Cutaway inline-6

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Saw this inline-6 at the Museum of Science in Boston in 2009. I think it's an old Chevy, perhaps a 230 or a 250. I had three inline Chevy 6-bangers back in the day, ranging from 194 to 250 CID. The camshaft is way down in the block, thus the very long pushrods. I think the access panels on the side were to provide access to the lifters:


 
Chevy 194/250...Ford 200/250...Mopar 225, six bangers were some of the best made.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Number_35
I think the access panels on the side were to provide access to the lifters:


There's one particular I-4 I'm fairly well acquainted with, and it has a similar arrangement. I've heard them called "tappet covers", "tappet galley covers" or just "side covers." BTW, in the BMC B block the front cover generally serves as the crankcase vent, and is filled with scouring pad like material to act as an oil separator. On that particular engine, these are also a notorious source of oil leaks-often from tightening the covers too tight and deforming them.
 
I thought thery gave access to the cam follower?

Used to have a B serfies, but its a long time ago and my memory may be at fauult.

Nicely accessible engine.
 
Wish they had or taught this in high school like my dad had.Granted US Navy rocks in training sailors but this would have been nice to show the youth nowadays instead of Feelings 101.
 
Originally Posted By: bunnspecial

There's one particular I-4 I'm fairly well acquainted with, and it has a similar arrangement. I've heard them called "tappet covers", "tappet galley covers" or just "side covers." BTW, in the BMC B block the front cover generally serves as the crankcase vent, and is filled with scouring pad like material to act as an oil separator.


You can pick an Aussie A Block - no side plates. Early Chevs, and the Toyota clone, had a full side plate covering the sparkplugs.
 
Originally Posted By: oldhp
Chevy 194/250...Ford 200/250...Mopar 225, six bangers were some of the best made.
smile.gif

All introduced in the early- to mid-sixties, as were a couple others you missed, the Ford 240 (& similar 300), and the AMC 232 (&199). All with 7-bearing (vs. earlier 4-bearing) cranks, except the Slant Six.
 
Originally Posted By: andyd
The neatest thing about the Chevy I-6 was you could stand inside the engine bay in most of its applications.
grin2.gif



Ain't that the truth. I had a 74 Chevy Suburban with a three on the tree and the 250 I-6. I would climb in the engine bay and sit on a fender well to tune it up. Such a great and simple to work on engine. I still love my Ford 300 I-6.
 
Originally Posted By: andyd
The neatest thing about the Chevy I-6 was you could stand inside the engine bay in most of its applications.
grin2.gif



True dat, dad gave me a '76 Nova with a 250 when I finished college and that engine looked pretty lonely in that bay.
Never really worked on it as I didn't have an interest at that time and I drove it for less than two years before it was totaled through being clobbered from behind while I was sitting in traffic...I kept driving it for a couple of weeks after that, but it would give the odd shake every so often that made me feel less than safe. It was also hard to get the doors closed...the little Honda that hit me was basically destroyed. Ended up with back trouble that varied from annoying to debilitating for over 10 years after that, but I didn't make the connection to the accident for a few years (took a few months to appear and the pain was generally in my hip, sciatica).
The only engine issue I had with the Nova was trouble starting in even the modestly cold winter weather in Dallas, think dad kept a can of spray around to start it in Chicago winters or would just drive one of his Fords instead. The "heavy duty" suspension on that thing was a nightmare, though.

OPer, nice post! I used to take my daughter to the Boston/Cambridge MOS all the time, never noticed the engine.
 
I learned to drive on my Grandfather's 1951 Chevrolet 1/2 ton pickup. He bought it from a school bus mechanic, who had replaced the original motor with a 1962 Chevy bus motor, with the governor still on it. The thing I remember most was, as you said, there was enough room to stand up in the engine bay.
It had a cartridge type oil filter, not the spin-on type. An oil change involved crawling under the truck, draining the oil out of the oil pan, then removing the filter cartridge topside. It was similar to what the new cars today use, but with a wire handle! Then, you wiped the old oil out of the filter housing before installing a new filter and about 1 qt. of 30 wt. oil, if my fading memory serves.
 
Trav: Had the Visible V8 too. Got the Visible horse for my friend's grandson. He better like it.

