how hard to make a 263 to a 301

I have a 706 with a 263 which does not run right, i was told i can rebuild the whole motor to a 301? Is this true? Also, where would b the best place to get parts?

Ask for the Tractor Vet he is the guru for these engines.He has forgot more than I can tell you.Scott

(quoted from post at 19:46:15 01/25/14) I have a 706 with a 263 which does not run right, i was told i can rebuild the whole motor to a 301? Is this true? Also, where would b the best place to get parts?

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It is "possible" to remove the sleeves and hone the block to accept C-301 pistons. Long term they don't seem to work out near as well as having the block bored and using C-291 pistons and sleeves. The 263 turned 301 engines I have torn down never seemed to have a very good looking cylinder wall.

The cylinder head is an area that needs a lot of attention during a rebuild. If you are increasing the displacement and/or increasing the engine speed using the stellite faced exhaust valves is a must. Of course valve guides and seats must be in good condition and I had the best results using teflon valve stem seals.

Your best bet is doing the 263 to 291 upgrade . Ya bore the block and install the special sleeves . For a super job on a rebuild ya have the block line bored (not line hoined like a lot of shops do . ) This will make sure that the crank is not binding any at all and running true , That is the first step , next lightly decking the block to make sure that it is true and flat. Next recutting the counter bores so that all the sleeves set at the same height . Now the block is done as far as machine work , Then ya install new cam bearings . Next is rebuilding the rods and checking them for straightness and having both ends done ,NOW if ya want to really get carried away and IMHO the best money ya can spend is Balancing , cheapest Hp. gain you can make . Send the cam out for a rebuild here again well worth the effort . Next is the head like someone else said BUT ya don't need nothing special here as STOCK PARTS ARE MORE THEN good enough . When you go to start putting the engine together ya do NOT just start stuffen pistons in , YOU FIT EACH PISTON TO THE HOLE and you then give each piston to that hole .004 extra clearance . Other area's you have to address are fatting up the carb and changing the curve in the dist. as a 291 does not use as much timing advance as a 263 and is limited to 18 degrees at high idle where as the 263 is 23 degrees . Making sure your heat riser in the manifold is working is another area to be looked at . If you run the low ash oil and the 93 octane fuel it will do everything you will ever need . Ya don't run the 93 then you can expect to learn all about piston insulation . I have done quit a few over the years and we are running two of them wright now . As long as we get the gas we order then we do not have any problems and they run strong and yes at times we do work them harder then we should but ya use what ya have to work with . The ones i have done are vary impressive in performance and are running real close to a good running 301 . And as long as we can get sleeves and pistons they are REBUILDABLE . once a 301 is out to the .060 you either bore and install a repair sleeve and start over or ya scrap it . some say they are hard on gas ?? i do not think so . Take your gas powered pick up and make her work for 10-16 hour in a day and see how much gas ya put thru it . I can mow first cutting hay on 28 acres of some of the nastiest ground you will ever want to put a wheel tractor on pulling a 1219 John Deere Haybine and mow 6-8 hour then rake it sometimes twice and do this on ONE full tank of fuel plus still have more then enough fuel to pull the haybine back to the home farm 8 miles away up and down some pretty steep hills . Did the same farm with the 806 Diesel and used about the same amount of fuel oh but wait the 806 has a bigger tank . First cutting at times here can be a bit on the heavy side and work the snot out of even the 806 .The nice thing about a gasser IS that it will START when you need a tractor in this weather wright now .

How much more horsepower do you think you gain when your done at 291?

(quoted from post at 16:59:38 01/26/14) How much more horsepower do you think you gain when your done at 291?

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Nebraska tested the 706 with both the C263 gasser as well as the C291 gasser that came later as the replacement.

Both the ones we are running are 84 something at PTo on one and the other is running almost 87 at PTO. When pulling them down past one will spike at 94 and the other about 96 .

