Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines New menmber wants to go fast

Hello everyone. I have a few questions for you. I am going to try to build a 250 L-6 for a street rod. I am tired of seeing all the sbc out there. I was going to do a Pontiac v-8 a flathead or a Buick Nailhead. I found a inline 6 sitting in my old mans garage the other day. It is out of a 68 Nova and I would like to give the v-8 guys a run for the money. This will probably go in a 32 roadster eventually and can go a little radical with it. I havent gotten close enough to it to see if it is a 230 or a 250 and would like suggestions on how to make it a real screamer. I am not too worried about budget as to it will take a long time to build anyways. I bought the book on inlines yesterday( don't remember the title) and would like suggestions on what has worked for others in the past. Thank you for your time.

Dick, Welcome to Inliners. If the book you bought is by Leo Santucci then you at least got
much valuable info there. The resident expert on 250's here I think is Twisted6/Novaman. He has
posted valuable info with great cylinder head pics on his site along with info on his race team and business. You can find him in many posts.Good Luck with your project and we all like to keep up with your progress and many others here will gladly offer help.

Hello Dick Dale
And Welcome to the Inliners Bulletn Board.

The 230 ,250 blocks will look the same and the Numbers sometimes will also Show It being one in the same Or Either OR. The Best way to Know for sure which it is that you have is to Look at the Pistons. A 250 piston is disked where as to the 230s is NOT, That Is The fastest Way to tell them apart On a STOCK motor. Now My 2cents on a daily Driver HOT Street is to stay with the Hyd. cams Unless You want to keep playing/adjusting the valves now and then On a Mech Cam. and about the Best intake for the street is a Offey which Offers The best Low end to Mid range Power& tork.
As for Intakes Over all It will pretty much depend On what you want. EYE CANDY WOW Looks Then Multi Carbs Is a way to go You can have anything from single setups to Duals, Triples. THEN you have The Turbo looks Or Blowers.
Now Back to the cams With a hyd cam You have up to about a 560 lift on hyd. Now Mech cams Well How Much YOU want. I have seen 700,800 ,900 lifts But Those type Of lifts are Not for The Street Not by Normal people anyway LOL(Drag, or Roundy round ONLY)

Now the Biggest wake Up Call To any Well Built L6 is going to be the Head this is what Could cost you the Most at One Time.And the Reason I say this ,is because You need to make it breath Before It will do like you want it to do with all them other goodies You want to put onto OR into it.And you want to plan ahead think things out and Match everything together And You'll have ONE Killer Ride. Hope this little bit of food for thought Helps }[oooooo]

PS any other Questions Just Fire away anytime.

I am assuming you mean a lump head as I was just reading about. I am looking for about 250-300 horses if that can be done and run pump gas. I also like the look of the multi carb and since it will probably be going in a roadster, I do want the look. Can my local shop do this to the head or do I need to ship it out? Also, I don't plan on doing much until summer at the earliest anyway.

Hey Dick --- I think you probably do have to go with lump ports to get much over about 210-220 horses. From what I've learned and figured out on these L6 engines it's pretty easy to get up around 200 hp, but after that you have to get more extreme; lump ports, lighten and balance the rotating assembly, et. However, it's important to remember these engines have a completely different set of characteristics than a V8, or a high winding 4 banger like you see in the imports. For example when I'm finished with my motor I believe I'll be looking at right around 200 hp @ 4500 rmp. My Volkswagen Jetta doesn't even wake up til 4000.

So, Good Luck With Your Project.
Boo Radley

If I were to blueprint, balance, use flat top pistos, port, polish and go with the bigger valves, use a four barrel with headers, and a better RVC cam, what can I be looking at power wise. I really don't care about HP and Torque ratings, I plan on putting this in either a roadster of a 50-54 Chev. I just want healthy, good cruising, desent power and a little inline bling instead of a sbc.

Considering what you are using it for I think I would forget the 250 and go with a 235 or 261, or maybe a 270 jimmy, to be really old school correct. Think about a bored and stroked 235 built way radical! Bore it .125 over and stroke it 1/8" and you get about 280 cubes. As for bling, nothing beats 3 singles on a highly polished offy manifold, and according to an ancient Mechanic's Illustrated aricle it gets you a 15% increase in hp. The downside of using the older engine is that parts cost a lot more.
Boo

Another thing to think about. I like the looks of the side draft webers. They are for higher performance engines but I think they can be made to run on a mild high performance engine.

If I were starting from scratch, I would. This engine,I found out only has 35,000 miles on it and came out of my great grandmothers 68 Nova 4 door. I will use it for that reason.