hey guys
im a 17 year old with a 1979 3 quarter ton chevy truck. im restoring my truck and i was wondering what kind of horespower can reasonably be achieved by a 250. i like the idea if keeping a straight six but my dad thinks i wouldnt be able to get enough ponies to keep me satisfied without spending a whole lot of cash. any info would really help.........thanks

Dear 79C;

A 3/4 ton truck is rarely used as "Hot Rod" material.

You could install a 292" engine making the truck worth more money and learning a lot as well.

Later you can plan the car you want.

Good luck, John M....

I am a HUGE fan of the 250 six, but in this case John is right. If you want to run an inline six in a 3/4 ton, you'd best go with a 292. That way you can bore it .060 and have a 300 inch engine, plenty of cubes for a big truck. Otherwise, I don't think you could get the raw grunt ( torque ) to keep you happy. You make horsepower with a small displacement engine mostly by spinning the crap out of it, and the need for lots of revs won't work well with a 4500 pound truck!

Good Luck, whatever you decide.
Boo Radley

If your not plaining on any towing. The 250 would be kinda on the boarder side But still little under powered. A 292 would Be much Better If? you can find one Used. (Not so easy in some areas)But the 292 would make you much happier in the over all Power & tork for that truck. Built up with a cam little over the stock Or Rv type a Offey intake Headers(at Least some type of Dual exhaust).hope this helps }[oooooo]
Ps.
The Biggest Cost to bring any one of chevy L6s up to power is the Head.

deelux, i'm also 17, but with a 69 C20 w/ 4wd. yeah, everyone with the cookie cutter 350's, i decided to keep the 292. right now its all body work. but soon the hop up. and everyone here is right as i can tell. a 250 will move a 3/4 ton, but a 292 with the longer stroke will move it alot easier.

a new intake to make it breath, along with headers (whichever engine you choose) will help immensely with power/performance. re camming will come later, as will head work. but right now, i'd concentrate on getting the more fuel in, and then out. but thats just me.

.desperado.
.samwise.

Wats up with 17 year olds and there 250's lol. I got a 79 nova... good to see im not the only youth on here lol

Obtain a 292 engine, More power, More Loud, More Rage motor, with a oFfenhauser 4bbl, a good carb, a mild cam, you will obtain a lot but certanly a 350 v8 its a more correct decision talkin' about only for money...

But all the people have v8, be different, keep inline...

I agree with eveyone in this thread, but does anyone have the answer to the question? What kind of HP can come from a 292 .60 over with a heavy cam and headers? 250, 275 can you get it in the 3's?

Delux,
I found your answer (if you haven't already) Look in the past thread in Engines entitled "292 horsepower ratings?" by Jake4 on 03-08-2005.

Don't know how long you have been member but I have been here for about a year and these guys seems to know everything about these plants.

Remebmer - It's good to be different, anyone can write the big check for the SBC.

Enjoy!

So anyway, what kind of horsepower can reasonably be achieved by a 250?

If you are talking normally aspirated, first thing you need to work on is the cylinder head & get some lump ports. I would say w/a little compression ,cam, intake & head work you should be able to make 200-300hp. With my blower set-up I would say I am making roughly 400HP w/9-10 lbs. of boost. It propells my 3500 lb Camaro to run 12.40's - 12.60's

Well if you read all the ads for performance parts and add up all the claims you can easily come up with 300+ horsepower. They do it all the time in the magazines, right?
But the reality for a stock 250 in good condition internally goes more like this..... original 155hp, a better intake and the right carb or carbs along with a better exhaust system, good street cam, and a decent and accurate ignition system should bring it to about 200hp at the flywheel. That's about the end of the story for parts that just sort of bolt on.
The big horsepower maker is in the cylinder head and compression ratio. This requires going inside the engine and doing what it takes to build compression and get the head flowing well. The big money gets spent on the head but the end result should bring you to a very realistic 250 - 270 hp at the flywheel on a street driven 250 with pump gas and no steroids ( Nox ).

The key to all of this is to plan it all from the start and select both parts and machine work that all works together. Bolting on a drag only intake manifold and carb to an otherwise stock engine and exhaust won't do much in terms of added horsepower or driveability.

Mike G

If yer just crusing and not towing just keep the 250...

