These were the engines available for corvette`s


Engine

Year

Power

235 cu in (3.9 L) Blue Flame I6 1953–1954 150 hp (110 kW)
1955 155 hp (116 kW)
265 cu in (4.3 L) Small-block V8 1955 195 hp (145 kW)
1956 210 hp (160 kW)
1956 240 hp (180 kW)
283 cu in (4.6 L) Small-block V8 1957 220 hp (160 kW)
1958–1961 230 hp (170 kW)
1957–1961 245 hp (183 kW)
1957–1961 270 hp (200 kW)
283 cu in (4.6 L) Small-block FI V8 1957–1959 250 hp (190 kW)
1960–1961 275 hp (205 kW)
1957 283 hp (211 kW)
1958–1959 290 hp (220 kW)
1960–1961 315 hp (235 kW)
327 cu in (5.4 L) Small-block V8 1962 250 hp (190 kW)
1962 300 hp (220 kW)
1962 340 hp (250 kW)
327 cu in (5.4 L) Small-block FI V8 1962 360 hp (270 kW)

 

Not to split hairs, but I think the dual 4 carb 56 was 225 HP.

 

If my information is correct, the base engine for 55 Corvettes was still the 155 hp blue flame 6 with three side draft carbs. The new 195 hp Turbo Fire 265 V-8 was an option for 55 Corvettes. I have no idea how many were equipped with the base 6 vs. the V-8. The single 4 barrel V-8 became standard equipment in 56, with dual 4's as an option.

 

Kid I went to high school with had one it was a 1955 I think. 6 cylinder . Mike

 

According to vettefacts.com 7 six cylinder cars were produced.

 

OK that is inline (haha) with what I had heard. Boy it would be fun to get a hold of a 55 with a 6..... for me at least

Thanks for the info

 

NCRS has pretty well determined that no more than 10 1955 Corvettes were built with a 6cyl. Even though Chevy went to a 12v elec system in 55, the 55 6cyl Vettes retained the 6v system (and so did the 1st series 55 trucks). All of the 55 6cyl Vettes had a PG tranny.
And yes, there are a VERY SMALL handful of documented 55 6cyl Vettes still in existence. I went to a regional NCRS meet in Bowling Green about 2yrs ago, and there was an excellent example of a documented 55 6cyl. And no, I didn't take any pictures. DUH!!!!!!!!!! In essence, a 55 6cyl is virtually identical to a 54.
And while we're on the subject of 55 Vettes, MOST of them had a pg tranny, but GM records INDICATE (it is NOT gospel) that 75, or thereabouts, 55 Vettes were built with a 3sp tranny.

 

I learn something every day .....
Cowboy :flag6:
:gba:
bowtie-trifive

 

You have to look really carefully at the valve cover pictured in the photo and you can just barely see one of the four little slots in the valve cover (two on each end) that acted as an alleged vent. This is the same valve cover on a trifive passenger 6 motor (but the trifive cover did not have the vent). This particular style vented valve cover was one year only, 1954, and used four screws to hold the cover to the head and could also be found on passenger cars so it supports the 54 build. The 53 vette also used a vented cover but it used the earlier style ribbed cover which is held in place with two rocker arm studs through the center of the valve cover.

I am absolutely no expert on the vette 6 motors, I rebuilt a 54 vette motor a number of years ago for a fellow, but the above is what I have learned over the years.

 

Do not take this as gospel! I have read and it my understanding that the sales of the 1954 Corvette were not very good. Left over 1954's had a new serial plate made to identify them as a 1955 year vehicle. Once the six cylinder cars were finally sold, all that were then built were V-8's.

 

Not only were a few cars left over from 54 there were tons of parts too. Chevy expected to sell a lot of 54s and ordered a lot of parts from suppliers.

For example, the tops and side curtains for 55s were dated June of 54. Almost all 55s had 54 MW differentials. The AE differential did not appear until late in the 55 year. My 55 even had seat frames that were made in 53.

Since only 700 55s were made there were probably parts still left over from 54 when the 55 model year Corvettes were all assembled.

Another interesting fact is the machine that stamped the VIN tags was also left over from 53-54. The machine could not add a "V" to the beginning of the vin to identify a Corvette with a V8 versus a 6. So the "V" was hand stamped on the vin tags.

 

Boy if money were no object I would own a 55 - 6 cylinder Corvette. We can all dream, right?

