Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines 292 into 57 chevy

Has anyone put a 292 into 55-57 chevy. I am toying with replacing the 235 3 spd with a 292. 261's are too hard to come by these days (and too expensive) and I have rung as much power out of the ole 235 as I can. Would rather not reinvent the wheel if someone else has run through a 292 conversion already.

How is hood clearance? the extra inches of height would be the only issue. Also, the 292 is expensive to build- at least mine has been- a 250 would be cheaper, easier, and you can wind higher rpm. 292 is for trucks IMO

Right, a little more expensive because of the piston thing (no V piston use) but I have a couple of cores, lots of speed parts, and I have built more of them than 250's. Hood clearance i think will be fine, but I wanted to hear the ins and outs of the conversion before I started. More for efficiency then anything else. Work does not leave me with much time, if I can sort out the trouble spots ahead of time I can do the swap quickly and have the car back on the road. That would be a huge plus.

Here is another angle...

By the time you go through the cost of building an engine, for equal or less money you can buy a low mileage 4200 complete with harness etc. If get one out of a 2wd trailblazer get the transmission also (4sp OD), mechanically the only kink is the oil pan - its mid front sump. There are enough people around now that know how to remove the un-needed anti-theft/body control computer stuff from the stock GM PCM. Mounts are quite simular to an LS series engine.

If this engine can haul around a TB - it'll do just fine on a '57.

The down side is it will take longer than a 292 swap as there is more fabrication to be done - but you'll get 2x the gas mileage out of the 4200 than the 292. I know this first hand. Stock the '06 up 4200's are 290 HP... it takes a highly modified 292 to get to that level, and then they are raunchy - big cam etc. not so driveable.

Inliner member Ron Plender has a really beautiful '56 Chev with a fine running 292 in it. I think he is from Iowa and his car and early 50's Chevy truck running a Kirby 12-port head have both been featured in the 12PN. Look him up.

Thank you efi. I appreciate the alternate angle. One of these days i will get a 4200 and see what makes it tick but for now the 292 is hopefully where i am headed.

Thank you Frenchtown. I will look him up. I had a change of careers a few years ago and while that was going on i let my long standing membership lapse (i was 728). Been very negligent since then so its probably time to re up. I have been toying with swapping in a 292 for some time but really do not want to reinvent the wheel if possible.

Not to worry-

Your number is waiting for you!

Will6er

That would please me to no end to have my old number back

It is yours for the asking. It would be great to have you back. Tom

No better time than now to re-up and reclain that nice low number!!

Give Membership Chairperson Jean Weight a call. She is a very pleasant person and will sign you up.
530-795-0224
Then if you are in eastern PA give Steve Orrison, Mid-Atlantic Chapter head, a call and get additional info from him.
215-547-0866

As stated, it will be great to have you back.

Hey everybody, I read on here the idea mentioned of the ever so tempting 4200 swap again. I love the idea of almost 300 ponies drop in, and like 25 miles to the gallon, like no joke that is freakin sweet, but that being said does anyone else but me think that these motors just have a hideous look to them? sorry guys I'm not trying to play devils advocate or anything but I think they just LOOK weird, and wouldn't look right under an old truck hood or car hood, thoughts anyone? From what I've seen on youtube of these motors, they don't really have a throaty muscle-like sound to them, they sound kinda like a honda or a crown victoria. Its good to be back talkin on the boards again, although I have been lurkin around reading posts and what not.

Well, They run different, sound different,and look different but their piston holes are in a row so we're stuck with 'em. I guess we could bolt a 216 valve cover on top, hide the injectors in some old carb lookin' things and JB weld an old distributer on the side. You know like the guys who hide their 350s under Stude and Olds stuff. Or we could just embrace the hot rod tradition of scouring the wrecking yards for things that make our cars and trucks perform better. We'll get used to it. The flathead Ford guys hated the looks and sound of GMC sixes, especially when when it was going by! Beater

I think Ron is from SD, not Iowa. He is listed in the roster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjvW8IimN0Y

Guess I'm biased.. sound pretty good to me...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn6Do9gCbRA&feature=related

As for looking out of place well - everyone that has seen the install likes it.

