School me about chevy 6 cylinder inline motors, please

[32 Chevy]

The Aluminum V8 in the 32 chev is cool, but as the car has been actually running for almost a year it's staring to get boring.. so naturally I'm thinking about taking apart a perfectly good car to install something different.

Back in 1932 the  chev originally had a 6 cylinder inline engine so I'm thinking it would be neat to go back to the roots and install a newer version of the chev 6 inline. Does anyone out there know if the external dimensions of the newer sixes are the same as the original engines from the 30's?

I do know there were numerous internal changes from 18o something  up to 290 cubic inches and the sixes were used in 50'S -60's-70's cars and trucks. Were the truck engines the same as the car engines?

I want to use a Saginaw 4 speed behind it so I need to know the length of the various inliners from fan to back of bell housing. The Saginaw trans has a separately mounted shifter so the overall length of the fan to tailshaft yoke isnt as important as the length of engine and bellhousing.

I have seen some very nicely done six bangers with Clifford intake, headers, cam, etc that sounded great and ran remarkably well. Cool stuff!

Tell me everything you know...a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

Thanks,

Dave

[hotcargo]

Hi 32 Chevy from Australia , My good friends are finishing off a beautiful 32 Chevy roadster , with a late model 292 inline , fits in the stock hole , no problems , I've got a 29 A closed cab , with a 292 inline with 4 speed with a small amount of firewall surgery , I had this engine in my 52 F1 and it hauled *....just something a little bit unusual , mild cam , twin 500 two barrel Holleys , extractors , split exhaust system , relieved head, HEI ignition , every one thought it was just another V8 till the was opened..........

[enjenjo]

The  series you are talking about came out in 62 in the Nova as a 194 cube engine. Later versions were 230, 250, and 292 cubes. The last year of use was 85 in some trucks. The bellhousing, starter, and flywheel are the same as a V8 Chevy, so are easy to find. I don't have one here to measure, but I believe the overall length is 29", someone correct me if I'm wrong. A 292 block is 2" taller than all the other versions.

They had a seperate intake until 1975, after that the intake was cast as part of the head. 75 was also the year for the facrtory split exhaust manifold. All the heads will interchange, most 292s came with sodium filled valves, standard valves will interchange. 194 heads have the smallest combustion chambers, and can be upgraded with bigger valves.

Motor mounts are similar to V8 Chevy, but the location is different.

[32 Chevy]

Do you know what years the displacement changed? Obviously the bigger the better. I have found quite a few six cylinder motors cheap locally on Craig's list but it's hard to tell what the internals are.... do you have a reference to engine serial number that relates to the year and type of motor?

Thanks,
Dave

[enjenjo]

194 was made from 62 to 67. 230 wae made from 63 to 68. 250 was made from 64 to 85. 292 was made from 64 to 85. The side cover on a 292 ia about 7" high vs about 5" on the other ones. The 230, and the 250 were the same casting. Get me a number, and I can look it up in the Hollander.

[EMSjunkie]

. The 230, and the 250 were the same casting.   .

are they the same casting as the 230 :?:      


Vance

[enjenjo]

Yes. but only on those made in Tonowanda.

[openwheel65]

there is a man up the street with a stright 6 in a 25 T-buckit its different looks good and gets 32 mpg

[Grandadeo]

That's TonAwanda - take it from a native.  Kinda like spelling Mississippi when your a kid.

Dave,

Way back when Too Tall Ganahl did a feature and I think a few build up articles on his blue '32 Chevy coupe.  As I remember it was inline 6 powered.  I did a google search and an ebay magazine search and couldn't find it.  Can't remember but I think it was either Rod Action or Street Rodder , one of his first writing gigs.  In the morning I'll do a search of the office magazine shelves out in the garage and see if I can locate it or them.  All that to say, its obviously been done before and the articles may have some good pointers for mounts, clearance, etc.

Lee

[enjenjo]

That's TonAwanda - take it from a native. Kinda like spelling Mississippi when your a kid.

Actually that was a joke. Vance found a proofreading mistake, I corrected it, and was poking fun at him.

I could have done it to you too, but since I am a nice guy I didn't

[Grandadeo]

Sorry Frank, I'll go to my room now.

Lee

[enjenjo]

No need Lee, in the process of setting up a joke, and correcting one mistake, I made another. Serves me right.

[Normspeed]

I knew Lee couldn't leave that Tonawanda thing alone.

Last year there was a multi part article in a small mag called Auto Restorer. The article was called "Build a hot six" and had some good info about aftermarket parts and machine work and history about some awesome Chevy sixes over the years.

[BFS57]

Hello;
Couldn't resist the chance to put in a couple comments. Ya know, the Chevy 6 is a "can't kill it" type motor! In my younger days, a friend of mine had a '48 chevy sedan with the stock 6 w/3 speed. Man, we drove that car all over! and I do mean all over! We took a couple trips to Death Valley in that car and we went way off the road to check several mines my friend knew about. That car never quit!
Why don't you go modern? I presently have an '02 Trailblazer w/a Vortec 6 in it and that SUV can get with the program! Gets great gas mileage too!
I know there's a lot more stuff to do in order to use an engine like this but I think that the future holds these kinds of conversions for a lot of innovative rodders.
Just my 2 cents.

Bruce