Hi everyone i just recently swapped the 216 out of my 51 1 ton truck for a 54 235, my 216 water passage rusted out its an old farm truck. I have the 235 all in and hooked up. I tried starting it and i noticed it wasnt spinning over very fast. The night before i trickle charged my battery, so it should have been fine, and only about a year and a half old. As my friend spun it over i played with the dizzy it popped off a time or 2 but couldnt get it to run. My question is i used the starter from the 216 as well as the intake and exhaust manifold becasue the other motor didnt have then also i used the dizzy outa the 216 will all these componets work with my motor and do i just need to look at my old tired out starter and keep working with the timming. Any help is greatly appreciated. jake
It would be better to use all 235 parts but the one problem you might be having is if your 54 engine was from a powerglide car. If it is and your putting your 216 intake up to it they don't match, and you would have a vacuum leak. You can try the alignment rings in both the head and intake to see if they fit both. If you have a starter/generater shop near you they can test the torque on the starter and if good, get after the cables,ends,grounds and all the usual stuff there. Don't forget the copper contact in the foot switch cause these get worn and corroded. If your luck runs like mine it'll end up being so obvious you'll hate to tell people what it was. Ahh the joys of keeping the old girls going.
What Evan said plus , yopu can easily take the starter apart and clean it up , grease the bushings and wire brush the commutator , if this makes it spin faster , you're good to go , if not you have another starter there and it should work as all the 6 volt units interchange . _DO_ make a valve adjustment and set the ignition timing to the ball bearing in the flywheel , these two should get it running whence you can do more detailed tune up work , don't touch the carby untillall else is spot on and new spark plugs too . -Nate
All the above... and make sure the cables from the battery to the starter and clutch housing mount are good, clean, and appropriate size. I just put in "0" gauge wire on mine, along with a dual 6 VDC battery install. I had chronic slow spinning and it wouldn't start reliably. I even used a 6 Volt battery boost charger to get it to turn over fast enough. It seems that just turning over is not enough... you need some speed to ensure the propulsion from one cylinder will get you to the next one that fires. I had also exchanged my rebuilt starter for another from a local junk car yard and that helped as well, but not as much as putting in dual batteries. I wanted to stay with 6 volts for nostalgia reasons, but you could also consider moving up to a 12 volt system. The 6 volt starter will work, but you do need to make other changes to avoid damaging other electrical system components.
Well i got it runing i cleaned all the grounds up and that seemed to help quite a bit then i adjusted the dizzy a bit and she fired right up, but the generator wasnt working so i took it all apart and cleaned the rust and corrosion off it and got it good and shiny again then put it all back and my old weathered belt broke so it runs but ill need a belt thanks for all your help. jake
