The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 292 Build up for the 4 door

Hey yall,
Last fall I picked up a hd-td 292 from a local guy and got it all pulled apart. Has to get to the mill to get magged and bored and decked. At this point I'm thinking .060 over with about 8-8.5:1, I'm looking at some head work with bolt in lumps, medium lift turbo cam from 12 bolt (Tom lowe).I was thinking an off or Clifford 4 barrel but I'm also drawn to the 2 2bbl or 3 1bbls. Now he says it would make a good regular use cam as well as a turbo cam. I am planning to turbo after its all put together but with all that said I'm hoping for about 350hp NA. Am I shooting in the dark here?

These guys have some information and some dyno numbers. Straight induction so far.
http://www.enginelabs.com/news/dyno-video-straight-6-chevy-pulls-320-horsepower/
You might want to talk to them. Hotrod Lincoln has made some horse power with the inline 6 so talk to him as well.

This last issue of Street Rodder, they had a 292 in a mid 50's Chevy and was making 350 hp with it. I think it was turbo.

John

Did you notice in the article where the peak hp numbers were? 7000 rpm !

Be careful when choosing a camshaft, turbo engines do not like overlap of valve openings. Also with a turbo, you will not need the head work, the boost will over come any short comings in the ports. Thats the advantage of boost, it will get through even the ugliest of head ports. Do not build a non-turbo engine then expect it to perform correctly with a turbo added later, so choose parts for the right application.

Shooting for X amount of hp is not the way to start out. Think instead of how you will be driving your truck and what you want out of it. In the seat-of-the-pants feel, you won't know the difference.
Did you notice the torque curve of the 350 hp engine. They claim 265 - 290 ft pounds, the stock 1967 292 truck engine produced 275 ft pounds at 1600 rpm on the dyno and 255 ft pounds @ 2200 rpm in actual road ready trim.

What they built was a high rpm flywheel, the only way it will make power and feel like its doing it, is at peak rpm. From idle up, I bet its a real slug.
I drove a fellows 510 hp Pontiac 400 that would not even spin the tires ! From 4000 to 5500, it really ran, but up to that, a stock engine could run circles around it.

A turbo engine with 5 to 7 pounds of boost should do just what you want with the least amount of expense or drivability issues.

Just my $.02

Joe

Thanks for the responses, I saw that article at one time or another in my searches away from the bolt.

Would it be safe to assume that most bolt on mods would be related to the turbo installation? It's stock compression according to my references so I'd want to get the correct pistons and a cam with that and some arp studs for the bottom end and the head.

Are their any must Dos for the valve train? There is no way I would think 7 grand for revs with my projected uses and budget. All street driving no track. 5 grad is all I would be looking to make it go.

Do yourself a big favor and buy this book....by Leo Santucci, Chevrolet Inline Six-Cylinder Power Manual.

Covers 194-215-230-250-292 engines. Great info...best money you will spend. Read it and study it.

Then we will be asking you all the questions.

I'm not being a wise a$$...You will thank me later

Thanks for the pointer but I've had the book a while and it doesn't get too specific with turbo builds, It did point me to some other books one of which I have ordered to start with called "Maximum Boost". Leo's book did say you could expect as much as 10% increase per lb of boost:)))

Yeah...Maximum Boost by Corky Bell, I did see that in the ref: reading.

The only Turbo stuff I deal with is in my old Mercedes, Knock on wood, they work great & never had to touch them.
'87 with 360k miles, '99 with 242k....good luck with your project.

I do have a 292/NV4500 going in my '54 3800.

yes maximum boost is a good read, dumbed down so even I can understand it!!