GM 292 Straight 6 - Yet another conversion

[RDavisinVA]

Motor mount fixtures we made for the metal motor mounts to go from the engine over to the V8 chassis mounts.
There is also a pair for the 4 cylinder pre-300TDI chassis mounts.
The metal fabrication shop uses these and some thin aluminum pieces to scribe into 1/4" steel, cut the shapes, drill the holes and then hold the individual pieces for welding.
Makes mount fabrication easier and all the mounts are dimensionally the same.

 

[rocky]

Having looked at the underside of my truck and discovered a transmission line leaking and doing it's best to rustproof everything, a clean gearbox like that is pure porn.

 

[RDavisinVA]

Yesterday spent some time to install the 1.22 LT230.
The days of struggling to line up a transfercase are over.

Cut the heads off, reshaped, and slotted the ends of some long 10mm X 1.5 bolts that fit the threads in the transmission and transfercase.
The ends were ground tapered and used the cutoff wheel to make a slot in the end of each headless bolt.
Then inserted a longer bolt in the upper right hole between the transfercase and transmission.
Next rotated the transmission jack until the slotted bolts lined up using the long bolt as a pivot.
When everything lined up a few seconds later, it was effortless to push it home.
Extracted the slotted bolts with a screwdriver one at a time, replacing each with the correct bolt.
Pictures are poor because it was getting dark, but the headless tapered slotted bolts are shown.

 

[RDavisinVA]

How fast is that 110 0-60 ?

When you road in it, the sniper was reading 76% throttle, and it was fast then.
For fun trimmed the bottom of the accelerator petal to get 100% throttle.
Now I'd say if your willing to start in 2nd and only shift once into 3rd, then wind it up you can get there in roughly 3 to 5 seconds with a 1.4 LT230.

Someone who road in the 110 pointed out that this answer was incorrect and I agree.
For some reason was thinking about after you shift into 3rd gear the time it takes to get to 60 MPH.
From a complete stop to 60 MPH is like 11 to 15 seconds depending on how much total throttle you're getting with a 1.4 transfercase.

Since we are switching to the 1.22, it will be interesting to see the overing drivability difference compared to the 1.4.

 

[Napalm00]

Yesterday spent some time to install the 1.22 LT230.
The days of struggling to line up a transfercase are over.

Cut the heads off, reshaped, and slotted the ends of some long 10mm X 1.5 bolts that fit the threads in the transmission and transfercase.
The ends were ground tapered and used the cutoff wheel to make a slot in the end of each headless bolt.
Then inserted a longer bolt in the upper right hole between the transfercase and transmission.
Next rotated the transmission jack until the slotted bolts lined up using the long bolt as a pivot.
When everything lined up a few seconds later, it was effortless to push it home.
Extracted the slotted bolts with a screwdriver one at a time, replacing each with the correct bolt.
Pictures are poor because it was getting dark, but the headless tapered slotted bolts are shown.

This is the same exact way I put on the four cylinder rear clutch housing on TDI. It makes sure that the clutch house and goes on perfectly square

 

[RDavisinVA]

For those of you with a Facebook account:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...7186893187745/

Chevy inline 6 250 CU in.
Ran when pulled, was gonna drop in a car but don't have time.
Pulled from older box van believe 75?
Has 87k on it newer head rebuilt new head and valve cover gasket comes with manifold and 2 carburetors

Butler, NJ
$200

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chevy inline 6 250 CUin with 53,000 original miles and powerglide transmission.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...5426569556061/

Removed to replace with V.8.
Engine does not smoke or use oil.
Transmission in excellent condition also.

Hope Mills, NC
$500

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1976 Chevy 250 6 cylinder with the power steering pump, alternator, manifolds and carb.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...04675369838500

Fired right up 1-19-19. Since 2008.
No smoke.
Have video of it running. Just pulled out
Asking $375. O. B.O.

Lexington NC
$375

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chevy 250 6 cylinder

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...63002894179729

Good running engine, 64,000 original miles, pulled from 1981 chevy c10

Landenberg, PA
$200
__________________
RDavisinVA

 

[RDavisinVA]

Chevy 1967 292 6 Cylinder Motor - (Mesa)

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/p...783356984.html

Chevy
1967 292 Rebuild
6 Cylinder Motor

30 Minutes Break-In
0 Miles

Pheonix, AZ
$1550

Have been told in 1967 they had forged cranks and rods.

 

[RDavisinVA]

We have finally gotten the 292 "dialed into" our 110.
Recently installed the 1.22 transfer case and had all the driveshafts balanced with new U-joints.
We drive it between 70 and 80 on the highway.
At 70 you are turning around 2,400 RPM and are barely pressing the accelerator petal which is nice because you have the option to press it down when you want to pass someone and the power is instantly fast.
At any speed, you can carry on a soft spoken conversation and talk on a cell.
Am also considering getting a camping trailer, something we had never considered before because the small diesels we were running didn't have the power to tow on any real incline and maintain constant speed.

GuamBomb, ezzzzzzz, Larry Michelon, Bruce Grinnell, and Jamison Grinnell have all ridden in it recently and really enjoyed the experience.
They had nothing but good things to say about it.
I don't remember Larry's handle and am not sure if the Grinnell's are members, but think GuamBomb, ezzzzzzz, and Larry would share their experience.

