Thinking about keeping the inline in my 37 Special. How about a 50's 263 with some modifications? How much streetable power can be reasonably be had with this engine? Raising compression, multiple carbs, headers, camshaft? I know all this stuff works on newer engines, what wakes up these old inlines? Don't want a race motor, just some extra reliable horsepower. I can remember when I was a kid the old jalopy racers made this motor the one to beat! Anyone out there got some knowledge too share? I like the idea of the old staight motor with a modern trans. What'd ya think?

go up above underneath buicks net click on shop an follow what it says for buick str8 8 hiperformance recomendations ,watch ebay for factory dual carb intake an split exhaust manifolds or fab your own ,not much else is available after market , except for cam shafts , I almost entertained the idea of rigging up a paxton super charger to mine but to expensive ,an run a pertronix ignitor electronic ignition conversion less hassle than points an condensor ,

What about a turbocharger? I asked this question a month or more ago with no response. There are some in-line turbochagers which can be mounted almost anywhere the proper manifolds can be constructed . . .

twin turbos would be cool , or a scott super charger with 2 strombergs , anything is possible depending on your ability to fabricate it an tune it ,

TWIN turbos? Any wisdom out there about how much pressure the rod and crank journals can realiably accept?

Originally posted by frydfsh:
Thinking about keeping the inline in my 37 Special. How about a 50's 263 with some modifications? How much streetable power can be reasonably be had with this engine? Raising compression, multiple carbs, headers, camshaft? I know all this stuff works on newer engines, what wakes up these old inlines? Don't want a race motor, just some extra reliable horsepower. I can remember when I was a kid the old jalopy racers made this motor the one to beat! Anyone out there got some knowledge too share? I like the idea of the old staight motor with a modern trans. What'd ya think?

the 263 has a .348 lift and with the 1.35
lift on the rockers gives good rpm possibilities.
with proper jetting of a dual carb manifold and
a head shave they work well.