Wednesday, June 28, 2023

1979 Chevrolet 3.3-Liter V-6 - But Wait There's More


Newsflash - people try to sell the craziest things on Facebook Marketplace. Take this 3.3-liter, Chevrolet V-6 for instance. While its $275 asking price is fair, what would someone do with it? Maybe I could swap it onto my 38-inch, Craftsman tractor. I would if I could. Some people do nuttier stuff than that. 


Chevrolet came out with these little engines in 1978 and stuffed them in their newly downsized, intermediate Malibu and El Camino; this came out of a 1979 El Camino. Making just 95-horsepower and 160-foot pounds of torque for 1978, 94 and 154 respectively for 1979, Chevrolet boasted it made more horsepower and torque per cubic inch or liter than the inline six it replaced. How's that for spinmeistering. What's more, they claimed it shared many "design efficiencies" with the seminal Chevrolet small block. 


Based on the seminal Chevrolet "small block" V-8, this 90-degree V-6 shared the SBC's stroke but had a teeny-tiny bore. To that extent it's a unique engine. With regards to "design efficiency", many SBC  parts bolt onto and into it. For 1979, Chevrolet added two-cylinders to the block creating the almost equally unknown or forgotten, Chevrolet 267-cubic inch V-8. 


Right into the teeth of the second gas crunch, Chevrolet pulled the plug on this for 1980; the 267 V-8 slogged on through 1982. They replaced this with a bored out version displacing 229-cubic inches (3.8-liter). Making all of ten more horsepower, its calling card was its significant increase in torque although anything with that mill would hardly be considered "powerful". Then again, my little tractor most certainly would be. 


But wait, there's more. Many believe the late, great Chevrolet 4.3-liter V-6 is a Chevy 350-cubic inch V-8 with less two cylinders. That might be mathematically correct, but in reality, the 4.3 is a larger bore 229 V-6. 

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