I am putting a 1958 Chevrolet 261 cubic inch six cylinder in my 1953 Chevrolet 210, 4 door Sedan. The sedan formerly had a 235 low pressure, babbit beater coupled to a 3 speed ("on the tree"). I am an amateur, figuring things out as I go, but it is a lot of fun. I sent my motor mounts to Tom Langdon, and his son modified them to fit the new engine perfectly into the car. I got a water pump from Chevs of the 40's. This also fits great. I have the engine all in and plumbed. I stabbed the distributor tonight. I turned it over a few times and got it to fire with gas dumped into the carb, but stopped there because it wasn't getting gas. I'm pretty sure the fuel pump is shot. I want to go with an electric setup. My car is already upgraded to 12 volt. What Gallons Per Hour/ PSI rating should I be looking for? Should I also put in a fuel pressure regulator? I need to figure out a cheap carb setup. The carb that came with the 261 spent a lot of time outside, think I will take it apart to see if it is worth rebuilding. The good carb from the 235 does not fit the studs are too close together? Can I use my 53 235 intake on the 261 to solve this problem? or is it possible that this is a 216 intake on the 261? The engine was pulled from a 49 Chevy truck, so I need to take some measurements on the openings to make sure it is not a 216 intake. It has the "captains bars" and cast number of a 58 261. It had been sitting in a scrap metal heap for a few years before I found it. I purchased the motor, complete from carb to oil pan, fan to bell housing, for $85. Does anyone else have a 261 or a later 235 in a 53 Chevy with the 3 speed? My throttle linkage, shift linkage, parking brake, and oil lines are all trying to fit in the same spot. It currently looks like a bucket of night crawlers... Pics of a clean setup would help. I didn't turn it over much, but it did not appear that I was getting oil flowing through the filter lines. The oil pump could be out, but I could also have it plumbed wrong. I need to verify that before I go any further.
you want fairly low pressure on the fuel pump. If it were me id put a regulator on it and start off at around 3.5 psi and see if that works, you can always dial it up. I know a 216 intake wont fit a 235 without the adapter rings but id be talking out of my a** if i said anything about the 261, sorry.
Hang in there. You're almost home! I'll stall till some real help arrives. Hopefully someone will answer by the time I type this. (Edit: Aha. So they have!) First address the oiling! You don't want it to fire until you know it's pumping! I'd remove the valve cover, pull the coil wire, and turn it over to make sure oil is getting to the top end. A stock fuel pump is enough for your needs. Disconnect the fuel line to the carb, aim it at a bucket, and have a friend turn it over. If it's not pumping, check the fuel filter. If still nothing, check the fuel pump. You can either disconnect the input line to the fuel pump and source it to a gas can, or remove the pump and check it by hand the same way. If it doesn't work, replace it with a stock one. The early engines had smaller carbs, and smaller ports. There are also descrepencies in the heat riser. A good solution would be a two carb manifold.
Don't do that-you're just now on the way to making that car really interesting (no bellybutton). The carb you need is out there-you just haven't spent enough time in the right places looking for it. I would suggest, however, that you look for a rearend out of a P.G. car to swap into yours. That 261 is a great torquer and will appreciate (as will you) a longer gear. Otherwise all you'll do is add R.P.M.