To tractor vet: What else have you done to get that much more hp over stock? Thanks Jim Lee

I laid out what all we do to them. We just BUILD the engine . Line boring decking balancing and hand fitting along with a rebuilt cam . Having the cam rebuilt could have something to do with it as the custom grinding of the cam would make it like a BLUE PRINTED cam , We did this many years back making a stock engine a little better then a stock engine. Balancing helps fitting each piston to each hole helps since ya never get a perfect set of pistons out of the box . Also engine tuning from setting the valves down to setting points and timing . Working on the carb . It is the little things that help. I have always been good at tuning engines even when i was a young kid i could tune better then most . I have worked on all kinds . Worked on 427 Ford DOHC's 351 and 429 Boss Fords. Hemi's 392-426. helped a friend on his 487 Donaven ,tons of FE block Fords All the Wedge block Mo Par's Cummins Cat's Detroit's and god only knows what else . Always had fast cars and was always trying to make them go faster . Worked at a Chrysler Plymouth dealership and there all i worked on was the Road Runners , GTX's and Cuda's . I was one of the two that were trained and certified on Hemi's and 440 six pac's. I was offered a job at a Ford Dealer ship to take over there drag program with with a substantial pay increase and i went there and gained a lot . They found out i could work on diesels also and i got truck work also . When we did the first change over from 263 to 291 we did this because the block was 5 D class holes and one A class hole . By going the 291 route all the holes will be the same and having a close friend with a machine shop with his stationary boring bar and his LINE BORE set up , (notice i did not say LINE HONE ) we could line bore the bottom end and take any tweaks out of the bottom and once the line bore was done we could set up on the stationary boring machine and set up off the center line of the block and get all six hole in line and all the same size for proper sleeve fit . Then it is on to the rods and crank and get them all nice and round . Once that is done now if you want to get down wright deep into engine building then the pistons are next weighing and matching , find the light one and making the rest match. and you can do the same on the rods . Now that is all done ya throw the crank flywheel one rod one piston one bearing and one set of rings in a box and it off to get anything that goes round and round balanced . THIS IS CHEAP horse power . when everything comes back you are still not ready to stuff her together as now you have all the pistons back you set down and MIC each one and you take a marker and put the size of that piston on top . Then you can put the rods on and the rings and now you can start to fit that piston to the hole that it is going in , with the help of and inside MIc and a Dial Bore gauge and a ridgid hone you hone that brand new sleeve to fit that piston . Once that is all done you are still not ready to BUILD the engine . NOW you clean and clean and clean some more You scrub all the oil galleys you scrub the cam bores ya scrub the main saddled and you scrub the sleeves till the start to rust Ya blow them dry and oil them you oil everything that you scrubbed Then you put the cam bearings in and now you can set the crank in DRY on the new bearing and check them to make sure you have your clearances . If that is good ya clean off the plasta gauge and lube up the crank and put her in . stuff the cam in and get it set and then the rods and pistons , once there in and all is well there ya can put the oil pump in the timing cover on and the pan . as for the head just a plain jane three angle valve job and make sure the head is flat , oh i forgot to mention on the block when your down this far and getting the machine work don it is wise to have the deck of the block lightly dusted with the mill to make sure that it is nice and flat Do this before you do the boring as normally when your doing the boring ya cut the contour bores at the same time and you will not have to go back and redo . Also on the head work NOW is the time to have the rocker arms dressed to get rid of the ware pattern from the valve stem .. Once ya have her back in the tractor and running don't let it just set at one speed for to long after the cam break in run her up and back down once everything is nice and hot shut her down and retorque the head and the intake -exhaust manifold and reset your valves and go over the valve set several times and roll the engine over between each set . YOU will be surprised . For break in the only NO NO is heavy work , Plowing Chopping discing and grinding feed for the first thirty hours Change oil at ten hours and again at twenty five hours and at forty hours . After that back to reg. oil changes and ya use nothing in a IH GAS BURNER but LOW ASH .

tractor vet: Thanks for the answer, I didn't mean for you to go to that much trouble. I was just curious. I agree with everything you said. Just alot of money & work. Not too many people do a complete job anymore. Thanks Jim Lee