Inliners International Forums General Discussion Hi Performance 20 cubes worth it?

howdy, i need to rebuild my 230, (it burns a quart of oil every 200 miles) and i was wondering if it's worth it to spend the extra 80 bucks for a 250 crank since i need to replace the pistons anyway? would it make a noticable difference, i know the stock 230s and 250s have the same horsepower numbers. what i'm looking for is more low end power, but still spin pretty fast (5500)it's got a mild cam (270 duration) dual exhaust and a four barrel. also my cylander head is milled .040" and runs good on 87 octane, do you think i could take .020" more off and still use the same grade of fuel (stock pistons will be .060" over)? i'm kinda scard to go to a 292 because of gas milage.
thanks for any help, matt

Are you sure that it is the rings that you are burning oil? and Just not leaking valve guides? I wouldn't tak any more off the head. JUST incase you really need to at a later time. Have the block zero Decked. 80 bucks for another crank is not bad. I'm not sure what book your looking in But there is a 10-15 hp differences between the 230 & 250 Depending on the years 67,230=140hp 220 torque 250=155hp 235 torque. 68 230 145hp 220 torque 250 155hp 235 torque Now in 71 the 250 dropped to 145hp 230 torque in 72 down to 110 185 and 73 down to 100 hp 175 torque then 75-79 105/115 hp 185/190 on the torque.
So if you have the 80 bocksto play for the cubes I'd say yeah go for it. Hope this helps }[oooooo]

I agree with Twisted6 that the typical 230 is 140hp and 250 is 155hp.
Some exceptions of course, 64 Chevelle 230 is 155hp; some HD truck engines are lower hp than car engine.
I've had three instances of massive oil consumption.
#1 was old dried out oil seals came off valves and boy did it smoke!
#2 was the rebuilders used std oil rings in a .040 over motor. Result? With a 194 head on a 292 was 180psi compression but 50 miles to the quart!!
#3 was the result of a can of Restore.
Glued all the rings to pistons. Had to disassemble that one, was undriveable.
The point being it might be worth looking at engine and see what problem is.
Of course maybe it is just shot.
I'd put the 250 in a big car.
You can't get a 292 in there?
It goes in my Chevelle, air cleaner's a little chummy with hood reinforcement. Oddly enough the big round indentation is in center.
What were they thinking?
Not so sure about the low end torque and still go to 5500rpm. Depending on cam it might do it but be waste of time since power was already peaked out.
Sounds like a good candidate for a 4 speed OD automatic. Get car moving and maybe a little MPG too. A good low gear would forgive a bigger cam I think. Engine wouldn't really have more low end but rpm would come up quicker.
If you think about it, that's how some late model SUV's get by having peak torque in the 3500 to 4000 rpm range.
My 194 in my Chevelle is shot and I'm going to put a 250 in but keep the PG for a while.
The 4 spd auto thing would be good for me too, but I have a Muncie and miss having a stick shift car.
Contact Tom Langdon, he's pretty big on the OD auto swap I think.

thanks for the replys, i had the engine apart 2 years ago and had the head redone, but i couldn't afford pistons, so i just honed some of the scratches off the walls and put in new rings, stopped burning oil for a while, i think i got the cylander walls too rough being my first time doing this. what's zero decking the block? just milling it so it's flat? i already put in an od tranny, t5 out of a camaro, my fist 5 speed was out of a v6 and it had a lower first, but i stripped all the teeth off 4th gear and broke the shift fork, so i put a v8 one in there and it's lasted 4 mounths now (higher 1st and 0d). it's pretty good on flatland with no people in it(0-60 in about 8.5), but on hills or a load of people it's barly atequate, gotta rev it up high between shifts to keep moving. get 17 mpg but i don't want it to go lower, gas already costs alot for this thing. thanks again. matt

to bring the Deck zero to the top of the piston. So the piston is not sitting below the deck height. hope this helps }[oooooo]

The reason the horsepower numbers drop off after 1972 is because the auto manufacturers went to a different rating method mostly to satisfy insurance companies who were well on their way to finacially killing the muscle cars with high horsepower ratings. The old method rated gross horsepower at the flywheel and after 1972 they used a net rating that was calculated differently.

Since most of us will use at least a mild performance cam and other upgrades the numbers don't mean much if you want to use a later model block. The cyl head chamber volumes came in a few sizes so head selection is more important than the year of the lower end.

i know this is kinda a dead topic but, i pulled my engine out and took it apart, and it looks like if i were to zero deck this thing i'd have to take about a hundred thousanths off the block, wouldn't that make the compression go super high and force me to run super unleaded? but more importantly i noticed my camshaft has a flat lobe- just one #4 exhaust, the lobe is now about half the height of the others. does anyone know what could cause this, this cam only has 20k on it. thanks for the help matt

i know this is kinda a dead topic but, i pulled my engine out and took it apart, and it looks like if i were to zero deck this thing i'd have to take about a hundred thousanths off the block, wouldn't that make the compression go super high and force me to run super unleaded? but more importantly i noticed my camshaft has a flat lobe- just one #4 exhaust, the lobe is now about half the height of the others. does anyone know what could cause this, this cam only has 20k on it. i also run thoses rhodes variable lift lifters if that matters. thanks for all the help. matt

oops didn't mean to do that twice

If you go with the 250 crank You shouldn't have that much to zero deck. But be sure to get 250 pistons Not 230s with 250 crank. Their is a difference in the wrist pen hieght. As for the cam
To pretty much wipe out a lobe at 20K 1 of 2 things here come to mind Either a soft lobe Impropper harding(a OPPS) of the cam Or maybe a defalt in the brake-in(not enough brake-in Lube?)

Whos cam Maybe under some kinda warranty??
Hope this helps }[oooooo]