The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop is it just me?

Is it just me, or when you go to a car show/cruise, does every single person have a V8 in their car? I went to a little cruise/show with my 64 tonight at an ice cream place where anybody can come and go as they like. My friend with his mustang II with a V6(hehe) and another late 20's car, we were the only ones with out V8's. Yeah there were only about 25 cars there at a time, but still. I had my straight six, but everysingle other car old car or truck that was there had a V8. I was disgusted, they all looked the same after the third car. I am not sure what kind of engine I am going to get them because I want it to be different. Maybe I need a cadillac 501. hehe. Well thats my story. Is it the same way where ever you reside? Later.
(I have not started so many topics in the last month then I did today )

Ya gm performance is making billions just by selling smallblocks and parts. Build your inline six, the best eye candy you can get and you can get plenty of hp out of them and they make tranny adapters so you can have a 5 speed if you want. any one can go fast with a big block but if you do it with a inline six people don't talk [censored] about you when your not around.

Ditto, went to cruise in tonite and the only other non V8 was a triumph with a 4 cyl. and some model A's
It's good though cause mine gets more attn. Good thing cause the motor is the prettiest thing on my truck

Funny thing,prople will go with what they like,and what is most affordable.Drop in a 350 V/8 and your ready to go.Power,and performance.For perfomance I will take the V/8 anyday over a 6.You are seeing what most people like.

The V-8 is a classic American engine design,goes back to the early days of the Ford Flathead's
A guy on a tight budget who shops carefully can build a 350 V-8 with 300 plus HP and good low speed drivability for 1000 bucks.You won't get any inline 6 to make anywhere near that power for $1000.Any non supercharged pushrod 6 making V-8 power is gonna be a lumpy beast with poor drivability.
I build 6's but that doesn't mean I hate V-8's so long as they have a clutch pedal,lol.

i watch overhauling and they pat themselves on the back after they get a crate motor from one of their advertisers but let them use the orginal 6 on some of the cars and make it run better and faster they would really have a reason to crow. i have the orginal 6 in my truck and the first anyone asks me what kind of engine. they always assume 350/350 combo. wrooooong.. but each to theur own. RON

:p
Being a 37, it seems to me that most people who look at my truck almost expect to see an inline six in it, or least they aren't that surprised when they walk up and see the six.

Coupled with being a truck, the engine and the truck usually will draw a continious group of people at local cruises. Interestingly, I've noticed people are much quicker to walk over and look at a truck quicker than a car - and women will walk over to a truck, but walk past a car!

I've shown my truck over the last twenty years about ten or twelve times at the Texas Show Car Association Fort Worth Car Show and out of 300 entries there will be about five to seven inline engines counting the 4 bangers.

Here in Texas, you are OUT NUMBERED big time if you run an inline six, but the people just love to look at them and, more times then not, they'll walk right past a V-8 unless it's a ground pounder!

An Inline IS fine!!!

We Inliners even have a car cub. Go to inliners.org on the web, it's interesting. My 292 Chev. 6 cyl puts out about 350 H.P. and will do a number on almost every street driven V thing There's a book by one of our members about hopping up the 6 cyl engine. They can make up to 700 H.P. in radical form turbocharged can make more with nitrous, etc.

There is a 32 Ford hi-boy out here with a GMC 302 and 5 carbs. Another 48 panel being built up with a six and a nice 40 Chev coupe with a six. True there are a lot of V8s but out here a six, especially done up with some aftermarket accessories gets attention. I like my six and if I do upgrade the driveline I will keep it. They say "V8s are like belly buttons - everyone has one!"

There is nothing new to see when you find a Chevy 350 under a hood and I'm tired of looking at them too.

But one of my drivers has a 350 in it today, and when I finish the my current project it will have a 350 in it, unless it takes long enough my teenage son no longer lives here, in which case it may get a 454 instead.

The 350 is cheap and plentiful, easy to work on, and makes nice power. Me, I'm cheap and lazy, so the 350 just makes sense.

That said, three of my Stovebolts do have inlines under the hood.

In this day and age, it is irresponsible to build a gas guzzler, especially when our troops are in the Mid East fighting for oil. It's time that we began to conserve. Eschew v8's

It almost has me convinced to keep my 6. Also, everything but my truck, a miata (was just getting ice cream ), and a camaro was automatic. Is it just the norm? V8 automatic? Whatever. Thanks for the insight.

On the Inliners International forum some people refer to the 350 smallblock as a U.R.E. --Univesal Replacement Engine. They are actually a great modern engine, but in my opinion they are about as exciting as some of the other modern inventions; like 4 way flashers.

^hehe. Fair enough.

