Re: will a plymouth 217 flathead engine bolt in a ffpw


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Posted by ken in co on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 23:13:01 :

In Reply to: will a plymouth 217 flathead engine bolt in a ffpw posted by dave on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 21:22:59 :

A good deal of the trucks I have worked with have the blocks with the smaller displacement (217) heritage. Most of those have the cranks and rods from 230 installed in them. Restoring the trucks engine to a 230. They seem to “fit” just fine. The stock bore does not change between the two blocks. It was the stroke that was changed between the two engines. To change stroke you need a crank and rods for the larger stroke. The heads off of 217s can be higher compression if the engine is converted to a 230. If I remember correctly the flywheels on some of mine (that had 217s engines converted) had six holes that line up with 6 out of the 8 holes on the 230 crank. I had to have one flywheel drilled to add two holes. This was my choice, probably not “mandatory”.

My guess is that many people replaced there worn 230 blocks with 217 junkyard blocks that did not have a great demand. They kept the cranks and rods from there 230s and used them in the 217 rebuilds. Creating a "fix" on a budget!

Careful, sometimes the bell housing, starter and ring gear can be kind of a "set". There are at least two different teeth counts that I am aware of. I have seen different “offsets” on Dodge flywheels when crossing applications. There are at least two clutch diameters for the flywheels. I believe the larger one is more expensive and rare.

Also watch the head swaps. Some heads have a bump behind the water pump that I think may be a bypass water route or something. I would guess the 217 is "older" and would not have the bump. The head and block are a little different if you have the "bump". The reason I mention is because there is different head gaskets for each application. I recently built an engine that had a block with the bump hole and a head with no bump. When I tore down the motor for rebuild I did not notice how the builder got by with this configuration. Perhaps by having a water pump gasket and or head gasket with no hole feeding the passage. Maybe just gasket sealer in the head hole. Not sure!?

There is a small plumber’s plug in the head over cylinder number 6. This can be removed when trying to determine the stroke that is used in the 217 block you have. Again I have 3 217 blocks all with 230 engine cranks and rods.

I think the 217 will fit and it makes a great donor for a 230 rebuild.

Have fun!



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