Hey all It has come to my attention that a few Australian rodders have been doing up the old 253 holden V8s and putting them in their cars as a way of cheap and available horsepower, plus its something different. What I'd like to know is what have people done to make these motors look nice sitting under the hood of an old rod or custom?
can't help you over here, but there should e plenty of interesting cheap parts for the Old holden V8's as everyone seems to be playing with Chev powered stuff these days, I imagine there is some good looking early Aussie speed equipment around for them Speeco or sim ?
I think a question better asked on ozrodders, as i highly doubt anyone (serious aussie hamber) would even consider doing such a (hidious) thing. Traditional hot rodding is not about whats cheap.......or what was cool in the 70's/80's. Thats why you will find Australians here and not on the AU sites.
I agree with the human fly. There were plenty of 253's used in rods over here in the 70s and 80s, and as Paul said there is probably lots of speed equipment lying around, but traditional? Nah.....
sorry, and to answer your question about making them look pretty, i have never seen a good looking 253, but its all in the eye of the bee holder. Though people are still using 253s and the like, there is a murky green brown spinner/shoe box getting around, and i am sure its sittting on a hq type ch***is.....he gets away with it from 10m, but its like going down on your sister, it tastes the same but you know something isnt right.
Ok, I was expecting these kind of remarks. I know, there's nothing cool about putting a 253 in an old rod or custom. I know a lot of people can afford to spend the dosh on a chev, throw on some finned rockers and a bunch of strombers and then leave the car in the garage while they jump in their annonymobile and head off to work. What I really wanted was a 265 SBC because it kept things old school without exceeding the 15% capacity from standard allowance you get for not having to engineer your car. However I couldn't afford it. To put in a 350 I gotta then put in disc, rack and pinion, 6 seat belts and perform a reach around on an undesireable RTA inspector. I do some serious miles in my 53 chev, its the only car I own and in order to be sensible with the running gear I have to consider throwing something in thats a little uncool for the time being.
Right o then. Then just chuck one in till you get the sbc you want, who cares if it looks cool. Whats wrong with the 6 you have in it. Why not just put little money into a freshen up instead of throwing money away on a 2fluffy3? exhaust, radiaor? linkage, tailshaft bla bla bla
The ol 235 blew up recently, it was a full pressure '56 motor but pretty ****ged, probably going to reincarnate itself in a hambster. Putting in an open tailshaft, manual 4spd and rerouting the pipes sets me up for later when I get a nice SBC. Do you know if an Australian m20 would mate up to a 283 or 265?
I don't think there was much dress up gear made for the 253 except chrome rocker covers and air filter housings that would have come out in the 70's.
what about a leyland 269 v8 they have the basis of the 215 buick motor/3500 rover v8, they dont exceed the power increase and they kinda look like a nailhead. Least it wont be a 2flyflea
Hey, Im hearing you, A few years ago when I saw post 1958 motors in anything it would make me puke in my mouth, but...... Having an old car with a ****ged motor and not much coin people can get deperate. Im puting a holden red(202) into my 54 pontiac as the bore split on number 3 cyl. They are cheap (free) and reliable and fairly frugal(compared to standard) I keep telling myself that it will only be temporary and that no one will see it. I would rather keep the car on the road and save/plan for a vintage engine than to have a large investment mothballed cause Im stubborn. But thats just me, its your car do what makes you happy.
The 253-308 is Australia's only 'home grown production' V8 engine and I can't really see what all the fuss is about when it comes to using one in a rod or custom. Apart from the 'I've got better than you becouse mine's IMPORTED' and not Australian made that the furniture, car, appliances and whatever else advertisers have been brainwashing Aussie's with for decades, what's the big problem? "It must be better than anything Australian made, it's fully imported." They call it the Aussie cringe, and they're right. Cheers, Glen.
Considering traditional rods is a departure from stereotypical rev head culture in the sense that it strives to be historically accurate and arguably cooler than the 'Sik lowered VK with the sports exhaust' its only fair to not want to utilize the kind of horsepower that such mullet toting miscreants are so fond of. However, if this choice of engine isn't the start of a downward spiral that includes beer mats on the dashboard and a no fat chicks sticker on the back window then I'm afraid it'll have to do for now...
