Rebuild 706 - 263 gas

Time to rebuild my 263, she's getting weak. We made it thru 1st cutting of hay but it's pretty sure she's about worn out. I'm thinking about finding another block or entire engine and rebuilding it while I limp the old girl along. Then get the guys together for a marthon engine swap over a weekend.

I've searched posts here and elsewhere to find what other blocks might be good to look for. I've found posts that lead me to beleive a later 706 291 ci or a combine 301 ci might be worth looking for. Also a truck engine is mentioned but I didn't find a number. I don't really need any more HP than the 263 but if something compatable turns up I'd consider it. Any help making a list of compatable engines would be appreciated.

Another thought and this one is for Vet I might as well make any upgrades to the engine to better tolerate today's gas and oils. I've read your posts in length and am in the same boat with lots of others, I'd like to chat with you about any options I have so long as I am rebuilding. Email is open.

If your satified with the 263's hp that would be better, the only gain you'll really get out of the 291 and 301 is higher fuel consumption due to the bigger cylinder bore. Farmall 560's also had the 263's

C301 is a sleeveless, or "parent bore" (IIRC) engine. If you don't mind not being able to rebuild the engine ever again, then okay. Otherwise stick with a sleeved engine.

Tractor Vet's mantra for the high-compression gassers has always been 93 octane gas, IH low ash oil, get the timing right.

That and the chronic knock from the old C291 in the 756 all those years has pretty much scared me away from really pursuing the next target of my collecting bug: A Farmall 460.

If there is any way to make these buggers run on 87 octane and not grenade if I decide to make a couple passes with the trailer plow just for fun, I'd love to hear it.

And just where did you come up with that B/S

And the difference between running reg gas and running the good stuff is 40 buck per 200 gal . So big deal if it make the tractor run wright and last . And the use of the correct oil here again so what you have to use a low ash 30 weight . Good god if your that cheep then go buy a David Brown if ya want a VW of the tractor world .

While the C-301 is a non-sleeve engine, to say it CAN'T be sleeved is doing a disservice to your QUALIFIED machine shop. Pappy had a customer who picked up an 806 that was a bit weak. After tearing the engine down, Pappy found the engine was already bored .030 oversize, the largest he could get pistons to fit. So he sent the block to Atlas Machine in Louisville, KY and had the block sleeved back to standard bore. After building the engine back to stock specs, it was still running the last I heard a couple of years ago. BTW, Pappy died in 1991...so that 806 had to have been built in '89 or '90.

So the block on the C-301 CAN be sleeved back to stock...it's just something you can't do in the shed out back, you have to have it bored and sleeved at a machine shop.

(quoted from post at 17:16:47 06/02/09) And the difference between running reg gas and running the good stuff is 40 buck per 200 gal . So big deal if it make the tractor run wright and last . And the use of the correct oil here again so what you have to use a low ash 30 weight . Good god if your that cheep then go buy a David Brown if ya want a VW of the tractor world .

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Hey vet, I got a 400 gallon tank of 87 octane sitting here that works fine in all my 4 cylinder tractors, and my modern high-compression cars and trucks. 80 bucks go a long way, even in this day and age. I go through about 1200 gallons a year between my truck and putzing around with my toy tractors. That's 240 bucks savings.

So if I get a 6 cylinder I either gotta drive 30 miles with a bunch of gas cans, pay rent on another tank, or pay the long buck to fill my tank with the expensive gas that buys me nothing for 99% of what I use it for.

Yeah, that makes sense.

All I asked is if you could de-tune a 6 cylinder so you could use it on the cheaper gas without killing the engine.

(quoted from post at 22:36:37 06/02/09) While the C-301 is a non-sleeve engine, to say it CAN'T be sleeved is doing a disservice to your QUALIFIED machine shop.

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Yeah, it would be if there were such a thing as a qualified machine shop.

Hey vet maybe you should stick with animals.

