235 or 261 vs 216
Hi Toby
There are various engine options for Chevy CMPs - it all depends on how and where you will be driving. Don't be scared of rebuilding one of the original 216 engines these are still an amazingly tough engine. The one in my HUP has been running good for over 30 years that I've had it and it has never even had the the oil pan dropped. Yes they leak oil but so what. The only real problem with the 216 is if you are going to drive your C60L long distances or heavily loaded they are under powered by modern standards.
The standing joke in our club that my C60S with radio box would do 0-60 mph on flat ground in about 12 minutes. After driving my C60S with its stock 216 engine for 18 years I converted it over to a 261 engine which has about twice the horse power there have been several good threads on MLU about the conversions. The nice thing about the 216 conversion to 235 or 261 is that they are all the same size and with the correct mix of parts are pretty much a bolt up engine swap. The are extremely close in appearance as well which make it a good restoration engine choice.
Depending on your engine skills an local engine shop services getting one of the 216 engines you have running may be the quickest and easiest choice, then you get the truck running under its own power and concentrate on the rest of the truck. Get it running and enjoy driving it, then if every thing else is sound and you want to up the power and acceleration then look into a 235. I don't know if the 261s were ever used in large numbers in Australia.
I've got both a C60S and C60L one point that I would make about a more powerful engine it doesn't really change the top speed of a CMP they really don't like going faster than an indicated 50mph. Beyond that speed the rest of the drive train really starts getting uncomfortable, and noisy.
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