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Old December 24th, 2015, 08:20 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Cave Junction, Oregon
Truck: 1964 GMC 1500 LWB Wideside 305E V6.
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Default Re: SO who came up with the GMC V6's???

Quote:
Originally Posted by George Bongert View Post
Greetings again TJ, and everyone else in the Club!

As to why I disfavor the 292 I-6, I'll try to be as brief as possible. My Dad bought that '63 Chevy C-30 in 1966 with 42,000 miles on the odometer, and at that time with three new pistons in the engine. After putting on another 3,000 miles, he came home with the engine knocking like crazy. This was in 1968, and I was in high school at the time, taking an auto mechanics course, and I diagnosed the problem (correctly I might add) as being a rod bearing knock. We dropped the oil pan, and it didn't take long to determine that the # 1 rod bearing was totally pounded out. We ordered a new (not rebuilt) short block from our local Chevy dealer, and installed it in an unheated garage in 20 degree below zero weather. Now let me tell you that you only worked on it for about 15 minutes at a time, and then had to go in and get warmed up before continuing to work on it on and off until it was completed. Now, as to problems with the new short block, the engine ran pretty much quietly except for the fact as more miles were racked up, and by the time there was 10,000 miles on that new block, that 292 developed a serious case of piston slap. Remember me mentioning earlier that the original engine had 3 new pistons in it when my dad bought the truck with 42,000 miles on it? It didn't matter whether the engine was cold, or at operating temperature, you could hear every piston in that engine slapping merrily away. Dad turned the truck over to me, and when there was about 70,000 miles on that 292 replacement engine, I knew at some point the dam* thing was going to leave me stranded high and dry somewhere. A neighbor had a 1962 GMC 3/4 ton pickup that he had retired mostly due to the body being pretty rusty. I bought that truck and took the 305 BB V-6 out of it and put it in my '63 Chevy. Putting that BB V-6 in my truck was the best decision I ever made, because it was an engine that I could count on getting me from point A to point B and back without the worry that I was going to be hoofing it for help because of an engine failure. So now you know why I have little faith in the reliability of the 292 I-6 and why I think they are best suited for use in a light (1/2 ton) truck, or better yet, a car. That's why I called it a glorified car engine.
Man, you sure had some bad luck with that engine. Sorry to hear about that. I never had those problems with mine....at 147,000 and being 50 years old I was doing burnouts and reving my worn out 292 up to 5000 RPM. haha Never knocked and no piston slap, but after an extra 2000 miles put on it, it developed valve train problems. Had no power and would sputter on take off....then it would be fine.....valves were recessed in the head causing them to hang open. Also only had 95 psi in all cylinders and 5 psi oil pressure at idle, but it Never left me stranded anywhere....even with all the problems I encountered during my final drive...she still ran and then died in the driveway. I had to have the valves adjusted at .006 clearance just for it to run somewhat smoothly. lol So yeah, I haven't had quite the same issues, but for an old engine that had a 3600 rpm redline from the factory that could do 5000 rpm I'd say that was pretty good. haha But onto the V6 again, I've never had a smoother running 50 year old engine in my life. This thing never misses a beat! After giving this thing a full tune up and valve adjustment this motor gives me confidence while I'm on the road...which is a plus being that its 50 years old with almost 200,000 on it and only 5 psi lost in the cylinders. They're one heck of an engine. Only engine I have that could idle up a hill lugging down to 250 rpm.
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1964 GMC 1500 305E/sm420 4 barrel intake mod and dual exhaust.
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1964 Chevy C20 292/SM420
1966 Chevy C10 292 hotrod 6/TKO600


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