Working on the kits and will post up progress when I get a chance.
No final cost yet, but have spoken to the shop that machined the last batch of adapters years ago and they have the all the automated machine programming.
Foundry will do a casting batch later this month.
We also have all the parts prototyped for the RHD 292 kit and will be starting on the LHD kits this week.
We are planning on mounting the Saginaw PS Pump right above the steering box on the LHD vehicles and mount the alternator on the right side of the engine.
Next we'll build the same kits for the 250 and 230 engines that have a 2" lower height.

 

[RDavisinVA]

Sold our 1961 Fire Brigade 109 with the Rosenbauer pump.
It had just over 11,000 KL from new.
The 292 pulled it out and all the way to the street.
When we had traction, the 292 pulled the 109 in 1st diff-lock at idle (850 RPM).
The amazing thing was you didn't know you were pulling anything...

 

[Uncle Douglas]

Pull a few more out !

 

[RDavisinVA]

Pull a few more out !

Yeah.
We have about 10 more series vehicles to get rid of and a whole shop filled waist high with parts... and so the clean-up continues.
I counted 14 extra series transmissions last time I was looking for an overdrive.
As soon as I finish building all the GM engines, will have room to bring stuff down and assemble complete sets of parts for the hydraulic winches, PTOs, seat sets, and so on.
Downsizing feels good!

 

[eurosport]

I am excited to swap out LR engines with the two adapter kits I have on order.

 

[RDavisinVA]

Working on the ancillary mounts for the production kits.
Design concept is based on a sudo-modular system with as much reuse as possible.
Shown is the left side of the engine mount for the alternator and PS pump.
On RHD installs the plate will possibly look as shown.
On LHD, the plate will be without the alternator as that space is used by the LHD steering box and the alternator will mount on the right side of the engine.

If it works out that the same plate will fit the shorter 230/250 engines by clearing the manifolds, there will be 2 support brackets that go from the engine to the upper inside of the plate opposite the PS pump.
Since the 292 block is taller than the 230/250, the plate will have places for support brackets on both engines (not shown).
This will be accomplished by 2 single threaded blocks welded to the plate.
On the 292, the brackets will bolt to the top of the threaded block and on the 230/250, it will bolt to the bottom of the threaded block to accommodate the engine block height difference.
Hoping this will work, but will discover more as the prototype process continues.

If this design concept will not work with all inline 6 versions, will look at mounting the PS pump above the steering box.
That is on the right side for RHD and on the left for LHD to minimize the length of the PS hoses and possibly use the same hoses for both RHD and LHD.
If this is the final design, then the plate as shown will only be used for the LHD without the alternator and on RHD models the alternator will mount in the same spot with brackets for the AC compressor up high where the PS pump is shown in the pictures.
The idea is to establish a mounting plate and then attach all the ancillary items for both RHD and LHD to accommodate the alternator, PS pump, and AC compressor with as much reuse as possible.

Pictures are of the plate mounted on the 292 block and while not great because of the light difference of direct sun verses being in the shadows, clearly shows the design concept.

 

[RDavisinVA]

The machinist and I finished up the upper steady brackets for the RHD 292 PS and alternator mounts seen in the picture.
Am dropping off the drawings and sample hard parts tomorrow at the medal fabrication shop to have 12 units manufactured.

The machinist is now working on the RHD 292 AC compressor bracket.

Next we will reuse the 292 PS bracket for the LHD, but will need to prototype the LHD AC and alternator brackets.

Then we'll make the Brackets for the 230/250 engines starting with the RHD and then the LHD.

In summary kits are progressing and some parts will soon be manufactured.

 

[RDavisinVA]

Engine alerts:
Good running 292 with 40k miles in Philadelphia, PA
$400

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2344613829196602/

292 Short Block $100 in NJ
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2071372449643121/

 

[RDavisinVA]

Picked up 2 used 292 engines for $400 over the weekend.
Will locate 1 at the metal fabrication shop so they cab use it as a jig to complete the ancillary mounts.
The other will be located by the welder in my shop to speed up prototyping the rest of the ancillary mounts.
It's so slow having to work under the hood.
Now we can measure under the hood and put everything in place and weld up the prototypes on the engine by the welder, then complete the drawings and then take the completed prototype with the drawings to the metal fabrication shop.
This will save a lot of time.

 

[Uncle Douglas]

I call BS. You just wanted to buy more of them.

It's ok, you're amongst friends, you can admit you have a 292 problem.

Torque in a Defender is addictive. Shame the manufacturer never saw fit to give them any.
If people get a ride in your rig, they'll be sold. Cool to watch your bracketry development.

 

[RDavisinVA]

Torque in a Defender is addictive. Shame the manufacturer never saw fit to give them any.
If people get a ride in your rig, they'll be sold. Cool to watch your bracketry development.

You're right about the torque.
I backed up the very very very steep driveway at idle and never missed a beat to load up those 292 engines.
Then it was effortless to haul them home.

Figuring out all the mounting bracket combinations for RHD & LHD with or without AC is way more time consuming than I initially thought, but at least we are getting closer to releasing kits and having the extra engines to use as jigs will help.