Inliners International Forums General Discussion Bench racing The Pizza Man Corvette Inline NHRA record holder

There is a discussion Stovebolter's as to what 292 GMC motor this Vette ran. Does anyone know any details on the motor?

http://www.mecum.com/auctions/lot_detail.cfm?LOT_ID=FP0912-137274

Stovebolt thread

http://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=892965&gonew=1#UNREAD

Larry

I seem to remember a magazine article on this car that had some of the engine assembly photo's. I'll hunt for them when I get home next week. I think it was Hot Rod Magazine in the late 60's early 70's.

Thanks, that Vette turned some very respectable times. I googled it and didn't come up with anything on the motor particularly.

Larry

It appears to be a true GMC engine and not a Stovebolt, see how the side cover bolts to the bottom of the cylinder head at the deck surface. Stovebolts deck surface is about 3-4 inches below the heads mating surface with the block.

It was a 302 GMC with triple side drafts. I saw it run in Maryland back in the day. It ran consistant 12.5's if I remember right.

If it's a 292, as claimed, then this engine is a 270 GMC block bored to 3.875. That was the hot ticket, in the day, until the 302 came on the scene.

i'd like to have that pretty piece -- even more, i'd like to have enough money to buy it. Won' none of that happen, but i'd still like it. Those Webers might liven up my 302, could i afford them.

God's Peace to you.

d
Inliner #1450

I wish the photo was clearer then we could read the flat by the distributer. Obviously it is not a 292 or a 235-261. The head, rocker and side covers make that clear. It is a GMC. If it is 292 it can not be a 302. Stock bore on a 270 is 3 25/32 (3.78125). With it's stock 4" stroke that makes 269.6 CI. 270s can be bored to 4" making them 302s (301.6) but that is risky. The safe maximum is considered to be 3 15/16 (3.9375) making 292.5 CI. This is from California Bill book which would have been the source at the time.

The link in the post clearly states its a 291.xx cubic inch GMC engine, so its probably a 270 overbored to get those cubes. That was pretty impressive times for the day.

291+ would be Don's 3.875 would be a bit safer and allow for one more bore job for clean up. What puzzles me is the change in the radiator. In the stock engine photo the radiator is totally under the grill surround and the tank is on the engine. With the GMC, an 1 1/2" longer engine the radiator is moved back several inches and is in the engine compartment. They must have moved the engine back but the firewall looks pretty stock. Both engines run fans.

whilse looking for the Aprocot Brandy '54 vette last month, I uncovered an article on the Pizza man (thought I had heard every thing 'bout every racing stovebolt ever) And this was before the auction, but amoung a bunch of black & whites there was a picture of a short block in the dirt laying on its deck. It was one of a bunch of "292s" that were being "blown up" very often by pizza man. The pix did in fact show a 12 counterweight crank with the flywheel and last main journal missing as well as the flared out portion of the rear end of the block where the bell housing is attached also gone,the timing cover had a raised circle (not a "clover leaf as on a stovebolt/gmc) on it and the round water pump hole was about 2" below the deck surface. It was a 194/292 series 292 block--NOT A GMC!!!

Apparently the pizza man was restored to the times when it was running a 292 GMC (being a bored 270). Mecum's auction pixs clearly show a old red GMC with its ROUND intake ports and says 292 GMC (like as a bored 270)

The article said that the owner said that they were blowing up their motors real regular like-thus the typical picture. Not uncommon for the 194/292 292s of the sixties did before Leo's books documented the crank fixes.

I have dialup service and it takes about a day and a half to get picture to show up. But I think the 292 chevy b&w pix can be found on a site like yellowbullet.com or similar words.

I'm sure this was the motor type that turned the low 12s and high 11s that the car was famous for in the late 60s and early 70s NOT the Gimmie that is in it for the auction.

Lots of folks at stovebolt.com are conjecturing about the car's engine in the auction photos-some leading "gabsters" are claiming 261, actually one leader ,who has claimed to have rebuilt approx 500 235s in his illustrious garage owner/shop teaching career, is on "the 261 band wagon". He obviously would'nt know a GMC if it fell off an engine stand and landed on him.

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?

My old friend Jeb Riley was upset with me when I chose to build a 292. He said the cranks were weak, all of them. He said any time after 7,000 rpm they'd twist the hub off the crank or pull the center out of the flywheel. He'd raced them years ago. I had to explain that I was building a truck engine that would likely not see 5,000.
My point is that it is funny how what doesn't work a 9,300 is not a concern at 4,500 and how many times the racers are so into that mind set that they are unable to think in terms of less than "all out". Certain engines get a bad rep because some abuser blew one up once upon a time.
When I figure out how to scan a picture and post it I'll do one of Jeb's Buick 8 dragster.

That is why I am a bracket racer and not a "class" racer. I can run for three years at 7000 RPMs without pulling the pan off whereas if I were twisting it to 9600 like the current crop of Comp racers the engine would be out of the car every race or two for "freshening".

Beater...If you have a P/C/S, it works pretty much like "save as' routine under the 'file' menu. 'scan to' should default to 'My Scans' in 'My Documents' folder where you name it and select the file type. From there, you can handle it like when you post for others on this board.....Joe