Chevy 292 upgrades?

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BSabbath

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NC
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greg
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1984
Truck Model
C2500
Engine Size
292
I recently purchased a 84 GMC Sierra with a 292 inline 6.

I’ve read some threads here and there. I picked up Leo Santucci’s “Power Manual” book.

Any advice on upgrading? I think I want to keep the 292. It runs well now. Not really as underpowered as I thought a V6 in a full size would be. My lady complains about the gas fumes(carb). I would like to add a little horsepower.

Intake? Exhaust? Fuel injection? Harmonic balancer?
 

77Dmax

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Check out clifford performance. I seem to remember taking a 250 to over 300 inches back in my machine shop days. The Nova ran great. It was a quite a sleeper
 

75gmck25

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First, don’t make the mistake of ever calling it a V6, which you did in your 3rd paragraph. It’s confusing, and is also often a sign that someone knows very little about engines.

Inline sixes are usually very smooth running (inline six has inherently better balance than a V8 or V6), but American I-6 engines were tuned to be stump-pullers in trucks, so they need a little work to get more performance.

I am not familiar enough with the 292 to give any specific advice, but it should respond to most typical performance mods. My guess is that it probably has the 6 cylinder version of low compression smog-era heads and pistons, so there are probably limits on what you can do with simple top end mods (intake, carb, cam, headers). Clifford performance should be a good place to get some ideas.

If someone gives you a hard time about having an I-6 instead of a a V8, ask them what is used in the current BMW M340i, M3, etc. Many novices have no idea what BMW manages to do with an inline six configuration.
 

vr1967

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Go to 12bolt.com click on the menu and at the drop down there is inline 6 articles, and further down inline 6 build ideas

 

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