I might be a bit bias...
:p

Phat250six has a point: If your only 17 and gas is going to be $3.00 a gallon this summer maybe you ought to kept the engine stock and tune it as best you can. (rebuild carb, new plugs, wires, vacumn lines etc..) I get 16.5 - 18 mpg on my 1980 stock 150,000 miles truck. I assume with the 3/4 you have a heavier truck and lower gears so you wont get 16.5 mpg maybe 14-15 but that better than 7-11 mpg the V8s get. What good is a fast truck if you can't afford to drive it. But if your parent are paying for gas and mods then throw in a 400 or 454 v8 you get more power for less money.

Why even stop at a 454? March yourself right down to the nearest Chevrolet store and tell the man you want to buy one of the 502 / 502hp crate motors or better yet a killer 572 inch motor.
We'll show those OPEC dudes they can't scare us with their overpriced oil!!!

Seriously though, PHAT does make the correct point. For a daily driver you're going to want fuel economy if you can get it. I bet we will never see the price of regular unleaded anywhere near $1.00 a gallon again so like it or not we need to adjust a little at some point. Build yourself an 8 mpg pig for the weekends or whatever and keep your every day driver as cheap to drive as is possible.

Mike G

*gets up on his Soap Box*
Preach on Brothers!


I have a '90 Astro Van with a bent 6 that gets about 350 to 400 miles per tankful with a 24 gallon tank. I kept my '94 Cav when my wife went and got a new '04 Cav last year just so I could save some money on gas. I get about the same range with my Cav as the van but with only 12 gallons in the tank! :p

Unless your dealing drugs you won't be able to afford $3 per gallon and have any crusing time this summer. Stick with the 250 and give it some bolt on power adders from Clifford or one of the other guys and live with it.

Maybe a new intake with dual carbs and water heat? Split headers will make it sound mean... Let that puppy breath! Dress it up with some crome and make the other guys go "WTF?" when you pop the hood. RapRap's '40 Chevy sounds like a Big Block at idle until he hits the "LOUD" pedal and it revs like a small block on steioids.

The first thing you have to do is make a plan, which is why you asked the question in the first place. Start with the basics:
1. How much can I afford?
2. How fast do I want to go?
3. How cool will it be?
Now ask yourself the hard questions:
1. How much can I really afford and still eat?
2. How fast do I really need to go if it's not a Bonneville Racer? (Cops love pretend NASCAR Drivers..)
3. How cool does it have to be just to get around in? (If a chick digs you and your ride... GREAT! If she digs you just for your ride... FORGET HER!)

Be realistic. Have a goal and make sure you set aside the time AND money AND have the place to get it done in.

Good Luck and AMEN!
*steps down*

I'm in about the same place 79chevydeelux. I was 17 when I got my inline. I'm 19 now and I still don't have the money to actively hot rod the heck out of this thing. I love this quote:

"Only a rich man can afford cheap parts."

I can't support real hot rodding at this time so I'm not going to try to skimp my way through. I can't afford to break anything. Right now I'm working on other aspects of the car rather than the things that reguire money. Things that take time (like redoing some wiring harnesses) rather than loads of money. Someday when I have the money (when I'm done college) then I will begin to work on this car in a hot rodding kinda way. I've got other stuff like a gtech meter and a megasquirt (for datalogging right now).

Amen PHAT!!

Greg and other young folks,

Learning to make what you can't afford to buy and learning to do what you can't afford to pay someone else to do is the roots of hot rodding.

Real hot rodders have dirty hands and often empty wallets and learned their trade as they had the need.

In the end you will get more satisfaction and pride from a car you did yourself and those who really know will look at it and appreciate it too.

You won't be young and broke forever. Some day you might be old and broke like me.

Mike G

At 17 and with limited real world driving experience how much power do you want?
"MORE" is always the answer but a 79 3/4 is gonna be a pig no-matter what just due to the weight and the gears. I would advise tuning that thing perfectly and be grateful it's not a V8 with a quadrajet.
Just my 2 cents.

I agree mike! 3 years ago when my project landed in my hands I may have wished I had money to buy my way into something nicer. But where I am not I'm glad things happened the way they did. I'm **** proud of what I have done rebuilding the car even if it is stock!