-I have a 292 GMC truck motor that I picked up at an auction. When I initially looked into hopping it up, I posted on one of the straight-6 sites, for suggestions... Essentially, what I was told, was that the 292 is a truck motor, and sucks as an engine to build up. It was suggested that I go with one of the smaller displacement 6's... Problem is, this is the engine that's sitting under my workbench...not one of the others, and I'm a cheap bastard... Is the 292 as poor of a choice, as these guys say?? I don't want to race the thing...I just want a 6 that will look cool, have that great exhaust sound, and will get out of it's own way. I appreciate any suggestions.
IMHO the 292 is the one to get - based on the no replacement for displacement argument. i had one, some jerkoff stole it from my buddy's garage along with a trans and cherrypicker and some other parts. still miss it.
You Have it Build it. Ye sit is a toch easier to build one of the smaller blocks (230,250 ) due to that you can use the 283 pistons in the 230 Block and the 307 pistons in a 250 block. Other then that the head will all inner change. and If you wanted to Be /Or have a cheap way to Bump up the compression Find you a 194 head. With a cam in the 500-530 lift range a small 4b, Offey intake headers Or Tom Langdons cast dual exhaust. and I think you'd be happy with your set-up/motor.
Kool! Thanks for the tips. I have this thing staring at me, everytime I go into the garage, so I've been thinking about diving into it. I feel better now, that I won't just be tossing my money and time away on a hopeless motor.
Hey, if torque is what gets you from stop light to stop light, the 292 has gobs of torque. In the early 60's, that and the 300 Ford were the I-6's to build....
Get Leo Santucci's (yeah I probably misspelled it) book on hopping up Chevy sixes. The 292 kicks ass and you can make SERIOUS power with one. Also use the serach function here to find info on them.
you can also do a bolt-in lump port to the head to increase the CFMs even with a stock size valve. The stock only flows around 177cfm. and with a lump port and the stock valve your looking at over 200cfm. Or more depending on the valve size and the amount of port work done to the head.Most of the hot street heads I do Flow well over 230 cfm. So just a littl more food for thought.
The 194 head really isn't a good idea. Yeah, it'll increase compression a bit, but the smaller valves on the 194 will seriously restrict breathing, compared to the 292's larger valves. The 292 has the same bore as the 250. Just a longer stroke. Never checked the piston interchange with the 307, but I'd bet they would. If you're swapping a 292 in place of the 250, you'll have to change one of the motor mounts. If you're dropping it in where no straight-six resided before, then you'll have to fab up new motor mounts anyway. It's a good engine. I have one in my 1-ton GMC pickup and have never had any problems with it. If you decide not to build yours, you can send it my way. dan
The valves in a 194 head are 1.72/1.50, like all of the late Chevy six heads. It's the tight combustion chamber that shrouds the valves, impeding flow.
The 194 head can be made to flow. I just did a 194 head not long ago that flowed Over 200 cfm @ 500 lift with a 194 valve and had a 71 CC chamber.
Whats it going in? I did some research when I got my 250 and found that in Novas the 292's extra height means you have to do a custom air intake or butch the hood for clearance. It will make plenty of power. My 250 is stock innards and a 4bbl, offy intake and Langdons headers. It scoots to 70 pretty quickly......( above that she gets a shakin )
I tend to find good deals on projects, that are lacking engines. So, there is no specific ride that it would be destined for, as of yet. I've always dug '53 Chevys-and if I found the right one, I would like to already have an engine done and ready to slide in.
My brother and I put a 292 in his '55 chevy way back when we were teenagers. Ran good, had tons of torque until I blew a rod out the side of it.
The 292 is a 1 3/4 taller then a Low deck 194,230,250 block a freind of mine had one in his 64 chevyII stock hood,BUT had a very thin air cleaner. But you do have to fab up the right side motor mount as it is not in the center like the 250 blocks. The 292s right motor mount is where the fuel pump would be on a 250.
i have a CHEVY 292 inline that i'm putting in my '53 chevy 210. it's actually at the shop right now getting a mild cam, lifters, and springs put in. i'm planning on running some cast iron headers from Tom Langdon and a 2 or 3 pot intake. 292s are great! tons of low end torque, and with the right work you can easily take that low end "towing" torque and turn it a bit faster for some "out of the hole" fun. granted it's not gonna be some 160mph engine. but it will move! if you have to do a full rebuild, i'd go all out...bore it, pistons, head, cam,...the works....you can turn some decent horses out of those inlines! remember "6 in a row,....makes it go!" go look up Clifford Performance....a bit pricey, but everything you'd need for a full rebuild for some good HP. they even have new decked and blueprinted heads. the only reason i'm not doig all that is because the 292 i found already had a fresh rebuild on it....so i'm just put a bit more juice into for now, but when it's time for a rebuild.....its on!
I drag raced with a guy back in the early 70's that had a 63' Nova. He ran a stock 292 with a cyl. head that was done up, tri-power, 4-speed, and a 4:56 posi rear. It ran mid 12's, and if he blew it up, he would just go to the junkyard and buy another 292 truck engine. Swap all of the good stuff over and he was good to go. Cool!