Oh, That sound. I forgot about that. Yea, that sounds pretty tough. You've had all winter to figure how to get it to hook up. Is it still going to take a bed full of 292s? Beater

Marc, did you ever have any luck with the oil pan casting you were looking into. I think that would open up a lot of transplant options for those considering a 4200 engine.

Yes and not quite ready yet....

The patterns are 98% complete -- taken a LONG time.. Once I get them tomorrow (promised) I just have to seal the patterns with epoxy resin and then its off to the foundry. Didn't mean to hijack the thread.. just answer the quesitons

Ok, cool. Make sure you show us some pics when you get them done.

Just a note letting you know that the Jan./Feb. 2010 12PN issue has a contact invitation in the Letters to the Editor column by Dick Knorr for a non-official inliners Vortec group for those of you that are interested in the GM Atlas family of engines.

It would be great to see you back. I was cought in a simular situation years ago[job or lack of- children ect.] and when I could got back in. Was very happy I could get my # back I orginally joined in 1982 and this is a great group of guys- with comon interest!!!! 1 OL REDNECK

I will take care of that this week. I really missed my newsletters.

I think i was 1984 or so. Was in my 20's, lol

I agree with the great group of guys thing. I never had, nor would I have, any complaints. I liked the divergent views expressed as well as the innovation, some that worked, some that didn't and some that just plain looked cool. When I first started building my own motors, no one in my area new a thing so I had to do it the old fashioned way, sort it out one step at a time. enough years have gone by that even the suppliers that I originally bought from are gone, Jahns, chet herbert, charlie baker (who was terrific to deal with and his willingness to give his advice)At any rate, no problem with hijacking the thread!

Yea!!! Ol 12 port Charlie sinded me up. I visited his shop a few times. I miss him. 1 OL REDNECK

Give me a month or two. If my 292 ever gets out of the machine shop I am going to build mounts to drop it in my 56.

That would be great. I am still replacing the trunk floor in the car so I am a little bit aways from pulling the motor. I have owned the car for nearly 30 years so I am quite fond of the darn thing but it is time to put a little more power to the pavement

I liked charlie. He spent a lot of time with me on the phone and I bought a lot of parts from him. Never had a monments problem with any of his stuff. Would have liked to have met him in person. I still have a set of 302 GMC rods all prepped for a 235 or 261 that I have not yet used. Hopefully I can find that elusive 261 block.. Very hard to come by here in PA.

Darrell -
We miss Charlie too! Spent many hours with him on the phone. Asked us if we could get the 12 Port dragster close to the phone so he could hear it run. Instead, we surprised him, loaded it in the trailer and hauled it back to Iowa. Should have seen the look on his face when we fired it up in front of his house! Worth every mile!!

Bob

Now THAT is a nice story Bob. Good on you!

Yes, indeed!

BOB- I HAVE TO TELL YOU- he told me that story at least twice. not knowing as many of you people at that time I had no idea who he was talking about but I saw him about 2 months befor he left us and when he told that story there couldn't have been a bigger smile on his face.I know what that meant to him from him talking about it. 1 OL REDNECK

Charlie had written a couple of articles on building a 261 chevy that appeared in the 12 port news in the 80s. I originally rewrote all of it in a copybook to use for my own builds. I still have the copybook and have always used charlies' main cap and crank prep recommendations. Never had a failure and lord knows I have tortured some of my 235s. I told him once that the only reason i kept fooling with the 6 cyls was so I could by parts from him lol.

for those of you that like 'em long n skinny....

Once you put your foot into a 4200 all that just melts away and puts a BIG smile on your face. Gets even better when you don't have to feed em as often too...