Thread: valve adj. on a 216

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does anyone know the "valve setting" on a 1939 chevy. 216 cu, in. motor?

Originally Posted by DennyW

This is what I found Mike.

solids: intake-.006, --exhaust-.013====1 1/2-2 ton truck=exhaust-.020

Warm engine up to temp, and do a final adjustment.

Hydraulics-1 complete turn from zero lash.

thanks denny, i was thinking 8 and 13 maybe. i didn't know they had hydraulics in those motors.

http://chevy.tocmp.com/chevyresto/3844.htm

Has more poop on the valves

mike in tucson

The Chevy six couldnt have hydraulic lifters until it got a pressurized
oiling system in 1953 on the 235 ci powerglide cars......the lifters
wouldn't pump up!!! Darned things gotta have pressure.

mike in tucson

actully, my '51 235 has hydraulic lifters, the factory 235's ( '50 - '52 ) altho still babbit pounding low preassure oilers. it does use a diffrent camshaft than the '53 up.

thats some good info., robot. thanks
denny i didn't think they had hyd. but if i had of said that, somebody would have told i was wrong.

All you have to do is listen to know those early 216s were solid lifters. I drove plenty of em in the 60s. Less highway accidents back then due to dosing off. With all that clatter no one could sleep.
jd

Here is another neat stovebolt page;
http://www.chevrolet.com.au/articles/engine_swap.htm

And a quote from the above web page about hydraulics:
"4. Let's solve the "hydraulic or solid lifter question" now... "Solids" were the rule on every Chevy '6' through 1949 (either '216 or '235 "Loadmaster"). Between 1950 and '57, solids came with every commercial or "stick" (pass.) transmission, whether '216 or '235 or '261 engine. Hydraulics went only with PowerGlide equipped cars. From '58 to '62, every block was drilled for hydraulic lifters, though some had solids installed. Hydraulic lifters will only function in a block that has the oiling passage drilled through the lifter bores (which hole will be plugged and visible on the rear of the block, just above the cam plug). "

mike in tucson

yep, mine is a PG car. 235's were only offered in PG cars until '52 as the 216 was discontinued for '53

The day I turned 16, I bought a 53 two door that had a 235 and a glide for the sum of $200. This was 1964 so the car was 11 years old and had 60,000 miles on it. Two years later, I sold it for $250 and it had about 80K miles. What a slug...it ran about a 20.50 quarter mile......their timers went that high for some reason.

mike in tucson

it was the trade off, takes an ungodly amount of HP to turn the old PG's, but you don't have to shift. they have 10 more HP than the stick 235's for '53 ( 115 Hp stick, 125 HP glide' ) but they take so much more hp to turn them, the extra power didn't make a diffrence. not to mention the stick cars had steeper gears, 4.10's where as the glide' cars had 3.55's. I like my PG cause it's somewhat rare, but it is slow, with a top speed of 60 or so.

the PG weighted about 3 times more than the stick shift. thats where some of the power went.

216's had oil pressure, just not to the rods. The mains, cam, and rocker shaft got oil under 15-30 lbs. pressure.
My '54 Bel Aire would make 85 mph or so, then I put a 3 speed overdrive in it, just about 100 mph on a long run.

Regarding the original question, my 1942 Army truck manual says .010 intake, .020 exhaust. Same engine as the civilian 216.

Pope....

The specs for the valve adjustment are looser for big trucks for most years although the components appear the same. It must be because of the truck's propensity to overheat under load.

mike in tucson