History 330 or 331 Chevy? 60s drag racing

I was looking through a bunch of pictures on here and other sites of 60s Jr stock and modified production cars. I kept seeing in the captions "330ci Chevrolet". Now, I am familiar with a 331, being a .030" over 327. Did they just used to call that a 330 instead of a 331? If I was going to do some era inspired lettering on some engine parts and maybe a fender, would it be more accurate to say 330ci?

 

331

 

.020" over 327
329.83 or 330
Back when cubic dollars didn't rule the sport quite as much. No sense taking them out any further than needed. Leaves room for the next refresh/rebuild, if the block survives.

 

Yup back when you could still commonly buy oversizes in increments of .010. I can remember going to the autoparts and ordering pistons +.010, .020 .030 and etc. It had as mush to do with being frugal as any other thing. We were living with survivors of the great depression and you didn't want to waste your block any faster than you absolutely had to.

 

You can now order them in any size from .001 over

 

I was told there would be no math today so can someone tell me how big my 327+.040 is.
I wouldn't want to claim 333 cubes when I only had 332.
OK to round up though.

 

Machine shops also used to stock semi-finished pistons; meaning the machinist finish machined them to whatever oversize was needed, and it kept the inventory to a minimum. He literally made his own oversize pistons right in the shop. Not many places in the entire country have the equipment to do that anymore, and it's not cheap. I learned that the hard way after buying some ".030 over", forged pistons for a Chevrolet 265 (the 55-57 ones, not the late model, baby LT1, L99 engines). Had to do some research to find out what "semi-finished" on the boxes meant; even my machinist was't aware of this. I don't think the seller even knew what he had; a lot of vendors buy lots of old parts to resell for profit. I did get a couple of quotes to have them finish machined; the cheaper one was $800.00 to machine and balance them. Needless to say, they went back to the seller, and I got a refund. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Maybe they didn't want confusion with the Chrysler 331 hemi.

 

Around my area we always called it 331
Must be like the 3" stroke 283 bored .125 over to 4" bore became a 301, then when Chevrolet built the same they called it a 302.

 

I didn't even think about .020 overbore... what a maroon I am haha! I have one 327 in my garage that is .040 over, but I guess "my generation" is just used to .030 and .060 for some reason.

Some kind of differentiation with Chryslers and Cadillacs was my initial thought. But then there's the 330 Olds...

 

333.1

 

The 330 may have been done because maybe there was a rule in that organization of a 330 ci. limit. I seem to think that was the rule at the my local track in the 70's. So 329.83 would have been good when they were checked. As I think more about it it may have even been 320 ci. at one point.

 

I don't care what you call it, but standing there and listening to Grump spin that mouse motor 9200 / 9300 RPM was a trip.

 

At least into the '60's, minor overhaul type bore jobs were ignored in normal car-speak. An .020 283 was a 283, period, with no need to note the few extra cubes except perhaps when ordering rings or whatever. Perhaps a 292 and certainly a 301 were considered worth mentioning.

 

Part of the 302 moniker from Chevrolet was a marketing ploy. Ford had a "Better Idea" and built a 302. The Chevrolet Division of GM was in direct competition with Ford. Then there was the fact that hot rodders had been building 301 inch motors for quite a while. Chevrolet wanted something better in the Camaro so it really couldn't be something that someone else thought up could it.

Someone mentioned that you could order pistons in over sizes in .001 increments. That is true, you can buy forged pistons in pretty near any configuration you want from JE Pistons, or at least you could last I checked. They machine all their pistons from forged slugs and will custom machine about anything you want. Better have deep pockets though.

 

Before sonic testing we NEVER went over .030 on a 327. A .060 327 was asking for trouble. Pin holes developed in the cyl walls , ran hot from thin cyl walls ect... now in proportion, I bet the percentage of 283's that would go .125 over was far greater than the amount of 327's that would go .060.

 

Just to stir the pot, I dredged up the old 301/302 thread last night just in case there is some new found knowledge on the subject..............right!

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...d-a-real-chevy-302.72531/page-8#post-12917972

 

Other then the old argument that a 301 and a 302 are different (yea right same bore and stroke) there really isn't much to be said. If I owned a 302 (again) I certainly would not turn it into a 383, that is what junk 350s are for. LOL

Now while we are on the subject if someone wants to donate a large journal 283 crank to my cause ('69 and later 302) I would certainly make my 355 into a 302 when I freshen it. But you can call it a 301 if it makes you happy. I am old and worn and still think that high rev cruising is a rush.

 

I have a 330 but mine says FIREDOME on the covers.

 

LOL those stickers are cheap.

 

When I was a kid my neighbor had a car with a 330 in it, pretty sure it wasn't a hemi though, I think he bought it from his uncles' Olds dealership, F-85 I think he called it.

 

I call the 283 bored .125 a 301, the short stroked 327 a 302, just seems to make sense to me
Have been accumulating parts to build a nice a 302 but don't want to bend over for the pistons. Also want to run pump gas. Got a 327 block decked and .040 over ( so won't be a real 302) and a reground 283 crank. Pondering 350 flat top pistons with 6" rods, it would require taking off about .030 from the top of pistons to get 0 deck. Still have not priced every thing out to see what cost would be. Got other projects priority's. 1st.

 

But Beaner Chevys 302 showed up One year before Fords.

 

Those few words are the most profound words in this whole thread!

 

Jenkins used 350 pistons and 5.886 long aluminum ( Super Rods ) rods in his 331 cu. in. engines. He used the forged small journal 327 crankshaft in a large journal 350 block by honing the 350 main bearings out to accept the small journal 327 bearings.

 

Are you talking about the Vega Pro Stock engine?

 

***It's just a matter of the math formula used to arrive at 301 VS 302; both are 4" bore with a 3" stroke, use 5.7" rods, and the same compression height pistons. In the "old days", pi was figured as 3.14, to arrive at a figure closer to 301; when pi is taken out a few more decimal points to 3.1415926535, it comes up closer to 302, and is rounded off. At least that is what I was told in my formative years. And, being a SBC, lots of parts can be mixed/matched/re-machined to arrive at just about any combination there is.*** I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Not on paper.

 

Yes I am. I used to have his book.

 

I guess I don't understand not on paper, Camaro 302 Z28 1967 Ford 302 1968 and I'm not sure it was at the first of the year there were a lot of 1968 289 cars.