Go to inliners.org... All your questions are answered there. Some in the tech section from the menu on the left of the hoe page. Great sources of info there.. Paul
I have two 261's in sedans and both are great engines. They probably won't set track records (except possibly at the Nostalgia Drags) but they are dependable, have good power and both of mine have Sissell's (West Covina) prepared heads. Both have an entire Roller valve train and cam. That along with a good HEI and other tweeks makes this a good selection for what you are doing. Another later block and engine design you may want to consider is the 230-250-292 group. More main bearings and loads more for performance potential. One on mine has a Power Glide and 3:90 end gears (Getz) and the other has T-5 with a Gear Vendors hydraulic O/D. I'm happy and the fuel mileage isn't too bad. Normbc9
Put a V8 in it if that is your preference, but I think it would be way cooler with the 261. I take it you have not rebuilt the motor? At the very least, you should pull it apart and check it over. -replace the gaskets -replace the oil pump -check all bearings, if the copper isn't showing you can re-use them for now, but if any copper is showing you should replace the set. This includes crank, cam, and rod bearings. If the crank bearings or rod bearings are to be replaced, you should take the crank to a good machine shop. They will make sure all the journals are smooth and round so the new bearings last. -look the cylinders over. If everything looks descent, no broken rings, no deep scratches, you can probably get by without doing anything. If you intend to replace the rings you will have to do some other work. If it has ridge (a step in the cylinder wall where the upper ring stops) you can remove it with a ridge reamer. You will need to (at least) hone the cylinder. If they are real bad, it may need to be bored out. -The head will not have hardened valve seats in it, and unleaded gas is hard on them. You can run the old valve seats, it'll just smoke when you first start it. -When you inspect an engine make sure you put every part back where you got it. Put every bearing cap back where it was, don't mix them around. The parts are worn in to fit where they were, and nowhere else. -clean the grease off of it, paint it up real nice. You'll be amazed what a few cans of carb cleaner, spray paint, a chrome valve cover and side cover, and a cool air cleaner will make. Before you start it, and this is true on ANY engine, prime the oil pump. Pull the distributor back out. The shaft in the end of it is what turns the oil pump. Take that shaft out (or find something that has the same end on it) tape a shitload of extensions together. Chuck them in an electric drill and turn the pump until there is a good quantity of oil up top. For the sake of simplicity, I'd run a stock mechanical fuel pump. Unless you're making a really wild 261. Check the pickup in the tank, they get plugged. They also get rusty and fall off. If you really want an electric pump, Id use one of the small cube pumps. Like this one from Summit: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/pfs-10701/overview/ They are low PSI for use with a carb, and are external so they aren't such a pain to change. Just bolt it to the frame or crossmember as close to the tank as possible. I like them because they are easy to mount. I have seen them used without regulators, and they do seem to work. We've got one running on a gas skid loader sans regulator and it works ok. Rebuild the carb if you can. You'll save lots of money. You'll have to be creative with linkages and oil lines. Its all part of the show. Take your time and do a nice job. You'll learn as you go. Good luck, Adam
I have a 235 that I had machined for full flow oiling like the 261 is in my 54 and it works out just dandy, mine is a 3 on the tree too, It did take me a while to get my linkage dialed but in the end it worked out well. few things to look out for, you may have to slighty notch your brake pedal to clearance your clutch linkage, I also suggest that you make the rear crossmember on your k member not only bolt in but make it a 3 piece so that it drops out in the center, (you'll thank me for that I promise!) and I reccomend running your remote oil filter either down the frame rail past your k member or over behind your splash gaurds on the drivers side inner fender as realestate is at a premium around your transmission! and incase you havent yet, if you want to run a dual resi master cylinder, you can hollow out your stock one and run a rod through it to a bracket mounting a dual behind your K member if that makes sense? pm me if you have any questions! also if you subframe that car I'll put you in a headlock! on the 49-54 chevys there are plenty of options!!!
That is the long term solution. For now I want to get it back on the road (on a tight budget). Thanks, will is the PG rear end torque tube the same length? Or are you saying swap out the gears? Thanks Paul. I use that resource as well. I guess I need to dig a little deaper. Thanks Norm! If I ever upgrade to an open driveline, I will definitely keep this in mind. Adam, thanks for the wealth of advice. I did check the engine over. Every thing looked really good. I should have gone to the extra expense on the oil pump while I had it out, but unfortunately I did not. Bad move on my part. I have heard about getting hardened valve seats, but I did not have the head redone yet. Would gasoline additive help the cyl head life? Thanks hotdamn! I definitely will look into the brake setup. Do you have pics of your oil line setup? I like the 261 so far. If I can't afford a carb for it, there is no way I can afford an entire new driveline or a headlock.
Norm, your setup looks awesome! I think that intake and carb setup will work for me, if you want to drop it in the mail?
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