Ever since I've gotten hip to the idea of swapping my 350 out for a 292 inline-6, I've been trying to find a better/different head for 292's.
To say the least, the selection is, lacking... The only thing I saw that I liked was a custom "hybrid head" that was created from a set of SBC heads that had been modified by cutting off the end cylinders, then welding the two pieces together.
It can be seen here:
My main question concerning forced induction is due to the nature of the stock head. Since it's usually a carb'd setup, how would forcing a charge of air into the top of the carb affect operation? I just recently read an article in Engine Masters magazine, where they installed a centrifugal supercharger that was feeding into the top of a carb, not the roots-style blower setup where the carb is mounted on top of the supercharger, thus *pulling* air through it. They experienced problems with carb tuning, and suggested that a MPFI setup would be the way to go
The problem I see, is that the intake ports on the 292 head are shared between every two cylinders. How practical would it be to do a MPFI setup on this type of head? It seems you could either use 3 injectors (one for every two cylinders, pulling double-duty) or use 6, with 2 squeezed into each intake port. Neither seems like a good solution to me.
I also thought about TBI, but then read that the Chevy throttle bodies aren't designed to withstand that sort of pressure and may cause problems and/or damage the unit, not to mention that it's not designed in such a way to allow fuel metering to keep up with boost.
While I'm asking, is there another head (from another manufacturer) that might work with some minimal machine work? Something with the same dimensions but possible a different bolt pattern? On that hybrid head, they had to drill and tap new holes in the 292 block to accept it, but the cylinder all lined up.
It would be nice, seeing as how the Ford and Jeep inline-6 heads that I saw have independent ports for each cylinder on the intake side. Wonder why nobody's made something like this for the Chevy?? The dudes that built the hybrid head said the labor would cost $2000, NOT including the donor SBC heads. No thanks!
The ultimate would be finding a compatible DOHC head that had the correct cylinder spacing and adapting it to work on the 292. You'd have the benefits of the 292's long stroke, but the better flow characteristics and valve control of the newer head. Silly, I know...but I'm just imagining how things would be in an ideal world ;-)
Thoughts, ideas, anyone? Just wanting to toss around some ideas and start an interesting thread.
~jp