Thread: build up on a 265 engine

Tweet

A group of us were discussing different engines that we've worked on and the 265 came up. Has anyone ever worked over a 265 chevy engine to see how much it could be bored and stroked, larger than the 283 and then see how much HP and torque was available?

I doubt there are many of us on this board who even REMEMBER this motor, much less having built one.

For those of you who don't know, this was the bread and butter V8 that was original equipment in the '55 and '56 Chevy. Dimensions were 3.750 x 3.00, so you might think of it as a de-stroked 305 (3.736 x 3.48).

I can remember like it was yesterday when I first encountered a cammed-up 265. It was a '56 with a 30-30 Duntov cam and idled like you were saying potato-potato-potato-potato. Funny, like I said, I was 14 and remember it vividly.

I doubt if you'll find anyone who seriously wants to build one unless it is for a numbers-matching restoration.

An interesting 265 fact, the 55 engine didn't have the oil filter bass! An oil filter was optional and mounted up top in the front pff the ihermostat housing.

I know I"m old cause I have so much worthless trivia in my brain!

An interesting 265 fact, the 55 engine didn"t have an oil filter boss.

The oil filter was an option and bolted on up top in the front off the thermostat housing bolts.

even if you bored it .125 it would only be a 283. it would be fun to have in a light street car or something for something really different but nothing serious.

I picked up one last year at the crusher yard in a 2 1/2 ton 56 truck. It has a L56 code and is all STD. I got it for the crankshaft, incase I ever need it for my 283. Only prob with it has no side mounts. It could be built and put in my 55 car since the car still uses front mounts.
I have an old desktop dyno but playing with it, the smaller the cubic inch you go the HP seemed to be the same or slightly higher the smaller you went on cubes when using a Turbo.

The cam also has a oil grove around it.

Pat

The 265 had the most pathetic exhaust manifolds ever put on the SBC..

I knew about the lack of a built-in oil filter boss and the oil groove in the cam but my memory was when I was running parallel to a puke-salmon colored '55 hardtop in my mild .030 over (244 ci) 59AB '47 Ford and for some reason I just could not pass that thing! At that time Chevies were looked down on by the Ford flathead fans and rightly so because the six was underpowered and the bodies tended to be heavy; although I will say I still have admiration for a solid black '40 Chevie coupe which is a fine looking body (never mind that slow vacuum shift thing). That salmon '55 was just playing with me and could walk away from any 59AB Ford although maybe a '50 Merc would offer more competition with nearly equal displacement. Just some old memories of what was a big surprise then (Fall of 1955).

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

werent they ramhorns? ramhorns actually flow pretty good if you get the bigger ones.

Regarding oil filter boss, the 55 did not have one but the 56 engines did.

On the block, there was a raised ridge along the top just below the head mating surface (on the outside).

There were no motor mount bosses on the sides (common to 283 engines up to 1959)

It has a rope rear seal just like the 283 block up to 1959.

There was no starter mounting holes in the bock (also common to 283 engines until the aluminum powerglide was introduced)

The cam had the flat for oiling on the rear bearing

There is zero performance advantage in using a 265 block. Zero, regardless of what you do. They have only restorer value. Most have been melted down to make nodular iron water pipe....like Tyler Pipe in Tyler Texas...they use engine blocks and heads because of the quality of the raw metal.

Originally Posted by robot

There were no motor mount bosses on the sides (common to 283 engines up to 1959)

The side motor mount bosses did not appear on sbc's until 1958.

Originally Posted by gassersrule_196

werent they ramhorns? ramhorns actually flow pretty good if you get the bigger ones.

They were replaced by the "ramhorns" Might be just the 55s I am referring to.

Originally Posted by gassersrule_196

werent they ramhorns? ramhorns actually flow pretty good if you get the bigger ones.

55's were log style and they were absolutely worthless.

Ah, another trip down memory lane. In '59, a buddy from one of the high schools I attended had an emerald green '56 post with a lumpy 265 with three deuces, and a swapped in four speed from a 'Vette. It would smoke the 7.75/15 rears as long as he'd keep it on the floor, and when he let off and it hooked, it was like a slingshot. He could run clean away from my poked and stroked '51 Ford/Merc flattie, and it was a getter. The 265, when built right, was much more than the sum of it's parts, and the progenitor of one of the most successful engine designs ever concieved. To build one today, though, what with all that has come since, would only be an exercise in nostalgia, and most likely a bit frustrating in finding some parts, although the problems could be fairly easily overcome with aftermarket and later model items.