Well i have tryed and my answer is a plain and simple NO And it is like this alot of 560 gassers have been updated with 706 263 pistons and they also have to run the high octane fuel any thing made in the late fiftys sixtys ran on better fuel . even on up to 75 after that it was all down hill . They started de tuning engines in 72 as that was the yead that ended the performance cars . At that time i was working as a Parts manager for a large Chrysler Ply. dealership and we were the big performance dealer in the area for the Plymoths . I got a new Cuda as a demo that year as i got a new Demo every two hundred miles and i got this Cuda with a detuned 340 and i am here to tell ya that a 71 318 would stomp it's but . We even tryed to set it up and it was a DOG going from a 10.5 comp. ratio down to a 9.2 with 4 degrees set back on the cam and it was i reg fuel engine where as the 71 304's were a premium fuel then in 73 the 360 came out and it was a bigger dog with a 8.5 comp. ratio and by 75 the leaded gas was gone and so was the 105 octane and reg was down to 90 from 95 . Back in the early sixtys i worked construction and the company that i worked for had lots of gas powered big trucks from the mid Fiftys on and each and everyone of them required 105 octane gas and the use of reg in one of them would cause engine damage so whe you went to the truck stops for fuel all the gas pumps at the islands for truck were The good stuff . when i got my ticket to drive the big rigs i drove a B 60 Mack and i pulled a 50 ton Special custom built 50 ton Rogers lowboy and we loaded the big dozer on that traire along with big cranes and that old Gasser would drag anything we put on her , maybe no as fast as the trucks of today but she would pull them and get a whoppen 3.5 MPG and that old girl needed the good stuff . What i have learned is from trying to make the old gassers still work for a living as they did back then . Plus i have bought and sold somany 706 gassers to people that want to play farmer and also to dairy farmers that wanted a tractor that would start in any weather anytime with out plugging in . They are a good sound tractor forthe guy that hobby farms and does not have a tone of money to spend . When they are tuned wright and you run what is required in them they work well and one other thing i learned is that when you run the good stuff in them they do use as much . Myself i have always run the good stuff in everything BUT the wife Durango as it is and 03 and it does not care as it only made a one mile per gallon difference in it and now that there is 20 cents betwen the grades it does not pencile out . If one would get and ORg. owners manual and read the minium fuel requiements for said tractors this willl save a lot of talk and it plainly states in a 706 manual that the min. fuel requirements for this tractor is 93 not 89 not 87 but 93 and when you follow it to the letter they do what they were ment to do with no problems and besides when you use gas in a farm tractor for farming you take off the highway use tax at the end of the year so if you keep good records of your fuel use you get MONEY BACK . Now as for the low ash oil you can find a supplier that can get you a oil that meets the needs of said engine and you do not have to go buy it at the friendly Casae I H store so again you can still run this tractor and save money . Now as for the new Diesel fuel and OLD diesels here again the problems are just now coming out of the wood work as my one buddy tell me as he runs a diesel injection shop he tells me that he is really busy as the new fuels are tearing up pumps again and do the oil companys care and does the EPA car not one tinny little bit so here again to run and old gasser is still cheaper to run I guess i have a different way of looking at things as i just fix them Lets see here ya can rebuild a gasser for half of a diesel , a set of plugs even if you buy the best are cheaper then one injector So you put one set of points a year in the dist they are cheaper then one of them perdox or what ever they are called and you will in your lifetime will not spend on points what that thing cost and a old set of points can be filed if needed to get you thru the day but if that new fangled thing takes a dump guess what your still waiting for parts to come . Yep i am OLD FASHIONED and i like things simple . Do i like any of this new junk NOPE i would be happy as a lark if i could buy a NEW 68-69 Road Runner with no power steering no power brakes no A/C no power seats no power door locks and no power winder and NO SLUSH BOX a 4 gear and a possi At least if it went down and did not run there was always to make it get home And they got 18 MPG out on the road the way i drove back then .

Thanks tractor vet. Looks like I will have to haul fuel cans if I ever get a 6 cylinder. Last time I ran 93 octane in my truck for a few weeks just to see, and it didn't make a bit of difference.