I have seen the comment that the best upgrade is to more cubic inches. So I have a shot at a 292 motor in a van. I have two cars, a'49 Fleetline and a '49 Suburban. I am going to put a warmed over six in one, if not both,of them. Is the 292 the way to go? I'm thinking, 3x2,280 cam, Hei, headers, hooked to a T-5. Is there a better motor for my Fleetline? I see much talk about the 250, are parts the same enough to be used on both? I'm looking for reliablity and economy with a little punch now and then.

Any guidance would be helpful as I am new at this.

do a search here and check the 250/292 series and compare it to the 235/261 series and you will come up with endless opinions already posted regarding the pros and cons of the swaps

6inarow, has you headed in the right direction. I think what it comes down to is what is "a little punch". You can build a 250 for less than the 292. You save yourself a bunch in just the pistons. You can use 305 pistons for the 250 and get some decent compression, were as with the 292 to get to 10.0 compression you will have to go forged. A 292 does have the cubes and a stock 292 will have the torque of a 350 on the bottom end. These motors will require some mods to bolt in.

Then a 261 may provide "a little punch" and would be almost a bolt in. I would also search stovebolt.com there are quite a few folks there with the 50s trucks and cars and 261, 250/292 are all popular.

Larry

LGriffin
Don't you mean the 307 pistons. I never heard of anyone useing 305s.

Twisted6, Your right 307, I'll stick to 292s.

Larry

the guys here are pointing you in the right direction, a "little punch" can be a bit ambiguous, so for hp sake, with significant mods in cam/carb/exhast/boring out a 261 can acheive little better than 200 rear wheel hp, maybe 220-230 rwhp, naturally aspirated of course, with massive work/money whereas a well built 292 at half the cost of rebuilding will easily surpass this with the same mods at half the cost, but like they said it requires some fab to go in, some guys here get 250-275 rwhp from their 292's very easily. ope this heps!

Hey LG/Larry
No problem I just figured a typo. But just didn't want to confuse the guy.

Dear Inuke;

The 'slightly modified' 261 is the best "all-around" because it bolts right in as mentioned and looks original.

Remember; this emgine is now 185 Hp. which is 100 more than the factory had, runs on regular and requires very little maintance.

The 'later' engines (6 or V-8) require conversions just to fit there, plus your 49 isn't a 49 anymore, It's a 'converted 49' which can be difficult to sell later, depending on the marketplace.

Original "type" vehicles always go up in value and are easy to sell in the future. Simply because they are fewer in number the more conversions are done.

Goodl luck.

Sorry to hijack the thread....

John,

We ought to get together and convert a 261 to TBI EFI for giggles... Best of both worlds - orginal motor with the advantages of efi, might even be able to reuse the orginal air filter

Marc

Dear Marc;

Good idea.

I wonder how much work the tank would be??

Don't forget the Jimmy's. Other than moving the radiator up a couple of inches, they too bolt right in and are very nostalgic.

Hmmm well it would need a return line added to the top of the tank that extends down 1/2" from the bottom of the tank - 5/16" is fine.. and a 3/8" pickup with a sock on the end. Ideally the pickup would be located in a baffled area of the tank.

Or just get an intact EFI tank that fits the hole... its under the car and less noticable.

The vehicle would need an 50 amp 12V alternator to keep the pump and EFI happy. Once the fuel lines are run and the TBI is phyically bolted to the engine the rest is a days work for the wiring and getting a basic tune in.

The engine would need a 3/8 NPT hole to mount the coolant temp sensor in the water jacket - perferably near the thermostat. The exhaust pipe would need an O2 bung/hole installed. And it would not hurt if the dist. had a pertronix kit installed - not required but better.

Dear Marc;

I have a 37 pickup (tank under seat) I might do this on. We could get Buffalo Ent. to modify a stock manifold to fit the TBI.

I'll let ya know.

How's that "universal unit" your working on??