Our little 253's

[HX76King]

:gday:

I couldn't think of a better place to discuss the great little engine.. the holden 253. I have researched this in a lot of other forums and found that people get crucified for even mentioning giving the 253 V8 the time of day.

Any suggestions my plan is for a cruiser mostly with fuel consumption in mind but i would love for my van to have a bit of poke about it. I don't want a HP hero and i have no experience in building engines so I'm not sure how far to go.

Does anyone know how the stroker kits go? either 286 or the 310.

Still in the planning stage of my rebuild. So far you have swayed me towards an M20 and a 3.36 LSD diff.:shifty:

I am also very interested on what combinations you are running

[Robbo]

Nothing at all wrong with a 253, driven them all over NSW. Had all the power I required for overtaking on the open road, it had a 4 speed.

[HK1837]

The reason why people give you a hard time is it costs less to build a 308 than a 253, and any money spent on performace upgrades comes for free with a 308! To be brutally honest though, if you want power and economy for a budget price and the car is already a V8 a VN-VP 304 and 4spd auto is the absolute best bang for buck. Just buy a good running engine, and if you are handy you can do most of the work yourself with not a huge expenditure over and above the original purchase expecially if you buy a whole car.

[ozbox]

ive had a couple of cars over the years with mildly worked 253s and they would keep up with most 308s....good motor.just bagged out by men that cant really get in touch with themselves....

[HK1837]

Greg is right, they are sweet little motors but make the same mods to a 308 for the same cost and you are always behind the 8 ball. Same deal with 283, 307 - costs less to build a 350.

[wbute]

Mate..... another 253 lover

I reckon they are a great bullet proof little donk. I know which is better when you compare them to their opposition of the day....... 4.1 6.

A four barrel manifold is the go. Electronic ignition. A nice mild cam. And most of all a nice lukey muffler with a twin 2" exhaust system to let it have its true 253 crackle!

I have a book here that talks about a stroker crank which took it out to 308. The benefit over a standard 308 was the stroker 253 made better torque than a 308 due to having longer conrods. So it peaked at 4500rpm which would be awesome for everyday street use. Considering my blue 253 in my wb which has a mild cam and has been completely rebuilt, runs out of torque at about 3200rpm(seat of the pants dyno) and then just makes sweet noise after that the stroker motor would be pulling hard at 4000rpm!

253..... most under-rated Australian made motor in my opinion.

I drove GMC work utes in Canada when I was there in 1997 and the 350's in them wouldnt get near a stock 253 as far as I could see. Not saying that a proper 350 wouldnt smash a 253, just how disappointed I was to finally drive a Yank Tank with a 350 and it wouldnt have pulled a greasy stick out of a pigs bung hole.

[ozbox]

james..those late 90s 350s were just all gummed up with pollution crap..what was even worse was the 305s in the 3rd gen pontiac or camaro that had tbi..commonly refered to as toilet bowl injection..a 253 running on 6 cylinders could beat them..

[HK1837]

That's because they got ULP and smog sh!t in 1972. Drive a 1970 Z/28 with 360hp or even a 300+hp HG GTS350 and you'll soon know what a 350 can do. The 300hp HG GTS350 is no more special than a HJ 308, even has cast iron intake, makes the 308 feel like a starfire 4!
As a comparasin for under-rated, drive a 253. Then hop in a 265 Hemi and you'll be looking at the 253 as junk!

Having said all that, a 253 is a nice engine. As WB says a 4BBL, decent mild cam, new timing set and oil pump,cold air intake, Edelbrock Performer or HT-HJ manifold, extractors and HEI ignition with 3.55 gears it'll feel like a rocket. But add all that together at rebuild time, and buy a 308 block and crank and rebuild it using all the same bits and you'll never look back other than the extra fuel. Or use the money for a VN-VP EFI conversion with a 200,000kM old engine and it'll give you as much power and 5-12MPG better economy.

[wbute]

Yeah I know a fairdinkum 350 is a fairdinkum motor!

I would love to go for a crack in a hot 265 for sure Byron! They must have been a cracking donk as well.

I also rate the fuel injected Holden 5 litre, sweet motor with an awesome induction roar when you sunk the slipper into the throttle.

And well the humble old 308 is a real ball tearer as has been shown a thousand times.

But I still like the 253 (or a starter motor for a 308 as a mate of mine calls them).

[Maysik]

At the end of the day, its your dream and you wave the magic wand. You know what your budget is and what you want out of it and for your project.

I had a 253 in my van, then got a Stato for the 305 Chev motor in it for the van, turned out by the time I got either motor rebuilt I could have a decent 350 put in which I did and no regrets.

I'm sure if you go to sites that run Chevs in their cars they may put down 253's and 308's too.

253's a great motor and by the time you pick the brains of the guys and girls here you will have your answers as there is a lot of experience here with them.

Thats my 2 bits worth and good luck.