6cyl power.

[wlfrench]

Prior to the introduction of Studebaker's V8 in 1951 what was the most powerful engin that Studebaker produced and what, if anything, were people doing to gain a little more horse power?

[greyben]

Would that include the B17 engines?

[Guido]

Remember that Studebaker sourced engines for their trucks in the '30's and for WWII production.

[studegary]

Keep in mind that Studebaker produced a lot of straight eight engines before the V-8 and some of them were quite sizable.

[doug]

What about the '30s Indy 500 factory racers

[Guido]

Please note the OP asked about 6 cylinder engines, not 8's.

[S2Deluxe]

=Guido;1042529]Please note the OP asked about 6 cylinder engines, not 8's.

While the title, the OP chose, for the thread was 6cyl power. The actual question that was asked, is as follows.

Prior to the introduction of Studebaker's V8 in 1951 what was the most powerful engin that Studebaker produced and what, if anything, were people doing to gain a little more horse power?

Mark

[TWChamp]

My 1950 Commanders with 245 cu in have 102 H.P. and they get the job done very well, plus good fuel economy to boot.

[StudeRich]

My 1950 Commanders with 245 cu in have 102 H.P. and they get the job done very well, plus good fuel economy to boot.

By 1960, the 245 Truck Engine was up to 118 at 3400 RPM!

Also VERY Torquey.

[DieselJim]

Don't remember the horse power, but the 28 big 6 was 353 ci.

[Hallabutt]

One thing to remember is that prior to the short stroked V8's power was a function of horsepower and torque. With the large pre war cars it was torque that reined supreme. Drag racing as we know it today didn't really exist, or at least was not the universal measure that it is today. Zero to sixty times would be embarrassingly slow by today's standards. Hill climbing and circle racing were the rage. The closest kin to drag racing, that I have read about, was of matched straight line, long distance runs. Two cars would start off across the desert at a rolling start of about 5mph, in top gear. Then they would accelerate, at full throttle, to a point that one car ran out of power and the other was the clear winner. This was a real test of power and torque and factored out things like driver error, reaction time, and to a certain degree vehicle weight.

[345 DeSoto]

Re read the thread TITLE...

[jclary]

Re read the thread TITLE...

Gee...are you suggesting we should consider posting comments that are related to thread titles???? What a novel Idea!

[garyash]

I wasn't sure where you were headed with this question. The Commander 6 engine with 245 cu in displacement would have been the most powerful 6 in stock form. The long stroke configuration doesn't encourage a lot of high rpm power, but dual carb intake manifolds and performance cams were available from aftermarket sources. The stock cam profile is already pretty good for a flat head six, and the same profile was used on the 337 and 250 straight 8's in the 1930s through 1942. Shaving the head to get a little more compression also helps. With a couple of good carbs (or a single smallish 4-barrel), compression at 8.5:1, and a good exhaust system, the 245 six might be good for about 160 hp. See computer modeled graph below for stock 226 cu in, stock 245 cu in, and 245 with carbs, high compression, and open exhaust. The bottom end is probably strong enough to take it. The same approach on the older straight 8's is good for 180-220 hp at 4000-4400 rpm. That's about where the Indy cars were.

What the flatheads really want is about 2-5 psi boost from a supercharger. There were centrifugal blowers used from the 1930s, as in the Graham which produced 120 hp from a 218 cu in 6-cylinder engine in stock form. Many people have put superchargers or turbos on the 170/185 cu in Champ 6 with decent results. Bill Cathcart drove a blown Lark for a long time. He claimed that it gave about 140 hp with all the mods he gave it (head, valves, cam, pistons, blower, etc.). It did blow up eventually.

[Skip Lackie]

The original question related to engines "Studebaker produced", so this engine doesn't really qualify: Some 1934-36 series W, 1W, and 2W trucks were equipped with a 358 cu in Waukesha 6 that produced 110 hp.