Not to mention the other essentialbombadore accesories: Momo steering wheel Momo shift knob Stick on filler cap Checker plate interior panels Red painted disc brakes Billet 3 spoke wheels Hrt sticker on the back Fully sick Doof Doof stereo fluro lights under the sills Aluminium wing on the back Billet windscreen wiper deflectors Falcon bonnet scoops 3 inch zaust and maybe some brock number plates for good measure!
heres mine with a "Claytons" v8. The v8 you have when you dont have a v8!! It looks like a v8, sounds like a v8, but doesnt go like a v8!! The way I make my 253 looking good is to keep the hood shut!! The truck is lpg dedicated so is cheap as chips to run. Its my daily driver.Owes me $8000.00
Hey buddy, you'll hate the 253. It'll go in and you'll regret it every day you jump in the 53 and take her for a spin. Maybe it's worth the few extra bucks to drop in a 265 or 283, some finned covers and a 3 deuces and you'll never want to get out of the old girl again. Just a thought... *****
People keep rabbiting on about 'traditional' rodding in Australia but what are you talking about here, traditional Aussie or traditional USA? If you want to talk 'traditional' Aussie hotrod engines, then you basically have a choice of two... And they're BOTH Fords! The vast majority of pre 1965 Aussie rods ran sidevalves, end of story. The few that could afford them ran Y blocks, but only if they beat the cashed up speedboat blokes to the wreckers first. There were only a couple of rods running anything else that I can remember. One Poly in Sydney, one Nailhead in Melbourne, and Mark Georgette ran a Lincoln miil, but it was possibly a 335 Y block anyway. GM Australia (Holden) only built 6's until 1968, Ford Australia used Pommy 6's and US Y blocks until 60, then only the Falcon 6 until 1968. Chrysler ran polys as an option to the flathead 6 in a few of their Royals in the 50's and introduced their small blocks in the Valiant range from about 1967. The 'invention' of the shipping container in the late 60's changed everything. I helped unload one of the first containers full of imported V8's in about 1971, and you should have seen the mess. The bloke who imported it had a s**** yard in the back of Liverpool. His mate owned a s**** yard in LA which had the contract to pick up and crush abandoned cars on some LA streets. They put an open topped container under the drag line to the crusher, torched engine and exhaust mounts and tipped the cars as they p***ed over the container. The engines dropped out from god knows what height and piled up in the container until it was full, then it was sealed and shipped. The one we opened had about a foot of oil sludge in the bottom, and not a singler carby, air cleaner or sump survived the trip undamaged. Every engine accessory was smashed. The engines, all SBC and SBF by the way, no demand for anything else in the 70's, were pulled, steam cleaned and flogged off for $100-$150 each. This was the very beginning of V8 engine availablity in Australia, before this there was ****** all available, especially to the typical low-mid budget hot rod builder! So any 'traditional' 260-283 you find will be an imported engine, the number of top-of-the-line Chevs built with V8's in them in Australia in the 60's or earlier would be absolutely miniscule. When I got married in 1970 the flash black Impalas we hired for the wedding had a 250 6 and 3 on the tree in them, they came from the factory that way especially for the wedding/funeral trade, no demand for a V8 limo either. OK, end of rave, but that's the facts on Aussie V8 engines, 20-20 hindsight is a wonderful thing, actually being there was more fun though! Oh yeah, and I had a mate with a 253 powered Holden sedan (HQ-HZ series, not Crummydore) that hauled my 49 Mercury mordor, complete car minus engine and box, on a trailer from Nowra to Sydney without any problems whatsoever, so that mill does have some grunt! Cheers, Glen.
nothing wrong with not using a import motor in australia, like in usa here i think its ok to use domestic engines, ofcourse you wont be able to go full on period, the 253 came out in about 68, my wifes car, a holden calais is basically a re engineered european opel, its 16 years old, the whole car is falling to peices, all the german bosch peices are stuffing up all the time, hardly anything in it still works but the holden v8 under the bonnet has never had the rocker covers off and it still blows away all the rice cars, she still chirps second gear and pulls hard, you just have to keep a eye on the mirror for parts falling of the car. there are no vintage dress up parts but they are f&*#!^g good motors.
Where are you situated - surely I can russtle you up another Stovebolt 6, and save you a bunch of trouble, and some flack as well
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