Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Greeting with my 250 questions?

You may run into a issue if you have PS, But everything else should bolt right up with out any issues. As to your HP goal That is a Vary Fair goal.

I do have pwr steering. I was hoping to keep that. Maybe a 250 head may be a better idea? Their getting a bit harder to find where I live. The non integral ones that is. I lost you the other night. Bad signal!

Go on ebay and get one of the freshly redone ones with lump ports.

Might as well spend your money wisely.

I have a stock (for now) 78 nova with a 250 also. If you do the head swap would you be kind enough t measure the deck height and piston dish with the head off? I also might be interested in the old head and exhaust manifold. The exhaust pipe that runs between the engine and converter is no longer made. That pipe could be sold to help pay for the head swap also. Jay 6155

Yeah it was a bad area and I did not get a chance to call you back Sorry.

Thanks for the tips!! Awesome! I will look for this Langdon site. I only seen headers on Cliffords so far. At least that make a linkage kit. I didn't know they did.
WOW...I would have crapped with the linkage hanging up at WOT. Luckily nothing bad happened!

What was the difference? My nova is a 1978. I seen this on a chart:

LD4 Chevrolet 6 cylinder
The LD4 was a 250-cubic-inch (4.1 L) I6 engine produced strictly in 1978.

What was so different in 78? I know they did the Integral head from 75 and up. Why does this chart say that? Was there something different in 1978 on the 250?

oh great, this sounds like its going to be an interesting adventure. I know making my exhaust for the headers will not be fun.
And then the linkage. Ugh!! I guess all in time!

That's the one.

It bolts under the heated Offy intake. One other thing about the offy: it has two steel plugs on the bottom of it. They put them in as part of the manufacturing process. The whole run is heated unlike stock. That's good and it works well with the stock exhaust manifold and all but it doesn't hold water.

Some guys say to weld them or braze them. I chose to use epoxy. Mine I think is far easier and so far has held up (but I haven't put many miles on it yet).

I put the Offy in with the 4 bbl in less than a day and that was with a lot of project creep. Painted the intake and rebuilt the carb in the mix as well.

One final thing: The flanges on the Langdon and Offy are different thicknesses. The way to get things to seal up is to grind down part of the bridge so it's taller on one side. In my case it was 1/8". I also had to get new bolts for the two outer bridges because the stock ones are about an inch too long. Different places where they grab on between the stock and new. Not a big deal just make sure you get high quality (not Lowes or Autozone) bolts. You want grade 8.

CAFE started mileage requirements for cars in '78. Integral head on truck 250's started in '79, along with CAFE requirements on trucks. The 1978 250 must have had something to do with the first year of CAFE fuel mileage standards, then changed something else on it for '79. Just a guess.

Thanks for all the advice! I truly appreciate it. I have been looking at a lot of intakes, including Clifford. I didn't realize how many things they still make for these engines!

Don't bother doing it yourself. A shop will do it in about 3 hours for $400 in Maryland. Up your way probably $300. You'll spend close to that in matrials by the time you get done shipping it.

The linkage part was one of the easiest things to do.

My 69 Camaro had a cable throttle cable (stock original) All you need to do is buy a universal cable from Lokar or other companies that make cable assembly's


They are Teflon lined, extra long, (so you cut to the proper length you need) install a metal stand off bracket, & route the cable any way you like.

All the bell cranks, pulleys, etc, usually is not needed.

MBHD

After doing the research I went with offy because my car isn't going to see a drag strip any time soon. The offy has better low end from what I've read. Clifford has too much volume for street driving.

Just my opinion. I've never tried a Clifford intake to really compare.

Yep. OFY-5416 $279.97

You don't want to get the -LK version as it's lacking the linkage kit. Worth the extra $11 to me.

Langdon's headers: http://www.langdonsstovebolt.com/store/online-catalog/#!/Stovebolt-Cast-Exhaust-Headers-for-194-230-250-292-engines/p/1395980/category=412417

$277+ shipping.

I went with that over Clifford due to price. Nothing more to it than that.

Get some epoxy to seal the plugs in the runners. You'll see them on the bottom side. Easiest way to seal them.

Heat plate:

http://www.langdonsstovebolt.com/store/online-catalog/#!/Heat-Plate-for-194-230-250-292-Inlet-Manifold/p/1222036/category=361513

$32. Buy it. I have more into mine after trying to make my own than that. Plus it was a real PITA to make and have seal.

One trick I learned was I went to Lowes and got a piece of 1/8" thick rubber in the plumbing department. It's orange in color. http://www.lowes.com/pd_31446-143-PP25546_0__?productId=1082955&Ntt=rubber+gasket+material&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Drubber%2Bgasket%2Bmaterial&facetInfo=

I cut it up to make a gasket for the heat plate. Only way I could get it to seal. Used that and a thin coat of RTV and it holds great. No leaks.

Muffler: I have a flowmaster Series 10. Don't get it. Too loud. I'll let others chime in on that.

Exhaust: I just went with steel because I doubt I'll be keeping it all like this long term. I'll probably go forced induction at some point in the next few years. Regardless that was $400 at Midas.

Muffler was like $70-ish.

That's $1,085 if you're keeping track.

For the carb I shopped and shopped and finally found a used Holley 0-8007 for $180 shipped. Had to rebuild it for $35.

For the heater hose I T-ed off at the firewall. Figure about $25 in all the bits there.

Finally you'll need a new fuel line from the pump to the carb and inline fuel filter. $40.

Grand total: $1365.

The nice thing is you don't have to do it all at once. I did the exhaust end first then intake a few months later.

Cool, the linkage doesn't seem bad then!!!
What do you mean by...All the bell cranks, pulleys, etc, usually is not needed?

Meaning, you do not need the linkage kit from Offy,(offy linkage kit comes w/a bell crank, not really needed) you just need a good cable & make a stand off plate for the cable.

Do you guys have manuals or autos? If auto how do you deal with the kick-down linkage with your set up?

My set up connects the kick down.

I'll get pics Friday hopefully.