Well, I have a flathead caddy that I can't use and got a guy wantin to trade a 1927 chev motor seized, and a running 28 motor with trans, for it. I really do want the motor seeing as my car is a 28 chevy, are there any vintage hop ups for the old chev motors?
I have a 27 Chevy that I am putting a 28 motor in. The 28 motor has a few more horsepower than the 27 and is more desirable. I believe it was because of the exhaust more than anything else. Compression ratio is really low- like 6 to 1 (can't remember but you will see that the piston is about an inch from the head at the top). I talked to an expert about raising it. He said you might be able to get away with it if you added more intake bolts, but he was a purist. Top speed stock is about 45 MPH, but man are they cool sounding engines. The coolest part was when I took mine apart. Everything and I mean even down to the bearing caps, has the Chevy logo on it. You might want to check out the Vintage Chevy Club. www.vcca.org Good Luck!
cool, thanks, i wonder with a compression that low, convert to insert bearings, find a way to brace the bottom end, and build a really mild blower setup for the intake, more for conversation than anything, hmm, or stock with some old school hopups would be cool, anyhow, thanks, I'll check out the VCCA someone else i was talkin to at work yesterday brought them up too.
I don't know about blowers, but a local machine shop rebuilt a '28 engine for a customer's stock restoration, and since the stock bore was 3.6875, they overbored it to 3.75, which gave them several modern piston choices. I think they ended up using standard bore Chevy 265 pistons, which came up higher in the cylinders and raised the compression. The car's owner said that it made a noticeable difference in power. Bob Rufi really worked one over and ran it in a streamliner in 1940, setting a class record that held until 1948.
might have to do some diging in the machine shop category, some domes or popups would probably help out, thanks
look up a fellow on here named unsafe6.....he is building these and uses modern big valves and plenty of other cool stuff....he will be happy to hear from you i'm sure...
A hundert years ago or so, there was a guy that ran a '28 Chev. with a cross-flow '25(?) Olds head in a stripped-down Crosley at the Colton Drag Strip. Went as fast as when he ran his V-8 60 in it as I remember. Something like 80 -- which was faster than my stock Model A at 52.
The '28 engine is pretty much the pinnacle of early Chevrolet 4's, but there are some things you can do to it. The "easy" hop-up for a '28 Chevrolet engine is to use a '23 Olds head which has two inlet ports and three exhaust. The only issue with using the Olds head is that it has 1:1 rockers- the answer to that would be to mill the rocker shaft bosses and make new ones to use the 28's rockers (which are rather weak and prone to bending). Guys have used late 20's Nash rockers (like finding hen's teeth) or having their own made. There wer some early aftermarket heads, but they are exceedingly difficult to find, worth a good used car, and in some cases less effective than the stock head. For a little more boost you can also use Ford A rods, a C crank etc. USE A DIFFERENT CARB- I'll quote a good friend who said that the stock Chevrolet carb is "good for running a mild lawnmower". Let me know if I can be of any help- I'm in the process of tearing down a '28 right now and will hopefully be putting it back together in the not-too-distant future. Have fun, Bill
Olds 3 port heads are not that easy to find, but not impossible, and for some strange reason they seem to be easier to find in Australia. If you really want one, PM Jimmy B- he's good at finding them.
On the subject of carburetion---- the stock updraft intake can be flipped over and bolted back to the head. A friend did this and bolted a Stromberg carb from an early 4 cylinder Jeep on it.
HEATHEN, Do you have any more info on the model of stromberg? I also know of at least one fellow who ran a pair of side draft carbs bolted directly on to the head.
http://vcca.org/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/167619/Re_What_is_the_ultimate_chevy_ I found the above thread very informative. In one of the vintage racer links they have a pick of side drafts bolted to the head. I am now wondering how to go about building a pressure oiling system for the motor. Also i now have the motors as of last night and am wondering how to build a driveline. the rear end under the car is an 80s toyota 4x4 rearend of some sort, same width and bolt pattern as original, plus it has a cassette type third member, kind of a neat idea. I have two trannys, what does the lever on the shifter do?
Rod & Custom had an article that mentioned these engines back in the late 60s early 70s. If I remember correctly, it used an Olds three port head, JN-1connecting rods (Jenny curtis airplane from WW1), but I don't remember the cam. I think it was about either Rufi's engine or an engine from an early three springer race car and it seems that it was in an article about a visit to an early Chevrolet parts supplier in SoCal area. Make sure the trans hasn't gotten water in it- a local vintage racer bought my '28 for his car and warned me about that. Have fun!
The original owner of my Buick ran a similar set-up in a Chevy-4 powered roadster at Muroc before WWII, that he said topped 100 MPH but I can't tell you much more than that (the guy died in '74, so it's kind of hard to ask him now). Sounds like you're the man to ask about these early Chevies, Bill.
there was water in one trans, the other looked good, does anyone know a machine shop in washington that would convert my motor to insert bearings? Really I would like to use a ford c crank, insert bearings, bore it for a common piston size, make it a pressure oiled motor, then drive the snot out of it, maybe figure out a way to improve the ignition, and try to fab a dual carb intake. Then make some sweet header pipes and she'll be a great driver i think.
Sounds like you've already decided to pick it up. Good. If I had one, I'd drop it in my T chassis in an instant. If you find an Olds head, keep the Chevy head and find a T block to put it on. Two projects in one! -Dave
from what i gather the olds head might be a bit more hassle than it is worth, the rear exhaust port exits behind the head, making firewall modification a must, add to that the rocker arm issues, and i think I'll stick with the factory 28 head, it is supposed to be pretty good as is, by the way, the heads on the 27 and 28 motors look identical, what is the difference?
3-port are the heads for all out performance. 2-ports are sufficient for street duty. The 27 and earlier head was a 1-port and the '28 is a 2-port. 2-ports also have 1.5:1 rockers where 1 & 3 port heads are 1:1 ratio.
Somewhere, I've got a '28 Chevy distributor, and it had conventional centrifugal advance weights in it---a definite advantage over a Model A distributor. It seemed to have LOTS of advance, though, so you'd probably have to limit it somewhat if you jacked up the compression ratio. Since the head has two exhaust ports, a pipe out of each port all the way to the back ought to sound distinctive.
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