267 help

[kevinrocks]

So my wagon was a v6 car and the previous owner swapped it over to a 267. I plan to eventually swap in something based off a 350ci, but for now, I'm going to stick with this until I figure out the direction I want to go.

My question is, what can I do to get a little more pep out of this motor? Right now it has an edelbrock 4bbl intake with a carter carb from a truck, headers, a bigger cam( nothing too big, I think maybe just a step up from stock) and supposedly 350ci heads. I've heard these heads are probably hurting it, more than helping it. The motor has some age, and I'm not looking for out of this world power, but I just need a little more pep. Could I do some ratio rockers? Suggestions welcome.

 

[STLRegal]

Im not sure what you can do from the mechanical standpoint. But from the finacial one youd be better off saving the money for what you really want. I considered doing the same thing, but in the long run, its better to suffer with going slow, then having to put money into something your just gonna rip out again.

 

[SBCregal]

you might wanna think about tossing some gears in the rear end. a better ratio will get you moving a bit quicker...and its something that stays useful when you put a bigger motor in.

 

[jerrycad472]

I would agree, don't put any money into it unless it parts you can carry over to the better engine.

 

[kevinrocks]

you might wanna think about tossing some gears in the rear end. a better ratio will get you moving a bit quicker...and its something that stays useful when you put a bigger motor in.

That has crossed my mind. How do I figure out what rear end I have in the car?

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

you might wanna think about tossing some gears in the rear end. a better ratio will get you moving a bit quicker...and its something that stays useful when you put a bigger motor in.

That has crossed my mind. How do I figure out what rear end I have in the car?

Read the data sticker and check for the gear ratio code, I think they all begin with the letter G. Factory gearing is likely a 2.41. As or more power, a running 350 will give you a larger boost for less money than any mods you can do, and may even take less time and effort than a lot of mods to the 267.

 

[kevinrocks]

Read the data sticker and check for the gear ratio code, I think they all begin with the letter G. Factory gearing is likely a 2.41. As or more power, a running 350 will give you a larger boost for less money than any mods you can do, and may even take less time and effort than a lot of mods to the 267.

I pretty much said in the first post I want to go with something based off a 350ci later down the road. But for now, this 267 is what I have to work with. I don't know what direction I want to take with this car and motor setup. I have a ton of different ideas going through my head to think about, from mild to wild. It just depends on a lot of factors that I need to sit down and think about. My last car was a fly-by-night project and well, it didn't turn out so well. I will not rush building a car ever again. It doesnt pay off in the end.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

The thing is, almost anything you bolt on the 267 will be a waste. The heads will likely have port mismatch issues with an aftermarket intake, headers will not help airflow over manifolds with the small displacement, etc. You may be able to get away with a Quadrajet intake off a 305 with the 305's Q-jet carb-and it is VERY important to source the carb from a 305! The reason why is that Q-jets have their idle feed restrictions sized by GM to work with a specific engine size, so while a Q-Jet off a Cad 500 will run on a 267, it will not idle well and will always be rich on the primaries. The 305 Q-Jet also has a restriction on the secondary air valve shaft that will keep it from ever seeing the full 800cfm this carb is capable of. It will only be a 600 instead, and the air valve secondaries are tuneable to allow you to tailor the carb to the airflow requirements of the engine. It need not be a 600 if you only can use a 500 for example. Just tighten the air valve spring with an allen wrench and a small standard screwdriver to keep it from opening all the way. Removing the shaft restriction is simple with a few minutes and a Dremel if you ever need the carb on a larger engine. Changing the cam is expensive and not worth it if you plan to do a 350. However, if you want a bigger cam, you could probably use the stock cam from a HO 305 ( It's a Corvette 350 cam) as it is a improvement over what you have and not so big as to kill low end torque, which is all this engine can do without head work. You may even be able to use the HO's heads too, but if you were doing all of this work and had access to a good HO 305 you'd be time ahead just swapping it in. You could even get more power with the 305 intake on a TBI 305 with a roller cam( 170hp LO3 vs the HO which is the 190HP L69). People give away 305's if you travel in the right circles, so it is cheap potentially.

 

[Cole]

If those really are 350 heads on your 267, they are killing it. Depending on what year they are, compression ratio is somewhere between 7 and 8 :1 on that engine. That is obviously terrible. If you are willing to do a bit of work to the 267 and don't really want to swap another motor in yet, I think your best bet would be to find some used 305 heads. The 58 cc chambers would bring things up to or even past 9:1. You can probably get them cheap or even free somewhere. Add in the price of some gaskets, and that could be a pretty good deal on 50 horsepower.

As for your rocker suggestion, they likely wouldn't be needed with the improved flow of the 305 heads. Without a really high duration cam, the 267 doesn't need much room to breathe.

Hope this helps

Cole