Dont forget there are lots of cool V8's out there that arent Chevy small blocks. Build a Buick nailhead or Olds rocket. 50's hemi or a Cadillac. There's lots of engines to build if you're itching for something different. I'm convinced that lots of folks put SBC's in their rides because it simple and its common, the same reasons others hate SBC's. Simple and common.

It could be worse I guess...they could all have Honda v-tecs with lighted neon accents adorning the engine bay.

Hey Bill, thats a good idea! A 73 Fleetwood with a 501! hehe...We'll see, I was told that they fit nicely. rsg2506, that would be worse indeed.

This post has restored my faith in keeping the 235 for my truck. I have been waivering for months on what to do, and this put it all in perspective...and your right, people stop at shows for 6's, instead of just another v8...

Up here in the Pac Nor West, there seen to be alot more (at least at the car shows...) of inlines and non-SBC cars and trucks. Every Wed night here in Port Orchard, WA, at the A&W there is a car show, and a few weeks ago I took the 48 Chevy (235) and my father-in-law who was visiting took my daily driver 1966 Datsun PU, with a 1300cc I-4 pushrod engine. About 1/4 of the 50 or 60 cars and trucks that came thru that night were not SBC. THere were a few Chryslers and Fords, there was a 292 Ford 3/4 ton stock, ther was a 1928 Graham Paige touring, and then there was a really cute Rambler American wagon with a 4.3L Chev V-6 shoe-horned into it, a 46 Chevy PU Barn fresh with leaky 216, a few Chevy sedans with stock to wild I-6's. One very pretty one with dual ones and dual exhaust. A nice Pontiac with the factory Straight 8. There seems to be a pretty good mix, even a gorgeous 58 Caddy Deville showed sporting Caddy V-8, original green interior, with a fresh GM teal top coat, new chrome and WIDE Whites. But believe it or not, there were more people looking at the Datsun, than at my Chevy?!?!? Though the Chevy gets enough attention, it was funny to watch the people checking out the antique rice-burner haha.

Garry K in Port Orchard, WA

For a real show-stopper scrounge up a Jaguar DOHC inline 6. Or, do like the sports car team I used to race with and shove a Ferrari V-12 engine and 5-speed into a 55 1st. pickup and couple it up to a Jag rear end. There's something really masochistic about driving a vehicle that runs like a Fzzzaz, and handles like a Stovebolt!
Jerry

Are there any tech tips on this site on how to drop a Delorean Doc Brown modified Mr. Fusion in a '51 pick-up.

I don't mind v8's so much, just the commodity feeling of the crate engines. If I had the resourses to build my own rat rod, it would be a Buick straight eight. I did see one smallblock chevy that I liked at a car show last weekend.

Stovebolt Rat Rod

Why are you fixating on just the engine? It is the whole package that needs the appreciation for the effort, time and money that went into its creation or resurrection. There is much more to these vehicles than just the power plant. The devil is in the detail. Anyone who has retro fitted a Chevy V8 into a vehicle that did not come with that engine has already done serious modifications. I say if you are just looking under the hood you are missing the best parts.

I run a V8 as it will give better performance and better mileage for less money than it would take to get a 6 up to the same level.

To each their own. When you lump a car or truck into a given group just because it is running a SBC is a bit short-sighted to me.

Well said, but walk up to a typical car at a show and ask the guy how he got that to work or what year that modified piece came from. His answer is, " I don't know,I bought the car that way".

You can make that 235 look really good , with a few aftermarket goodies. there are finned side covers , nice valve covers - air cleaners - maybe a polished alternator and a cuple chrome pullys, and a cool paint job. I wouldn't change it to V8. You might add a dual intake - not for performance - for show . :-)

I am just focussing on the engine in this thread. I liked most of the vehicles there.

Indeed, and I respect all those owners who did much of the work themselves (no offense to anybody of course).

I agree with you on that. Their is detail in the engine aswell, that is what makes it stand out.

That is IF I only looked under the hood, I looked everywhere. (hehe that reminds me of a card on a 50 something thunderbird, it goes like this: Do you beleive in the afterlife? Touch this car and you will find out.)

In my 53 I am keeping my 6, in my 64 I may end up doing just what you have done for the same reasons, mileage, price, and availability.

I'm am glad you understand that, thanks.

Maybe I should get my eyes checked. I never said just sbc, I said V8's, a much larger stereotypical group.


Now if we are finished this interveiw, I can go work on my truck.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I will pretend also.

^hahahaha...okay you win.--- (time to change my signature )

I just came back from a truck show at XXX drive-in in Issaquah. WA A lot of old trucks with I-6
motors as well as the hot rods with v-8s. Very nice show.