The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Pizza Man 'vette on Mecum Auctions

Did any of you see this sell...it was at $110K when they went to the next car.

This is my question about the engine. It was advertised and announced as having a 292 GMC engine. It still had the 3 sidedraft Webers on it and with the Jimmy being a longer engine and the manifolds not interchanging I don't think it was a Jimmy...OR a stock Chevy 292 head. The intake wouldn't fit either one so was it a one off custom intake on a bored/stroked 270 GMC or what? This thing was running races in the late 50's-early 60's before there was a 292 Chevy engine.

Any ideas?
Incidently, it ran an 11.97 1/4 mile as it's best time.

it was a 292, why would they be mistaken? look at pics here, don't think that's a stock intake the race records were after 67, the 292 started in '62 [?]

Bill

Looks like a GMC to me. Not a Chevy, Just a highly modified GMC!

The engine in the Corvette is not a 292 production engine. Look at pictures here. Notice the location of the distributor.

The 'vette engine may be a 270 GMC bored to 292.

"it was a 292, why would they be mistaken?"

Mecum would advertise whatever they are given and verification is not their thing. Also people have been known to make mistakes. So your question should read why "couldn't" they be mistsken?

As for the intake manifold(s) it appears in the pictures noted in the thread that there are 3 individual ones. I don't have any idea what they originally were but now that I've seen the photots I will ask a customer of mine who owns 2 53's. He will know for sure.

bored and stroked 261?

good catch on the dist position Cletis, someone should point that out to Mecum then the list top left of the Mecum site shows the engine as a 301ci OTOH, it's now a "restored" car, so who knows what it currently is - here's a HAMB thread where the 'restorer' comments

I don't believe the car ever had or was claimed to have a stock intake Dave, which was your question, but it's everywhere represented as having the Webers - and considering the car was previously part of Mecums personal collection, it seems he should know what engine it campaigned with, if not what's in it now

Bill

I'm on the modified 261 bandwagon. The head definitely isn't a late model, and the side cover is wrong for a 292 also. It's fairly easy to get a 261 up close to 300 Cubic Inches by boring and stroking, and those intake manifolds are readily available for the Weber carbs it's running. I ran a bunch of those DCOE's on sports car race tracks. Good carbs, but you'd better be spending a sponsor's money to run 'em!
Jerry

Clifford Engineering did have a kit to put the 292 crank in a 250. That would put the distributor in the right place. It would also be low deck block, hood clearance, and weigh less. I've read that it is not an easy conversion.

Larry

Larry, I don't know the dateline on the modifications so I suppose it could be after the 250 was introduced but from what I've read it appears to be before the 250. Just another thought.
The 261 idea seems reasonable however but it's a Chevy, not a GMC so back to the factualness of the listing.
Jerry, are you saying the manifolds are not OE GM types? Again, I don't know the 53-54 vette' engines but I always thought it used a more conventional log style intake. So if not GM what are they?

Also...no one has meantioned the selling price. Anybody know?

from the Mecum site "This vehicle is still available. Contact a Mecum Agent today at (262) 275-5050 to place your bid." give them a call and ask what the engine really is as I linked above, the car was "restored" around 1999-2000, no telling what was done

the intakes on the auction car are not original early Vette, the 53-early 55 Vette intake was a special GM item with 3 Carter YH carbs, not Webers ....here it is

Bill

Hy Guys, to my eyes that is a modified GMC engine, probably started with a 270 and modified from there. That cylinder head is definately a GMC, and NOT a Chevy (no scallops around the head bolts). As for the manifolds, could be Clifford 6 = 8 research, or some other aftermarket company. Definately a modified GMC engine to me.

I agree the head is a GMC - see those heavy ribs either side of the spark plugs. Not on any Chevy 6 I know of...
Distributor is wrong for any 194-230-250-292.
Cool old car - but $110+ is way more than I can even dream of.

Inliners are telling me that the 270 GMC bored 3.875 is 291.xx ci, and was the hot setup in it's day. When the 302 GMC became available it went by the wayside. I may have a magazine aticle in a week or so, and will post it when I get it.

