My explanation for the confusion over the 352 Chevy engine. A 4 inch bore and 3 1/2 inch stroke calculates to 351.86 cubic inches. In the late '50s when Chevy racers started modifying their 283 engines to 4 x 3 1/2 bore & stroke 352 is what they rounded it off to. When Chevrolet actually started producing 4 x 3 1/2 engine their biggest competitor Ford already had a 4 x 3 1/2 engine, the FE 352, so named, and they called theirs a 350.
I was just rounding it off trying to make it simple. A 4 inch bore and three and a half stroke is 351.8 cubic inches. That is why those Chevy engines were referred to as 352. But I am also sure that with all the experimenting going on back then someone had a smaller than 4 inch bore and longer than 3 1/2 stroke that came out to 352 also. Just trying to explain my memory of where the 352 Chevy engine came from.
Most guys never look and an angle grinder and a hurst mount can ( and did actually on a D gas coupe) take care of that. Just for street racing people seldom paid any attention. I think everyone but a Rube knew that everyone else was lying about what they were running. I remember the old speed-o-motive kits. Seems like they were the actual first affordable stroker kits for SBC. They were quality pieces as I recall. 12s was still respectable times clear up into the late '60s and early '70s when I first started racing.
For a while in the mid 60s G M Corp has a edict that said engines installed in certain cars were to 350 cid or less thus the 3.48 stroke.
There was an article in one of the car magazines, NOT Hot Rod, in the early sixties about makin a 467 cu in engine from the 283. They bored the cylinders out completely and wet sleeved it with siameesed cylinders much like the later 400 small block. Have no idea on specs for bore and stroke.
@F.O.G i can't remember what year it was but i think it was an ENGINES magizine from the 60's It was in the Heritage Gas thread I copied it to my computer. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...onal-gasser-classes-and-racing.1069846/page-6
teenagers off to a wedding Hello, We had access to driving around in a cool 56 Chevy 4 door hardtop in our Long Beach neighborhood. Our cousins owned a green/white combo hardtop. It was mostly driven with all of the windows rolled down, to get the full effect of the openess of what the 4 doors and hardtop created. The 4 door was a family car, but it did not look like a family car in this design. A two fer…cruiser and family car. The air swirling around, the view out of any angle, roominess in the front and back seat all provided the complete package. If we wanted a hot street car, our other friend had a 301 SBC with a 3 speed in his similar color 2 door hardtop. Rumors had it that he put in a Reath Stroker Kit and upped his game to a 352 ci SBC. It was a very popular street car usually holding court at one of the two Bixby Knolls drive-in restaurant parking lots. In those days, one guy would build his hot rod in secrecy, hoping that it would have an advantage at the Cherry Avenue drags or at Lions. (Tom McEwen’ group several years before this time period scenario was a perfect example, secret builds and ripping at the drags.) The owner was my brother’s friend, but that group was having their last hurrah at being the power hot rods at the drive-in restaurants. A new wave of hot rod teenagers was coming and the older guys were already starting their careers, a dentist, construction work, military, speed shop mechanic, and some even going to college, local and beyond. Jnaki Some of those guys had a couple of more years at the local junior college cruising/party scene before heading into their futures. That was a sad case as society plays a big part in growing up. The street scene was looking at an ever changing group of newly constructed hot rods and racers, with eager teenagers wanting to show their stuff. We were next and there were more classes to come behind us, in perpetuity. Reath Automotive’s location on 10th and Cherry Avenue played a huge part in most “secret” builds. Their in shop selection was chocked full of speed parts to make anyone’s hot rod faster and more powerful. The checkbook holding anyone back was a personal choice. Buy a few parts, take it home for installation and no one knew anything else. Backyard hot rodding at its finest. Secrecy played a huge part in winning on the street and the local drags. Bixby Knolls hot 56 Chevy bel air at Lions Dragstrip. We never found out if that 1956 Chevy Bel Air had a stroked motor, but it won its share of local drag racing challenges. In recent contact between several old guys, the mention of the stroked motor was brought up again after all of these years. The owner said, “Well, we will never know.” The Reath Automotive Group had a great reputation for their crankshaft machining and balancing. It also was the basis for the popular, “stroked” motors. 352 chevy with a 4" bore (.125 over 283) would use a 3.5" stroke, which is a half inch more stroke than a 283... So, the simple term is/was "1/8th over 1/2 inch stroker."
@Panneton Bros. Racing I shared the Studebaker info over on the Studebaker Drivers Club, lots of purists over there There are a few hot rodders there too, very interesting story, thanks for sharing.
I had 1. Crank was CT Automotive 1/2" stroke. They were on Lankershim in North Hollywood/Sun Valley. CT Automotive boxed rods, Jahns pistons, Engle 324 solid cam, dual carters on Edelbrock cross ram. Headers by Jerry DeMille in Sun Valley. Raced mostly at San Fernando Raceway, occasionally @ Lions & Irwindale. Had it in a 57 Bel Air in 1963 on the street, in a 57 2door post car with plexyglass windows in 64,65,66. Then married, kept car till about 1980, sold motor about 2010.
Good stuff guys. Great history and nostalgia. It really hit me hard that I remember the mighty mouse article. Wow.
Back in the 60s I think the Howards twin engine dragster had a pair of 283/352 cubic inch engines in it
Yes it did. Howard ran the best he made to prove there use. As for cubic inch declaration. We built 301’s in 1957..GM build 302’s in 1967..
I presume someone thought this up before the 348 came out,if not then it seems crazy to try it when there was a engine to use that was almost there and could go even larger.
The 348 engine carried a weight penalty of about 120 pounds. In the case of the Howard’s Cams dragster the 352’s also benefitted from Howard’s aluminum heads. The heads had bigger valves, large ports and less weight.
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