Thread: 1956 Pontiac Chieftain 316cid?

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In the owners manual the "Piston Displacement on my 1956 Pontiac is 316.6. Does this make my engine a 316? I'm not familiar with this engine. What can you tell me about it? Thanks!

They were generally referred to as a 317 engine.

Don

Thanks for the info Denny. You gave me more than I could ever know what to do with. Sounds like you've worked on these before. Do you know if these are any good? Mines a Hydra-matic Tranny and a 2 barrel carb. Single exhaust (yich). What's with the oil bath air filter, and why is it named such. I'm sur ethere's an obvious reason and I'll feel silly after reading it.

I posted in a few places since I wasn't sure where people might read this sort of thread. I wish there were a SB Pontiac (or GM) thread. But I guess there aren't many of us out there.

Oil bath air cleaners were used prior to the advent of good quality paper and or cloth filters. They are very efficient, but very messy to service. If you're going original, keep it. If you are (hopefully) doing some Hot Rod mods to the car, I'd eBay the oil bath air cleaner to some collector/restoration dude and put a good K&N breather on it. Speedway motors even sells a very nice adapter to go from the 2 barrell Rochester carb to the standard 5 1/8" air cleaner base.