So just wondering about horsepower, bought the 230, offy intake, dual carbs (thanks Tom @ Stovebolt). But I am still concerned about falling short, any thoughts on hp from a mild built 230? Possibly a cam required still? Suggestions welcome. With a 2500 lbs car I figure 150-170 hp should be alright for fun factor.
283 V8 pistons bolt right in and raise the compression about 1 point. Mild cam, some headers with long tubes for torque, HEI from a late model inline, and a little head work. Joe
Yah I got the HEI from Tom too, actually dropped quite a bundle, just worried about if I'm going to spend more and feel....meh. Is a mild cam, dual carbs, header gonna get me into the 160hp range?
Find a 194 six cylinder head with the casting number 3864883; with a combustion chamber size of 60-62 cc's, it will raise the CR. It can also be milled .060 for an even greater CR increase. The other six cylinder heads have much larger combustion chambers. You can also "lump port" the intake ports (there's a bolt boss through the port!) There's a bunch of aftermarket, performance parts for these motors. Use an HEI distributor, the points distributor mounting plate is secured with a SPRING; move it around and you'll see it takes no effort, not too good for accurate timing through out the RPM range. Butch/56sedandelivery.
Thanks guys, I found a local performance guy here that also re-assured me I was not wasting my $$$. and he had a couple cams to think about, Isky makes a mild performance cam that might do the job. I had read about the 194 heads too, maybe that will be a requirement if what i throw at it now isn't enough, cause it sounds like that would be a pretty cheap option.
If you are going with another head, have the next size valves put in it. 1.84's and 1.60's. Going with 1.94's is said to not be worth the extra effort without unshrouding agound it, which cuts your compression unless you compensate for it elsewhere. Inliners has a ton of information on these engines.
In the April, 1968 HOT ROD MAGAZINE, is an article called, "Turbo Tornado". It's a 1966 Olds F-85 (hardtop, not a sedan!) (Cutlass/442) with a 250 CID six they stuck a turbocharger on, used a 2 barrel Carter MOPAR carb, a 4-speed Muncie, and 3.90 rear end gears. Good for a 13.32 ET at 103.21 MPH, and 17-20 MPG, in a 3300 pound car. And this was at a point in time when turbocharging was new. Might be something to think about. Butch/56sedandelivery
Turbos are great, I've had a few and they definitely make a huge difference, think I've even got a small IHI in the garage but I don't think it would suit the vintage Idea I was going for, but the thought had crossed my mind.
Concentrate some work on the head, it will pay off in easy power. That 230 should easily hit 200 hp, 225 is not out of question. I have more info www.12bolt.com
Nice site, interesting stuff, I am getting the feeling I could shock the sh!t out of some of the SBC boys round here...the question is how much? Wish I could say the pockets are deep but they are not...
this was a bone stock junkyard 230 i knew nothing about.i made an intake with two strombergs and lakes style headers in a 2100lb 32 hupmobile. i liked it alot.it never felt under powered. i actualy though it was very balanced and sold me on gm inline 6. i will be building an essex 3 window coupe with a gm 6 in it very soon
That is a nice ride, good stance and the custom header and intake are a really nice touch. I do think people underestimate the weight they are trying to push, at 2000-2500 its a lot easier to motivate with a smaller mill than something 25-50% heavier, then IMO 250hp makes sense. I sure do like the look of the inlines.
Have you checked Leo Santucci's book "Chevrolet Inline Six Cylinder Power Manual"? It's a tremendous resource and loaded with interesting stuff. One thought about other pistons and milled head: make sure to double check valve to piston clearance. I'm betting that's a proven combo, but I hate hearing about a fresh motor blowing up... You can lump port the head for max airflow, but an intermediate step can be to shape the head bolt boss into a wing-like shape, minimizing the loss it incurs. However, that won't help the really crappy short-turn radius to the intake ports the way lump port does. My '63 Biscayne came with a 230, which I actually liked. I gotta say, though, the 292 I have in the car now is MUCH more exciting and with the extra cubes, has a LOT more financially feasible power potential than the smaller motor did. The speed parts you just bought would move over to the 292.
I have tried to buy that book actually, there is a second edition that came out a couple of days ago, but I've got to order it in. The 292 might be an option for the future, if I can find one around here.
Update: Bought the Book, lots of good stuff in there, Tom Langdon had a hand in it too, I did not know that. Also sourced a 292 from all things...a combine...hey I'm in an agricultural area and those I6's made it into those, pretty big weight difference in my favor...lol, must be gobs of torque. Anyways I figure the 230 for now with the 292 on my bench untill its got all the mods done, thinking lump port and cam on top of what I allready own, could be in the 250hp range even?
i am in the exact same boat you are ... did you purchase a cam yet? what about a rebuild kit? everyone says get a mild cam... how do i know which one is mild?
Call isky on the cam...they ground one up for me years ago that was just perfect...have all your info available to answer their questions. I ran my 230+.030 with 283 pop-ups..steel crank...polished rods..ported head and a clifford intake w/holley 650dp. Ran oval track..ran pretty good...until I spoke with langdon...got me dialed in on headers...what a huge difference! The v8 boys would come over look at the little six in the old modified,shake their heads and walk away..not gonna say what kind of rpm I turned it...cause somebody would call bs...great little engine!
been running a 250; petronix, dual ex., mild torq cam, single carb..in a 3400 # car and never get left behind.....definitely not a 13 sec 1/4 mile car ....but one faithful, dependable, fun runner...surprises some of the V8 boys
If you get a inline Chevy 292 I'd advise to do so. I have one in '37 Chevy coupe and I love to blow off those V-6 & 8's. Mine has a head modified by Self Racing from Durant, OK and a Chet Herbert roller cam and valve train. I use a Clifford Engineering triple intake with Weber carburetors. The transmission is a old worked over cast iron Power Glide. Just as soon as I can figure out how to upload I'll send photo's. There are some in my area whop like to go out to the Drag strip. I'm in my 70's and I do too. Most who go out and watch this thing run just idle up next to me at the stop sign and never make any moves like they want to do a run off. I shift this thing at 6,600 rpm and it holds together fine.
I dropped the 230 in last night just to see how it would fit between the frame rails, firewall etc. I sure am tempted to just leave it alone, use it as a mock up and get the rod going and work away at a 292, my mind changes every 2wks on that front. As for cam etc, nothing purchased yet just parts listed earlier, I wonder if those carbs I got from Tom would be enough cfm for a 292? I am assuming so. PS Pics of the build so far here...(last page actually shows the 6 in place.)
sprint 3 thanks for the info thats exactly what ive been looking for. 66miles99: car looks great. engine looks sweet sitting in there, cant wait to see it going which ever you go with to bad the 230 and 292 do not use the same motor mounts...
No they don't line up but there is a nice billet adapter kit you can buy that looks pretty good, just requires a relocation of the mech fuel pump which I probably won't use anyways.
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