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Post Info TOPIC: Curious about Canadian 261's


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Curious about Canadian 261's


Hi guys!  I'm from the States, and I've been around old Chevy's all my life.  I've had seven '53 and '54 Chevys most with 235's.  My current Chevy is a '53 210 with a U.S. 261 in it that came out of a 1959 2-ton truck.

I have some questions about the Canadian 261's that came in Pontiacs.  Maybe someone here can satisfy my curiosity.

What year Pontiacs was the 261 installed in?
Did the Canadian 261's have full-flow oil filters, or were they like our 235's and had bypass oil filters?
Did the Canadian 261's have the "Captain's bars" cast into the block castings to identify them?

Here are a couple of pictures of my 261 before I put it into my car.  The captain's bars are visible above the casting date on this side of the block.  On the other side they are visible below the middle intake port.  In the second photo you can see 3/4" pipe plugs that are in the oil filter line holes.  The U.S. oil lines are 1/2" I.D.

81381422.jpg74359117.jpg





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1953 Chevy convertible with a 261 inline six-banger.


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I just wanted to welcome you here. I'm afraid my 261 knowledge is slim and none though.

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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles 

1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars (now converted to a "factory" 4 speed)

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 Here are 2 threads we had on it a ways back................


http://canadianponcho.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=118110&p=3&topicID=30605692


http://canadianponcho.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=118110&p=3&topicID=28086720

-- Edited by 67Poncho on Monday 13th of December 2010 02:55:56 PM

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Vincent Jr.



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Well of course Welcome as well! Al Taylor and Dave LaCourse are our resident experts on the Pontiac 261 BUT being News Letter Editor for CPSC - POCI I get to write about a lot of things and 261's are one of them.

Years of use in full size Canadian Pontiacs, 1955 - 1962. The engines were slightly modified for more torque and power using a Corvette camshaft from the Blue Flame engine and larger carburetor. Gearing for 261's was lower, numerically higher, so performance at the stop light drags was equal to or better than a similar 265 or 283 V8 car. Oil by pass system as you describe. My Dad's old 261 Strato Chief could hum, he claimed it could peg the 120 mph speedo. being a little whipper snapper I can't say for sure but no one ever passed us on the way to the cottage and I recall dad taking 7 or 8 cars on the old 2 lane Hwy 27 just north of Barrie on the way to Wasaga Beach.








-- Edited by 73SC on Monday 13th of December 2010 03:03:20 PM

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Ray White, Toronto ON

Formerly - The one and only 1973 LeMans 454 "Astro-Jet"

Built March 9, 1973 - Oshawa ON

1993 Corvette Convertible LT 1

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The engine numbers were prefixed 'W' for 3-speed, 'W9' for Powerglide engines, 'WR' for right-hand drive, and 'W9' for rhd P/G.

-- Edited by Oracle on Monday 13th of December 2010 06:01:36 PM

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Oh, I overlooked another expert, sorry Oracle for that oversight. What time is it for you?

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Ray White, Toronto ON

Formerly - The one and only 1973 LeMans 454 "Astro-Jet"

Built March 9, 1973 - Oshawa ON

1993 Corvette Convertible LT 1

Built January 10, 1993 - Bowling Green Kentucky 

 




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Welcome       

beautifull engine!!!! 

seems awfull tall  

Does the hood shut?
wink

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Welcome Robert.

Here's some reading/viewing ... enjoy ...

http://canadianponcho.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=118110&p=3&topicID=30605692

http://canadianponcho.activeboard.com/index.spark?aBID=118110&p=3&topicID=26831642

http://canadianponcho.activeboard.com/index.spark?aBID=118110&p=3&topicID=28086720

http://canadianponcho.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=118110&p=3&topicID=33934790



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'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.



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It's 23.01 here Greenwich Mean Time or Zulu!

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The Canadian 261 also had the captain bars. I do have a 55   261  that only has one bar by the starter where there are normally two.

Al

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Thanks guys! The 261 isn't too tall for the hood. Its an unusual engine. I bought it in 2003 from a Buick guy who had no use for it. When I pulled the oil pan the bottom end was pristine--you could have eaten off the crank and the pan. If any of you have ever pulled the oil pan off of a 45 year old 235 or 261, you know the inside of the pan is usually thick with black goo and gunk--not this one. I pulled the head and the bores were pretty clean--there was a slight amount of surface rust in one cylinder. No ridge. It looked to me like it had sat inside for a long, long time. There was no paint on the outside of the block, and only slight surface rust there. When I pulled the distributor, the tang was hardly worn. In comparison I've seen the tang's on high mileage 235's that were REALLY worn. My guess is that this engine was pulled from a truck when it had 10,000 to 15,000 miles on it, and then stored until sometime in 2002. I neglected to ask where the Buick guy had gotten it from, but he said he bought it in a pile of Buick blocks in 2002.

Also... when I was rebuilding it I noticed the pistons were armoured--that is they had a ring of crenellated steel cast into the piston right below the bottom ring. Anybody run across this before on a 261?

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1953 Chevy convertible with a 261 inline six-banger.


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Welcome!

Fitz.

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Thanks for the welcome! I've always like Pontiacs. When I was a boy we could only afford Chevys. My first girlfriend's dad drove a '62 Grand Prix--it was a GORGEOUS car. He would let me borrow it every once in a while to take his daughter out. Fun times!

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1953 Chevy convertible with a 261 inline six-banger.


