From time to time I have weighed in offering my limited knowledge about OHV six Studebaker engines. As many of you may recall the reason I have an OHV six in my 49 2R is one of the previous owners had chosen to install that engine. I believe it was Frank Drumheller that had identified the replacement engine being from a 62/63 Lark. At one time Bill Cathcart was the guru for all things Studebaker six cylinder in nature. Bill has retired and living a life of easy goingness. My question concerns how much you can bore out one of these OHV blocks to operate as a daily driver? What is the significance of using the crank of the 185 into the 170 block. How much port work will be allowed on the head and can you install significantly larger valves with proper preparation in order to avoid the premature cracking that is so often prevalent with an OHV cylinder head? Is there much advantage to installing roller rocker arms? Due to the small exhaust ports would there be any advantage in using exhaust headers to increase the exhaust size and flow and would it be necessary to bridge/block the Siamese exhaust ports of 3 and 4 to improve the performance. This exhaust port divider is designed to separate the siamese ports (3 & 4) to create equal exhaust flow. I have a GM throttle body injection system and of course it would be ideal if it was possible to have the head drilled for individual injectors though room is limited. Perhaps a new intake manifold could be designed to accommodate this?
Of course like Barlow Soper who was the Turning Wheels modified editor the inherent characteristics and design of the Studebaker engines prevents you from obtaining the performances of a modern engine. According to Barlow this is why he finally installed a Chevy into his Avanti-he wanted more performance and he could not achieve that from a Studebaker engine. I would be interested to here comments from Dwayne Grindinger, Jim Pepper and Ted Harbit.
Of course like Barlow Soper who was the Turning Wheels modified editor the inherent characteristics and design of the Studebaker engines prevents you from obtaining the performances of a modern engine. According to Barlow this is why he finally installed a Chevy into his Avanti-he wanted more performance and he could not achieve that from a Studebaker engine. I would be interested to here comments from Dwayne Grindinger, Jim Pepper and Ted Harbit.
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