MaxBoost!

Advice for fellow TR owners from Tom Shea Racing

Home phone until 9 pm 952-892-5669

Cell phone anytime (612)-209-9090.

Email ttshea@charter.net

"TSR" Switch Fuel System, save money, drive on pump gas!

V6 History

    The following information has been collected from many different sources. Some of the publications are no longer in print. Much of this information is from my personal notes over the years. I have recently started to review and organize these into this digest form. I hope it is found to be at least interesting if not useful.

    The Evolution of the Buick 90 degree V6 engine that ultimately ended up being used in our Turbo Regals and the TTA, started with the Aluminum 215 CID V8 engine. These were found in the 1961 Buick Special and the Olds F85.

    In 1962 it became an “Odd Fire” 198 CID V6 engine. This meant that the crank rod journals were not split. The Odd fire meant that there was 150 degrees between some cylinders and 90 between others. The firing order was also different.

    It is speculated that there was some error with the schematic drawings during the changeover to the cast iron V6 from the aluminum V8. This may account for the less than Ideal lifter bore to cam lobe alignment that we face as an issue today.

    1964 brought the displacement to 225 CID for the cast iron V6 and 300 for the aluminum V8. The bell-housing bolt pattern and starter location were changed at that time as well.

    1967, the tooling was sold to Kaiser for the Jeep.

    1974, the tooling was repurchased. This was about the time of the mid 70s fuel crisis. Jeep had an inline V6 and didn’t need the V6 for it’s product line at the time.

    1975, bore size increased to 3.8 in. CID went from 225 to 231. This was a common bore size for the V8 engine. This year saw the change-over to metric. The 231 became the 3.8 litre.

    1977, the crank was changed to the split rod throw design, making the engine “Even Fire”.

    Note: the difference between a 60 degree and a 90 degree V6 is that a 60 would not require a split throw crank to be even-fire. Some auto manufacturers produced V6 engines like this from initial design instead of redesigning a V8.

    Note: Block dimensions. Length, 16.06 inches. Cyl wall thickness, .140 to .170 in. Bore size 3.8 in for the 231 CID or 3.8 litre engine. Stroke length 3.4 in.

    Note: The production blocks found in our cars are “Off Center” meaning that the Cylinder bores are offset from the centerline of the crank rod journal by .120 in.

    Note: The Stage 2 engines produced in 1977 were made in both Off center and On center designs for HD high RPM use.

BACK

© 2007 MGNTA.com