V_P: Had a '76 Nova with the same engine too. Swiss watch.
One day I noticed a piece of broken spring hanging from an arm on the carb.
Helpful kid at a Chevy dealer looked at the piece (I had removed it and took it in) and silently went to the bin and fetched it.
It was a spring-in-a-spring for $2.72.
Installed them and nothing changed. Still ran like a Swiss watch.

Those cars were involved in the GM "Different Motors in Different Cars" scandal / suit / settlement.
My Chevy had a T-200 (European snow removal application transmission) installed.
The reverse piston cracked which lessened the car's ability to go in reverse. Forward gears were uneffected.
So a friend installed a T-400 in its place. A happy event that was.
Replaced a U-joint and balanced the drive shaft and I got a new car out of the deal. What a car.

No A/C, 25 gallon tank, odd, bright red plastic interior with hard, perforated headliner, screaming hot heater, crank windows, a rear windshield defroster fan (same part my Dad's '66 Olds 98 had), low rear end such that I could push parked cars with it.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira

Those cars were involved in the GM "Different Motors in Different Cars" scandal / suit / settlement.
My Chevy had a T-200 (European snow removal application transmission) installed.
The reverse piston cracked which lessened the car's ability to go in reverse. Forward gears were uneffected.
So a friend installed a T-400 in its place. A happy event that was.
Replaced a U-joint and balanced the drive shaft and I got a new car out of the deal. What a car.


The TH200 trannies were in the news here in the late 70s - the off-the-record story from someone @ GM was that the tranny had been designed specifically for the Chevette, and to save money GM was using it in larger cars, where it didn't stand up to extra load.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: andyd
The neatest thing about the Chevy I-6 was you could stand inside the engine bay in most of its applications.
grin2.gif



Ain't that the truth. I had a 74 Chevy Suburban with a three on the tree and the 250 I-6. I would climb in the engine bay and sit on a fender well to tune it up. Such a great and simple to work on engine. I still love my Ford 300 I-6.

Wow, I bet you didn't win too many drag races with that! That must have set some sort of power-to-weight inverse record. I had a '71 Biscayne with the 250 and a Powerglide, and it was not exactly fast off the line. The 3-speed manual must have helped, though.
 
Originally Posted By: Virtus_Probi
Originally Posted By: andyd
The neatest thing about the Chevy I-6 was you could stand inside the engine bay in most of its applications.
grin2.gif



True dat, dad gave me a '76 Nova with a 250 when I finished college and that engine looked pretty lonely in that bay.
Never really worked on it as I didn't have an interest at that time and I drove it for less than two years before it was totaled through being clobbered from behind while I was sitting in traffic...I kept driving it for a couple of weeks after that, but it would give the odd shake every so often that made me feel less than safe. It was also hard to get the doors closed...the little Honda that hit me was basically destroyed. Ended up with back trouble that varied from annoying to debilitating for over 10 years after that, but I didn't make the connection to the accident for a few years (took a few months to appear and the pain was generally in my hip, sciatica).
The only engine issue I had with the Nova was trouble starting in even the modestly cold winter weather in Dallas, think dad kept a can of spray around to start it in Chicago winters or would just drive one of his Fords instead. The "heavy duty" suspension on that thing was a nightmare, though.

It seems to me that the Rochester Monojet (1-bbl) was not the greatest cold-weather carburetor. In the late 70s, Chrysler offered the 'Super Six' - a 225 w/ a 2-bbl carb. I think the carburetor was staged - that is, that the 2nd barrel opened up as a secondary. The special manifold w/ the 2-bbl carb was a popular retrofit back in the day.
 
Originally Posted By: Silk
Originally Posted By: bunnspecial

There's one particular I-4 I'm fairly well acquainted with, and it has a similar arrangement. I've heard them called "tappet covers", "tappet galley covers" or just "side covers." BTW, in the BMC B block the front cover generally serves as the crankcase vent, and is filled with scouring pad like material to act as an oil separator.


You can pick an Aussie A Block - no side plates. Early Chevs, and the Toyota clone, had a full side plate covering the sparkplugs.


I remember that the Toyota Crowns had a straight-six. Per Wiki, these were available in 2.0 l (1988 cc), 2.3 l (2253 cc), and 2.6 l (2563 cc). I only ever saw the 2.6 l here. Was this family of engines based on a Chevy? The 2.6 l would be c. 156 in^3.

It seems quite possible - apparently the 2-speed ToyoGlide was based on the Chevy Powerglide. My friend had one in a '69 Toyota.
 
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