Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines 250 to 194--waste of time?

Hello! First time poster, but I have been lurking here for quite some time. I love inlines! I have ever since I was a kid. My neighbor had a 216 in his '52 Chevy with a split manifold and the sound of it made an impression on me that I've never been able to shake.

My current inline project is a '79 Chevy pickup with a 250. It has the intrigal head, with all the smog junk on it everywhere. I can't complain because it runs like a champ, but I want to hop it up with a mild cam, dual one barrels, a header, and lots of chrome goodies. I came across a complete 194 that is a great price, but I've been wondering if swapping it for the 250 would be better or worse. I know it is hard to make an inline fly, but I'd like to have some power to get on the hiway and pass and such. I thought that I could do some internal work to the motor to make it better, but is the 194 just too small? Would I be better off finding and earlier 250 head and just do a swap of the top end? The truck already has an old time look to it, and I want the motor to match. I've always wanted to have a dolled up six that makes people's eyes pop out when you open the hood. I know I've got alot of work ahead of me, but I know it will be worth it in the longrun. Any help is greatly appreciated!

It's just my opinion mind you,but once having a 250 '68 Chevy pickup(It had great torque.) I would look for an earlier 250 head and make a
swap.If you do this, try to get the stock intake and exhaust manifolds with it to get it up and running,then think about your mods.

Hey, if you're interested in doing that much to the motor, why not just get a spare motor & build it up? I suggest this as I live to the east of you, in Strasburg & there's a wrecking yard nearby thats got a '70s chevy half ton with (I think) a 250 in it. This way you could take your time & build the engine up the way you want & get it right the first time. At the least, you could get the head.
Edwin

Take the 194 head clean up the ports fresh valves new springs to the New cam specks and install it on the 250. This will increase the compression some.and give you a little added HP. hope this helps }[oooooo]

If you are planning on using the short block as is, the 194 head after some clean up and porting will be fine and you see a performance increase over the smogged head. If you are going for a complete overhaul, I would go for the early 250 head as it will flow better than the 194 and if you want to increase the compression you can do it through pistons etc.

One thing about the 194 head that no one so far mentioned is that if you use it on a 250 engine I heard it said that you have to use Supertest high grade gas all the time.

Otherwise it will ping and bang like crazy,causeing the engine to get wrecked over time.
Thats what somebody told me now I don't know if its true but I would look into it more before using a 194 head on a 250 unless you dont mind paying extra for fuel.

That pinging that you're talking about is related to the increase in compression ratio because of the smaller combustion chambers. As long as you realise this and be on guard for it (possibly needing higher octance fuel) you shouldn't have a problem with running the 194 head.

the 194 head with the stock 250 pistons won't bring your comprssion that High to have ping. ran it with much more comprssion then that when i ran popups Only issue i had at that time with the low grade fuel was turning it off. (LOL) with the Stock 250 pistons You would still be less then 10-1 compression and shouldn't have a ping issue. And I know a few guys here running 10-1 and don't seem to have a ping issue It seems to be more of a issue as you get Over that 10-1 compression mark. Hope this helps }[oooooo]

The ping that every one often refers to,can and most of the time is cause from a lean cylinder condition. As larry said the compression increase is not enough to cause a fuel octane problem.In reality the installation of the 194 head or a cam change would increase the efficency of the motor there by requiring more fuel.Most of the time rather than retarding the igntion timing or using higher grade fuel,this condition can be corrected by re-jetting the carb. Just the change from a stock coil to a higher output coil or HEI can require the jets to be increased 3-4 jet sizes. --Paul

I would not try to run the 194 in the truck.
You'll miss the torque.
Save it for parts, as you may want that head.

On ebay is a 292 in Aurora, Co.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7935101613&category=33615

Not sure if that's near you or not but something to consider.

i'd go with the 250, bigger is always better. i swapped the 230 in my impala with a 292, you wouldn't beleive the difference. it went from struggling to keep up with traffic to struggling to keep the rear tires on the road. and it revs just as high as my 230, plus it's smoother.
just my experiance. matt

Dear OG;

Bigger is better in your case & a 292" should bolt right in that truck. Stock they have more HP & torque than 283, 307.

You can add some head work & a 4bbl later along with the 'dress-up' stuff.

Good luck, John M......