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Check out inliners.org.  The info on the "old" sixes is a bit sparse, but there are many who are into them.  I had a 56 that I pulled the 6 out of when I was 16 in favor of a high school rebuild(re-ring) 350.  Dumb.  There's plenty for intakes and exhaust out there too, like Offy and Fenton.  Pricey, but very cool.  I believe some builders also make tubular headers for your application.  Planing the head would also help in the compression department.  If using single carb setup, go with a Holley 390 cfm or one of the small Edelbrock 4-bbl.  Of course, 3 single throaters would be kickass on a motor with a Wayne side cover.  I'm currently building a hot '67 292(2nd gen) 6 for my 64 GMC 1/2 ton, with a bunch of goodies-Clifford intake+Demon 4 bbl, big valves, lump ports, headers, Crane cam, etc.  Good luck.

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There's also a tech piece on doing full flow conversion on these blocks at inliners.org.

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This is not a 261 but it is interesting. I found this under the hood of all things a 1970 Cutlass S a few weeks ago, It was a shock to see a 250 six in there but after the initial head shaking I thought this is pretty darn cool. Its got Clifford split manifold and a Holley 4bbl emptying into dual chrome trumpets like a 442 would have.

IMG_7359.JPG

IMG_7362.JPG




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Ray White, Toronto ON

Formerly - The one and only 1973 LeMans 454 "Astro-Jet"

Built March 9, 1973 - Oshawa ON

1993 Corvette Convertible LT 1

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That's an interesting swap on the '70 Cutlass.

I'm running a 235 head on my 261. It is the 848 head, and came off of a '59 or '60 235--I forget which right now. I do have the original 850 head for the 261, but from what I've read the 235 head will make a little more compression.

Thanks for the Inliners link. I have visited their site at times and found their info very useful. I'll check it out again.

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1953 Chevy convertible with a 261 inline six-banger.
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28 stude 001.jpgI pulled the 261 out of my 61 pontiac and the engine has the 848 head.I'm pretty sure all  the 261 canadian pontiacs came with that  head and vette cam. 
 
Greg

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rrausch wrote:

That's an interesting swap on the '70 Cutlass.


I should have mentioned that the 250 6 is the original engine in that Cutlass. Original owner told me he waited 12 weeks after ordering that car for delivery. It would be interesting to see the production numbers on a 6 cylinder Cutlass S.

 



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Ray White, Toronto ON

Formerly - The one and only 1973 LeMans 454 "Astro-Jet"

Built March 9, 1973 - Oshawa ON

1993 Corvette Convertible LT 1

Built January 10, 1993 - Bowling Green Kentucky 

 




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Isn't that Hillar's Cutlass that his parents bought new?

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nod.gif except one correction, his Dad bought it. The word Parents is not applicable
to him as he was abandoned by his mother at age 3.

IMG_7368.JPG





-- Edited by 73SC on Thursday 16th of December 2010 07:58:56 AM

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Ray White, Toronto ON

Formerly - The one and only 1973 LeMans 454 "Astro-Jet"

Built March 9, 1973 - Oshawa ON

1993 Corvette Convertible LT 1

Built January 10, 1993 - Bowling Green Kentucky 

 




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Any idea what's going to happen to it? That's a neat car with the 6.

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The estate is tied up very badly any hope of any of us getting a shot at any of these is long gone imo. 








-- Edited by 73SC on Thursday 16th of December 2010 03:15:45 PM

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Ray White, Toronto ON

Formerly - The one and only 1973 LeMans 454 "Astro-Jet"

Built March 9, 1973 - Oshawa ON

1993 Corvette Convertible LT 1

Built January 10, 1993 - Bowling Green Kentucky 

 




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That 1970 Cutlass S was Hillar's car? That being the case I must have met Hillar back in 1992 when I saw that car at Markington Square (Markham / Eglinton). There used to be a weekly cruise / show thing going on there back in the early 90s, much like the Route 66 deal now. I was impressed by the presence of an Oldsmobile Action Line 6 under the hood painted gold like the Oldsmobiles were. Lots of Clifford stuff on it. When I priced out Clifford headers for my 6 cyl Chevelle they asked $600. I said "No thanks!". Today I have got a hot rodded Chevy inline 6 being readied to go under the hood of my 67 Chevelle. It is a 292 built out of a low deck 250 block for hood clearance with the twin downdraft carbs I will be running. It was an expensive way to go with all the machining, custom rods & pistons... I am ordering a custom ATI damper for it shortly (more buck$).
Feb2010_010.jpg


As for the old 261 sixes, I thought the 261 Pontiac also had hydraulic lifters rather than solid / mechanical lifters like on the 235 & 261 truck sixes. I do remember a friend's brother's 57 Laurentian had a 261 that ran so quietly you didn't hear it running at all (it didn't have the Powerglide whine since it was a 3-speed manual).



-- Edited by CdnGMfan on Thursday 16th of December 2010 03:19:35 PM

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67 Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe, Oshawa-built 250 PG never disturbed.

In garage, 296 cid inline six & TH350...

Cam, Toronto.


I don't judge a man by how far he's fallen, but by how far back he bounces - Patton



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Indeed Cam the engine is nicely paint gold. Remember Hillar was single, he was the Corporate Lawyer for a well known Canadian Mining Company making a mid 6 figure salary. $600 was walking around money for him. 

Great Looking engine btw Cam biggrin



-- Edited by 73SC on Thursday 16th of December 2010 04:41:43 PM

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Ray White, Toronto ON

Formerly - The one and only 1973 LeMans 454 "Astro-Jet"

Built March 9, 1973 - Oshawa ON

1993 Corvette Convertible LT 1

Built January 10, 1993 - Bowling Green Kentucky 

 


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