Technical Just how big can a 56 Chevy 265 be taken to

Never figured out why they used a non traditional crank.

 

it was too much distance to weld and grind for the stroke they desired

 

Do you have the rest of the write up?

 

I hadn't seen that one. Biggest I'd seen was 400 lol

 

Was a joke about the billet crank. But yeah I read that. Who would've thought Buick rods?

 

a buddy had a 1971 Vette that he autocrossed in some class where you needed so have stock seats and factory heads among other things. he milled camel humps on some aftermarket aluminum heads and nobody ever noticed.

 

Everyone keeps talking about 1967 350s. If I remember correctly it was just a regular sj 327 block that was machined at the factory for a large journal crank

 

Hello,

We were in a quandary. We had a 283 motor, new parts, pistons, rods, crank, heads, etc to get started on our 40 Willys Coupe for the Gas Coupe and Sedan Class. We had several friends with Chevy sedans and different motor set ups in each. But, since we were building mostly for the dragstrip and not a daily driver, we had different needs and uses. We eventually settled for building together those parts and had a complete running motor with 6 Strombergs for power. The Isky cam and kit were there along with Jahns pistons.

Everything else was stock Chevy. It was good for street driving and competition in B/Gas was hectic. Win some, lose some was the story. Anticipation for my brother’s starting, was the key as we had the horsepower and car build. We could beat most in the class, but, tthere were several racers that won everything, all of the time.

But, going back to the 283 build. According to the experts at Reath Automotive about how big a 283 can go, here are the results based on what they would do for the 283 motor.

A 283 with an 1/8 over bore only goes to 301 c.i. size. A dual 4 barrel carb set up with a cam and port/polish heads would be fast in any car. So noted for our friends in a 56 Chevy Sedan and 57 Bel Air Sedan.

A 283 with an 1/8th over bore and a 1/2 inch stroke goes to 352 c.i. Size. That is the largest size they would take any 283 block modification, for good power and safety. But, if one loads a supercharger on top, then all parts need to be upgraded for safety and efficiency.

Jnaki

Our friend's 56 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop was fast with a modified 265 motor. Then he got a 283 with dual quads, cam and ported /polished heads. Now, he was one of the fastest cars on the street and won his class at Lion’s Dragstrip.

Then, our friend got wind of more modifications possible and went to the next step from a 301 c.i. to the largest build offered by the majority of speed shops in the area. (352 c.i.)

The magazine article of a 283 to 400 c.i. engine build was not your normal SBC build for daily driving and weekend drags. It was a one off and was an envious build, but not a lot of 400 c.i. 283 SBC motors were ever popular for hot rods and drag race cars. Although some Chevy racers went to the 409 motors for more power when they came out. But then again, cost was spiraling out of reach of the average hot rod kid or cohorts.

So, since we wanted a strong running 283 size motor with a supercharger, the Reath Automotive folks set us up with all parts for a bored out block to a 292 c.i. version. But, it was going to have all new blower spec parts. New Howard 5 cycle cam and kit, ported/polished Jocko heads. Jahns aluminum blower grade pistons and rods. A Reath polished/balanced crank, a Joe Hunt Vertex magneto and a new reworked 671 blower.

Another friend from Los Angeles was able to get us one of the first Isky -Gilmer belt drive kits for an SBC motor. Only one other was around at the time. It was a month before the new blower drive set up was available for the public. Then our Strombergs were on top along with Hedman Headers.
The size of the 283 was bored out to
292 c.i. and it was a powerful motor, with tons of potential. No one else had such a set up for an original 283 block.

Note:
It was a powerful build with times dropping as my brother got used to the starts. Now, all that was needed was to get the starting line procedure down pat and the times started to fall. From 13 seconds in the quarter mile to 12.60 e.t. We knew we were on our way to the national record of 12.40 e.t.

But, in our final race against the class champion, my brother was so far out in front by two car lengths to the lights, until the explosion. That ended the whole effort and involvement in drag racing. YRMV

 

The issue when you begin pushing any block to it's size limits is they almost always run hotter. Usually that's not an issue for a drag race engine, but for reliable street use it's rarely a good thing to go to the maximum. Another issue is should the engine ever need another rebore it's out of the question.

 

It's only been relatively recently that you can buy just about any crankshaft, rods, and piston combo you can think of. It use to be that you would need to adapt OEM stuff into your project build. So, Buick rods would not have been that unique. Those of us that are old enough remember that in the '70s for a while the rage was Oldsmobile diesel rods in a SBC.

 

Mike Waters started with a 265 and finish with a 352 in his boat in 1956. He’s gone now. In 55 he used one of the first 1/2” stroke cranks in it but couldn’t get the bore out to 4”.

 

If interest?
, I've got a 1956 265.That's bored 125 over.That's been magnifluxed and is Clean with no cracks, heads included . Needs a set of pistons as the machine shop threw them out. Distributor ,carburetor, oil PAN everything. Carb.
Has been rebuilt, so was the starter and distributor.600 bucks in so cal

 

@Budget36 I have it somewhere. I'll look for it. I think it's been posted on the HAMB before.

 

It was like reading an article in a magazine and turning the page, seeing someone ripped the next page out.
I even turned my phone over looking for it !

 

That was the pic I was hunting for lol

 

I just found the important one
The slinger groove in the block needs to be machined [while line boring] or cut down the slinger on the LJ crank.

 

Seems that'd be the easiest route of a 350 ci early block. 62-67 327 block with a 350 or even a 305 crank after line boring

 

What’s the specs for the 307 used in the “real McCoy” vette built in the mid 50s.
Based off a 56 265 block.

 

Sorry about the order.