who's to say what is traditional ? if it were left up to traditional setups only the day will come,and will come fast that only SOME people can enjoy this hobby and those will be the ones that already have stuff set back,at some point the traditional parts will dry up and the rest of the world will just have to watch.To me traditional is whatever some "ol' boy" can build with his to hands in his own back yard,with what ever engine/tranny/rearend he can make work...most of the paint jobs you see in the world today,this site included are far from traditional....to end my rant i just want to say that traditional is what we make of it....in a way traditional cars fall into the "cookie cutter" car/truck's that most the "traditionalists" trash.
Not traditional, but one of my many projects. 60 Morris Minor woodie have this 2.9/C3 Pinto 60 deg V6, or I may use my 3.0/OD fuel injected drivetrain in it.
I'm pretty suprised how many people are running 6's, many more than I'da thought, thats cool though, variety is cool. That 3.8 Ford was kinda neat lookin!
AMEN brotha!!!! Holy crap and haleluja... Thhhhhaaank you!!!!!!! Every "traditional" bitch I see talks about pre 64 yet most of the "traditional" SBC's are large journal 350's or 383's. That screams non traditional to me any day. I say run what ya brung. If it's a hodge podge of whatever and it's safe, build it, drive it and move on down the road.
I drive a T Type so I can only imagine all that torque in that light weight of a car. My car weighs around 3500 probably closer to 3700 with me in it, your hot rod must be around 2000 ilbs? The torque is what its all about with these sc and turbod 6's
I don't have my coupe done but it's got a 231 Buick V6, 4 speed and a S-10 rearend with 373 gears. I picked up another one but with a turbo (ugly) but it came with a bunch of goodies: 4 barrel manifold, headers, aluminum valve covers, cam, lifters, and a 350 tranny. I wanted to be different, seemed like if you didn't have a Flatty, you ran a Hemi or a 350/350. I did that traditional thing back in the '60s. The best reason for going with the V6 is because my Dad gave me the donor car a '80 Chev Monza, and I just couldn't pass up Free.
yep, chalk me up to a non conformist 231 Buick in my ( under construction) 39 plymouth. Do not fear the V6...it is good.
Just an observation, but it just dawned on me that alot of these engines are as big, if not bigger than the Ford 239 and some bigger than the Merc 255 flatheads. Heh, shows how much engines evolved from the 50s up through the later years. (And I'm gonna be running a flathead, so I'm not talking them down)
I agree. In todays world where it isn't getting any cheaper to run cars daily due to ever increasing fuel costs etc, perhaps more cars should be 'less tradional' and run V6's especially if it means that their cars are driven rather than garaged. At the end of the day, that's the reason why we all have the urge to build and/or own a rod - because we saw someone else driving one. If we park up, how do we expect this following to continue to generations of the future??? Just my 2 cents.
That's what I thought too until I started collecting parts for mine. Rods are just a tad different. Based on the same forgings but machined slightly different on the big end because of the offset rod journals on the crank. Factory pistons also have a slightly different pin offset but it's so slight you can use 350 pistons and the engine will never know the difference. They also use the same timing gear set up in the pre-balance shaft 4.3's and the same oil pump, water pump and flexplate or flywheel as the same year SBC. Motor mounts are in a different position because of the shorter block too.
I've got a Buick 231 in my '46 Willys CJ2A, great little motor. As far as the traditional thing, well for my Jeep, it is. People were swaping them in old Willys back in the 60's when the 225's came out soon after Jeep started putting them in new vehicles. 50's and 60's Jeepers came up with some cool swaps in Willys. Everything from Ford flatties to SBC to big blocks, big I-6's too. Saw a Hudson I-6 in a CJ2A once, way cool. Also, now that I'm starting my "as-close-to-traditional-as-I-can-get-rod", I'm seeing it's definitely not cheap to build a traditional rod so the number of people that can stay purely traditional has to be on par with those building high dollar smootie stuff. As for me, I'm building with what I get good deals on, my car will definitely have a traditional vibe and some gennie traditional parts and pieces but I've got 3 kids to put through college so I'll have to make some concessions and use some more modern cheaper components and make them fit the spirit of the build.
