but now would be the time when I upgraded to a 235 or 261

 

aw shit you had me worried I thought it must have been a massive car crash with people travelling home from work

 

me too, i was wondering why i didnt see it on the news.

but anyhow, hope you get it fixed soon and back on the road.

 

How hard is it to upgrade to a different motor. Like a 235 or 261. Ive never really worked on one of these before.

 

Check the cam (and other things) closely. The crank can hit the cam when these things go out of time like that.

 

Pretty much a drop in swap.

 

Before you make up your mind about which engine to swap in, make sure to do yourself a favor and research which engines are a direct swap, the 292 I know is not. The mounts are offset, pass side is not in the same position, I know cuz i was goin to swap in a 292 a while back,, however I believe the 235 has the same bolt pattern and should be a direct swap, but look it up... you will save yerself some headaches. good luck.

 

The 235 is a direct swap for the 216 in a 1951 Chevy car. If you use a '55-'62 235, you'll need to use a short water pump, or move your radiator forward. The '54 235 has a similar water pump as the earlier 216. You cannot use a '54 or earlier water pump on a '55 -'62 235.

 

The same thing happened to me last week. Mine skipped a tooth but quit at the worst time crusing down a busy highway .
I bought a 261 back in April hoping not to have to put it in for a while but looks like plans are changing.......PAUL

 

Yeah mine quit while driving down the freeway in rush hour traffic. I think im going to try and find a 235 for swap, seems pretty straight forward. If anyone has a 235 they want to get rid of pm me.

 

The 235 is a much better engine than the 216 as it has a pressure
oil system and rods with insert type bearings,while your 216 had an oil dipper and splash oiling system and babbit bearing connecting rods.
It's a good upgrade and some resto guy will want the 216 too.

 

You can with a simple 40 buck adapter bolted to the front of a 55 and up 235-261.Requires a few drilled holes and tapping,done it myself on four engines.It locates the fan back up for better lowspeed cooling.But you have to use a 216 damper or rework a 235 damper to keep the right water pump drive speed.

 

Happened to me a couple of years back. Those 216's are not the greates for modern life. The valve seals go bad real easy with unleaded gas and the splash system sucks. I put a 235 in mine and loved it.

 

About 50 years ago the same thing happened to my mothers 51 4dr. It ate the timing gear. The mechanic said pull the dist. cap and see if the rotor button turns when you crank the engine. It was a common problem back then too. They put a new cam gear in it and it went on for many more years. I was a kid when it happened and I ended up driving the old Chevy to work many years later when I was replacing the engine in my daily driver. I had it happen to me 25 years later but it was on a 51 Ford flathead.

Both time we were cruising along when it gave up and quit running. Just like the key was turned off. I replaced the fiber Ford gear with an aluminum replacement gear and was back on the road in no time.

You can replace the whole engine if you want to. If the engine otherwise seems OK I'd just put a new gear in it and be on the road again in a few hours. It's such an easy job that I'd probably fix the 216 even if I wanted to step up to a 235 later on.

 

the slang term for it is corn cobb gear they strip very easy. it is a compressed fiber gear. tom langdon at stove bolt has upgraded versions i think about 35 bucks.
but like everyone has stated above get a 235 much much better motor. very street-able with no worries. you can find them a dime a dozen ...we pay $150 bucks for them used and running.

 

Thats a good point the thing ran really good up until this happened. Whats involved with rplacing the the timing gear, i mean i know I have to pull the front cover off, but do I have to remove the cam or anything like that? Is it just unbolt the gear and put the new one on?

 

If you need to replace the motor I have a 216 that runs for sale for $150 bucks and I have a 235 with a two speed power glide for $250. I'm located down by Appleton.

 

A few hours? For those of us who have done the job,drain coolant,remove radiator and usually the grille,pushrods,distributor,side cover,lifters,oilpan and maybe steering tie rod on cars, pull damper,timing cover,take cam to machine shop if you don't have the tools at home to press on the new gear.Reassemble,time engine adjust valves.Man,I'm beat from a few hours work
You only need 3 wrenches and a screwdriver,but it does take awhile....

 

As I understand an earlier post --- Cam stopped, pistons kept going. Thus a piston may have hit a valve. So you better check for bent valves too, it may figure into your repair plans. Or chipped pistons, broken valves too? Not sure, hopefully a Stovebolt motor guy will chime in.

(I don't know the valve-to-piston clearance on those motors, nor an easy way to check for bent valves - I've never torn into one of these motors).

 

You can replace the gear without removing the cam, according to what I have heard, but I have never done it myself.
Put the new gear in the freezer, for awhile, (dry ice would probably be better)
Tear it down to the cam gears, and measure the distance, from the block, and back side of the gear, so that you can put the new one back the same distance.
Break what is left of the old fiber gear off of the cam, the use a sharp chisel, die grinder etc to crack the gear hub, so that it will slip off the cam.
Get the new gear out, and have a buddy go through the the lifter cover, and with a some kind of pry bar etc, hold forward pressure on the cam.
And then lightly tap the new gear on the cam, till its in the right position.
Then clean everything up, and put it back together.

 

The hardest part is dropping the center steering pivot so you can get oil pan down. There is very little clearance between the top of the bolt and the bottom of the pan and you can only get on the head with an open end wrench and then can only turn it about 1/8 of a turn at a time.

Actually, I just lied - the hardest part is getting that bolt (fine thread) back in without cross-threading it (ask me how I know......)

 

yes this method does work. very simple. you can find the gears from stovebolt company, tim tygerts obsolete chevy http://www.obschevy.com/

 

Doing the gear with the cam in the engine is very risky.The cam retainer behind the gear held on by two screws is very brittle and breaks easily.If it breaks,you do the whole job the right way and have to find a replacement cam retainer too.
And...you need to heat the cam gear to expand the hole,and in theory cool the cam snout to shrink it.You can't really heat a fiber gear and dry ice on the cam snout???
I'm sure out there some guys have managed to get the job done without pulling the cam.

 

With all respect, that proceedure is backwards - the gear must be HEATED to install; proper installation of a new aluminum gear is to immerse the gear in HOT water (almost boiling) before pressing on the cam.

Also, there is no valve/piston interference in a 216

Edit - I don't think you can get fiber gears anymore (unless NOS) they are now aluminum

 

The same thing happened to me coming home from Round-Up this year, it was my timing gears that snapped. A 235 would be easy to switch out but I was tired of messing with it so I went wild and I am ass deep in a SBC conversion. Parts are cheaper and more readily available imo. Sam

 

That 235/ PG would be the ticket man.

 

a 235 STILL HAS THE FIBER GEAR, 261 HAS A ALUM gear you could buy a alum gear and put on the 216 or 235. same gear. You can change the gear with out taking the cam out. Use to do it all the time when I worked on cars for a living. You have to figure how to keep the cam from moving back when you press on the new gear. The best way if you never did it before would be to take the cam out.