I have nothing personaly against Clifford. But If all his heads come out looking like one I had to redo.I was never so nerves in my Life trying to Port a head. to clean up the Ports and the floor of that head. I really felt bad for the guy who spent over 1200 bucks for. Just for me to redo it, So that I could install a set of Lumps. Even The seats were not installed right. One seat was at least a 16th on tilt. I took a photo and Emailed it to the Guy who own this head. And you really don't want to know what he said.@*#*@ and then some If you get my meaning.This was at least two yrs ago SO I would hope They have someone Better doing their head work. Other then that I see nothing wrong with their other stuff.I wasn't to happy the way they Built the chevyII headers, Too low below the car.So I Built my own. and I no longger run their intake,I now Build my own. Which Proved to be better. ETs showed me that. (But I still have it Dual 4 b ) Ps xderelict Your welcome an Like i said It i can be of any help You know where to find me.
I gave my dad all kinds of grief when he told me he was going to build a 292 for his little blue truck...its a 39 chevy truck cab chopped channeled...34 buick grille shell...but man was i made into a believer...he put a 700r4 behind it...I cant tell you all the details he did to the head..not that i dont want to.. i dont know all of them..if you want his number let me know and you can call him...but this little beastie really opened my eyes...the truck runs like an 18.50 x 15 inch rear tire and it will light them up like no ones buisness.. From stoplight to stoplight its a monster..we took out a dual over head cam vtec that even hit his nitrous...when we were going to the Rumblers show up in Albuquerque...I dont know how we would have faired if it was a full 1/4 mile race...but he built it to terrorize the stoplight crowd...i know when i took it on the interstate it will hit the triple digits with no problem and just cruz...i think thats the 700's doing...am i an inline 6 believer now....oh yeah....and you cant beat their sound at top end....sounds like a huge angry bee....really really big angry bee..
You guys should really go watch & listen to my Videos If you luv the buzzin http://www.t6racing.org/id8.html
I'm hoping to put a 292 in my nova... Here's one that is installed in a 65 Chevelle. Here's how he dealt with the passenger side engine mount: and the hood clearance issues: here's a few more pics of his setup: http://s50.photobucket.com/albums/f301/tedgriffith/65chevelleMalibu292/
The 292 has a few challenges, like the stock heads have a little trouble breathing in a lot of air, but the block is bullet proof (so they tell me), and with enough time and patience (or money!) you can address the intake issues (lump ports for the win!), etc and really build it into a monster. With a lot of shoehorning I managed to cram one into the front of my 1928 Model A pick up- it’s longer than I anticipated, but who needs legroom? As someone mentioned before- the motor mounts are offset, but there’s more than one way around that! I’ve had a lot of fun dressing this engine up over the years and with a dual Weber carb progressive set up pushing a 700r4 trans it should be quite a nice cruiser that can still leave a little rubber on the road if I’m ever feeling feisty... I hope to turn the key on it before summer! Pics: lump ports installed (when motor used to be green), and new motor mounts to fit the frame on the ‘28. Fun times You can check out 12bolt.com for more knowledge and parts, as well as cliffardperformance.net for additional race parts. A seller named MrHotrod6 lists cool stuff on eBay for these motors, too. All said and done, even a stock 292 is still a very tough and very cool motor! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I had a 292 actually the sticker on it said hi-torque 292 that I put in a '41 Chevy truck. It came with a set of headers, a single 4 bbl intake and a crower cam. Which I installed before I put it in the truck. I was not winning any land speed records but I was keeping up with the rest of the guys and they were all running V8s. Don't know if that answers your question or not. But it is my experience with the motor.
Do you know what year early 292s had some trouble with cracks in the cam area that pushed oil into the water jackets.
I believe the cams are specific to that engine. Perhaps someone else can verify that. I recall the had clearance added for the connecting rods ground into them, that the smaller ones don't need. Also I believe the fuel pump location is slightly different, But again, someone else can verify that. I have 2 - 250 blocks to build up, someday. I wish they were 292's but those are getting scarce around here lately.
You also have to be mindful of the cam you use. The 292 uses a different fuel pump lobe than the 194-215-230-250 sixes. Those cams will work, you just have to run an electric fuel pump, so some other way to pump fuel, like a belt driven pump. Rework a 194 # 3864883; may be a little hard to find one these days, but they have the smallest combustion chamber, coming in at around 60-62 cc's. Mill one to get even more CR. I believe member Twisted six is actually 12bolt.com; he has a LOT of parts and information on his site. Be sure to check it out. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
I belong to Inline Internationals, and I also have a 292 L-6 in my pickup. It has over 32K miles on it. It has a lump port head, Holley 390 4-barrel, assertive cam, and the truck with a 3.08:1 rear end runs like a scalded dog all day long. Most people think it's a V-8. Check with Inline Internationals. Those folks will tell you the same thing. Go for it.
Some truck engines make great hot rod engines, some do not Can’t believe some folks on a 6 site would suggest a 292 is a bad choice Those are great engines
The Jalopy Journal