Ha! Well said. If hot rodders had been stuck on tradition in 1932, no one would have tried the "new" Ford V8. We'd all stiill be running Model T/A engines. Bob
I have a 3.8 Buick in the Dodge---Have gotten 24 MPG on the road---with a single exhaust it sounds almost stock--no complaints here
There are a few rods running around Orange County, CA with V6s: I have seen a black '29 RPU with a yellow V6 in it just last week. A buddy has a '29 roadster with a B&M 144 blower on a Buick V6 and there is a 1934 light blue British Ford Model Y with a supercharged Buick V6 from Fullerton. There also used to be another blown Buick V6 - in a 1941 Willys truck bearing the legend on the tailgate "Coulda had a V8"...
Does that mean they are one fourth less offensive than a SBC to the traditional police? I love V6's, have since I saw the first GN smoke a Mustand GT and eventually everything else in the neighborhood. They may not be as traditional as ... well at all but, so what. They are great little engines. I have two 4.3's and a 3.8 Buick myself. Someday I'll probably even build a car for one of them.
O.M.G. !! WAAAY Cool!! Soo much more interesting than another SBC! One of the most impressive things I ever saw at Bonneville was in 2000 when a felow named J. Raines ran a brand new 2000 Pontiac Bonneville 4-DOOR SEDAN with the factory blown 4.3 V-6. The car looked TOTALLy showroom new, even with a full interior and CD player. The only thing I could see diferent was it was lowered a little and had 'Moon discs', a roll bar, and roof rails. What really knocked my socks off is it was sitting in the pits with the driver's door open and the key in the ignition and the warning chime was going 'ding-dong, ding-dong' ! Ever see a production race car that set a record at 256.789 MPH that had door chimes???? Under the hood there was not one visible modification!! Everything was painted black just like it left the factory. No shiney stuff at all. And it was running on gasoline, no nitrous, no fuel. About all I saw for 'speed equipment' was a bunch of GM engineer-types standing around looking at lap-tops that were hooked-up to it!! Very impressive.... and one hell of an engine!! E/PS (E/Production Supercharged) 256.789 MPH.....2000 JG
What kinda truck you got Nailhead T? Ive got a 1949 International sitting on a S-10 chassis. The six runs great, and it rides like a dream! I do miss the sound of an V8 but the 6 doesnt sound bad.
'88-'05 Astro/Safari '91-'93 GMC Syclone/Typhoon (turbo motor) '88-'95 Blazer/Jimmy '01-'02 Express Van/Savana '88-'03 S-10/S-15(Sanoma) '94-'01 Bravada '85-'01 C/K Series pick ups I'd kill for Syclone or a Typhoon...they're bad little trucks.
I started driving my 34 cheby in 2000 with 4.3 in it. Now 80000 + miles Later most of the local guys still dont rellise it has a V6 in it
Me too, there was a black Typhoon running around town, I would have killed for it, behind hot rods my next love is turbo AWDers.
I'm installing an Mopar Magnum 3.9L V6 MPI in my '46 Dodge. Along with 5-speed OD manual tranny and newer 3.54 rear with traction lock I'm expecting it to be a MPG monster compared to stock. I have had supercharged Buick V6, 400hp twin turbo 3.0L Dodge V6, stock slant six and a flathead six. Currently 255hp Chrysler 3.5L V6 and this new magnum. V8's still lead some 16-5 in my vehicles transplants but no doubt these sixes have some character also.
That sorta looks like a 348/409... Never seen one before, nice lookin' engine! Looks every bit as "hot rod" as anything I've seen! Really, that is a great looking piece. Souped up AWD Stealth? I love 'em too, the AWD turbo cars that Chrysler did with Mitsu. are some terrific cars with some serious powerplants.
I've been on a V6 kick ever since gas went to $4/gal. I have a 4.3L and a T5 in my '33 Ford. It's my daily driver. I love it. I put about 500 miles a week on it. I put a 3.8L and a 700R4 in a '63 Nova Wagon, it ran great too.
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