I have a 292 Chevy l6 like to put a 194 head on it but I been reading they need a lot of work to flow good has anyone done it
@Oldfart59 I am not sure about 194 heads combustion chamber volumes, but the 230/250/292 heads are all the same and compression is controlled by the dished pistons. I had a warmed up 250 built recently and used the 'lump port' modification to improve head flow. Leo Santucci's book on performance building of Chevy sixes is the Bible on the subject and IMO worth the price. Ray
Never done it, but read a lot and seen enough to know, the 194 is not the way to go. The ports are all wrong and it takes work to make it work. All you will get is a lot higher compression without the benefit free flowing ports.
I read somewhere that they did it but can't find it now I know the valve would need to be open up around them The intake and the exhaust ports are the same spots so the intake and exhaust will interchange
I don’t know about current availability, but pistons for use with LP gas had less dish and, of course, higher compression ratio. Ray
Tons of info about these engine combinations at the Inliners International Club Forum https://www.inliners.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=activetopics&range=1&type=t And Tom at https://www.12bolt.com/ (late model Chevy Six parts supplier) has done a lot of dyno testing on the 194 head. Check with him.
I went to a shop the guy had a old parts book he looked them up it said low compression pistons for LP but did not say what they were
I bought a few parts from Tom he says every .007 you take off the head you gain 1 point of compression 292 head is 74cc and 194 head is 60.33 cc And the stock shim gasket is .019 to felpro .042 so you will lose a lot
The 194 head on a 230 or 250 was the hot lick in the 70's but things have changed a lot since. I plan to put lump ports in my 292 to take advantage of the 4 barrel intake's air flow along with putting a cam with more pop but that is about the limit of the mods I have planned for it. When I bought my 48 it had a 194 in it and my former boss JT Carpenter who was one of the performance gurus in Central Texas in the 60's and 70's said to use that head on a larger engine if I wanted it to perform and he had built a late Chevy six in those days that ran circles around a lot of V8 cars on the dirt track.
Turbocharge it! SPA Turbo USA makes the exhaust manifold. Years ago (1976?) I build a 250 six and used the #3864883, 194 head (not all 194 heads are the same, this is the one to use). It had "some" work done to it, and the little Nova it was in was a screamer; even with the way-to-big-of-a-cam I had in it. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
Been thinking about it the turbo manifold is 380.00 from 12bolt and split exhaust manifold are 325.00 Turbo are not that much I have room for one
Yep he said around .040 so the head will keep its integrity But I should of check the piston hight before I tore it apart to see how much they stuck down I'm the block
Every .007" removed from the head is a tenth of a point, 0.1....not a full point for every .007". If it was a point for every .007", then an .042" cut would take you from 8.0:1 to 14.0:1, and it ain't the case.
That's the path I took. The head on the 292 in my roadster is a 194 head milled .040". We put 1.94 intake and 1.5 exhaust valves in it, lumps with bowl work and unshrouding the valves. The head flows 196 cfm at .500 lift. I've been told a 292 head (with the same treatment) will flow better (over 200cfm) but with the larger combustion chamber you'll need to figure out milling and or pistons options depending on what you want for compression.
As of now my motor only has around 7.34 compression cause of this The head is around 72.33 pistons have a dish of 33 cc and a deck clearance of .064 - and a head gasket of .042
GM Herritage center archives say that my 68 292 has 8.0 compression ratio. Still nothing to write home about.
Well it will be going to be a turbo motor I bought pistons and main studs and rod bolts so far Pistons are cast with coated skirts I will get the bottom end done Then work on the head cut the 3 devider out and go from there