Larry

It likely is a GMC 302 engine bored 0.030 over with a gmc 248 crankshaft for a bore of 4.030 and stroke of 3.8125. This would shorten the stroke to produce a higher revving engine.


A gmc 270 would have to be overbored more than 0.150 to reach 292 with the standard 4 inch stroke.

270 gmc standard bore = 3.78125
270 gmc overbored to 3.935 = 291.87 inches

Last month while looking for early 'vette racers, I saw an article on just that 'vette being run about 1967 and it was using a 292 of the 194/292 series chevy motors and was blowing them up with great frequency (crank problems at high revs-typical prob with those motors at that time period). There was a picture of a broken block sitting upside down with out the head and it was clearly a late 292 chevy by the flared out bellhousing portion at the rear of the block not any 270/302 Gimmie or older stovebolt type motor -- maybe he started off with an original stovebolt type and changed over to the late series later. A similar early six cylinder 'vette racer was "Apricot Brandy"- cant find anything definite on the I-net to confirm what motors it used, it was also a fast six banger with an offset scoop. It seems on H.A.M.B. that someone has found the old apricot brandy body -could'nt tell if they had a motor in it or not.

I gots dial-up and the above picture finally came up and THAT motor is a Gimmie and not one of the late 194/292 motors. Round intake ports, the flat bolt ledge along side the valve cover on the intake side indicate Gimmie not ANY year of chevy motor--why did'nt he use a 302 and open it up to 320 inch?

Thanks edski. That is about as definative an explanation as we've had so I Thank You. I think we all learned a thing or two.

found the picture, its on something like yellowbullet.com , or some such words ( i got dialup and very little patience). The busted block IS a "66 or later chevy 292 (my mistake on earlier post--the flared block CANT BE SEEN 'cause it been busted off!!) but you can see by the timing cover and the remains of a 12 counterweight crank, that it is a fatally wounded chev 292-note the rearmost displaced piston is stll bolted to remaining rod journal.

The chevy 292 was also available in GMCs-so it still could be called a Gimmie 292!) Probably the series of engines that produced the low 12 and high 11s that the car was famous for. But this is NOT the engine that Mecum shows in his auction photos- the car must have been restored to a different time line when it was running a bored out Gimmie 270, not the 194/292 series engine.

Why assume a bored out 270? 150 thousandths (5/32) is a long way to take a block. California Bill lists a 292 jimmy build in his famous speed manual. Destroked 302 for higher revs and certain cubic inch classes.

With the picture shown, we could only guess at what engine is in the vette at the time of auction. Mecum doesn't know what it is either. Definetely a gmc block. Likely a 270 or 302 with a ton of work.

What I find most interesting about the engine picture is the generator placement. I have never seen one on the passenger side.

There is a little flat area just behind the distributer on all GMCs. The first three digits tell the displacement of the engine. I wish the photo was clearer. No matter if it is a bored 270 or a destroked 302 the red engine in the car is a GMC. I saw a picture on yellowbullet that someone says was from this car that is a damaged later L6. Who knows if it came from the Pizza Man. By the way Edski I had a tough time getting past the dancing blond girl.

ahh the beauty of dsl- i never saw her-must have been while I was shaving waiting for it to download.

more Pizza Man info-closer to what I had read prior to all the auction posts internetwide. see
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c1-and-c2-corvettes/2800222-one-very-quick-54-corvette.html and read posts numbered 1,3,6,14,16,17,(especially 20),22,24,27,29,and33.

apparently when the car was wearing # 301 it was a .060 292 tall deck late motor. this would be a .060" over 292 (when figured by pencil in earlier '60s--old bored out .125 283s were 4"x3" and figured to be 301s-not 302s as they are now referred to thanks to handheld calculators with many,many pi decimal places)

Whew! 9300 rpms-no wonder they scattered a bunch of motors! The red GMC motor shown in the mecum pictures must have been from an earlier time frame. GMC also used the tall block 292s and may also be fuel for the engine mystery. I do not think the old GMC stuff could have run that car in the low 12s and high 11s.

I hope this will clarify a few points. Now any news about the Apricot Brandy car?