Thanks for the info guys

 

I was going down the Forum topics and heading "55 six cylinder Corvettes" got my interest, and I started to read through the threads. While at the Hershey last Wednesday and going through the car corral, there was a 6 cylinder Vette. Unfortunately I did not take any photos, but looked at the engine noted the two carbs as shown in photos by emccomas. I didn't get the asking price!
Wished I read this thread earlier!

 

Here is one that went through Barrett Jackson not too long ago.

VIN is E55S001433, and it sold for $110,000.

Note that the word Chevrolet on the side does NOT have the large gold 'V' like the V-8 cars do.

 

My kind of vette. Btw, that blue on the motor is the right shade of blue. hard to come by.

It's interesting because that motor is wearing 54 only valve cover. The 1954 Chevy valve cover was the first year for four screws as the hold downs. The 53 and earlier were a different style and were held down by two studs and nuts from the top. the 54 valve cover also has four little vents stamped into the top. These vents were not carried over to 55. So it may very well be that some or all of the 55 6 vettes had motors either left over from the 54 models or were built early in the production. Just speculation of course.

 

Corvette 6

The '55 sixes were left over '54s, you think. There is no other explanation.

Dangerous Joe :viking:

 

No Joe, they could have been 55 motors. Or they could be 55 blocks with 54 tin. There could have been one or two 54 blocks used and a few 55 blocks. There are any number of possibilities.

 

The 55 6 cylinder Corvette shown above was the 433rd Corvette built in 1955, out of a total production of 700. That is about 1/2 way through the production.

The engine (at least the engine stamp) was for a 1955 6 cylinder.

Also, remember that Corvette and passenger car tin pieces were entirely different, so a 55 6 cylinder Corvette wearing 54 6 cylinder valve cover is not surprising.

COVER, VALVE ROCKER ARM
54-56 ALL 6 cyl .................. (27 O.L.) ................. 3836614
53 CORV. 6 cyl .............................................. 3836135
54-55 CORV. 6 cyl .............. (four bolt type).......... 3836242

As we can see from the 1956 P&A Catalog, the 1953 Corvette has a unique valve cover. The 1954 and 1955 6 cylinder Corvettes used the same valve cover. The 1954 to 1956 passenger car valve cover is the same.

 

6 cylinder Corvette

I seem to remember that the valve cover on the 6 had to have a slight taper at the front, to clear the hood. That would explain the different part number for the 54 and 55 6 cylinder Corvette.

 

Just as a question, and I ask this because I am not a corvette guy, but having never seen a 55 vette 6 cylinder (and of course the rarity) all of the 54 vettes that I have seen had valve covers painted chevy blue. The one on the 55 is chrome. Is that correct for a 55 vette? If so, that would make the 55 valve cover really hard to come by in original form (although you could simply chrome a 54 car cover I suppose)

 

56 corvette

That hair is splitting a little bit more. All 56 Corvettes were solid lifters just like all 55 V8 Corvettes were solid lifters. Same cam for 55 and 56 225hp, last 3 part number 355. 56 240hp(or 245hp, take your choice) was last 3 part number 077( slightly bigger than a 57 and later 097).

 

Didn't the Corvettes equipped with Powerglides have hydraulic lifters?

 

No. All 1956 Corvette engines were solid lifter engines.

The 2x4 engine was the base engine at the beginning of 1956 Corvette production in January of 1956. The availability of the single four barrel engine was announced on April 6, 1956.

However, general consensus is that the first single four barrel 1956 Corvettes were produced in late June or early July of 1956.

 

My first Trifive was a '57 I bought in 1964. The previous owner blew up the 283 engine and bought a used low mileage small block V8 to replace it. One day I went to the parts store to buy points and plugs for a '57 but the points wouldn't fit. My Mom's uncle was a mechanic so I went to ask him why they wouldn't fit. He checked it out and told me the engine was a '55 Corvette 265 engine and it had solid lifters.

I wonder what that engine would be worth today to a restorer? Probably more than the $400 I gave for the car.

 

It appears they do exist but I would rather have a 265 in a 55 Vette any day.

 

I have a hard time understanding how there could have been "left over" 54's at the end of production of the 54's. I would think that everything they had on the line at the time would be completed and put out the door. Why would they leave unfinished cars on the line, close the plant for the change over period and then finish them as 55's when production started again? I think that maybe there were a few extra complete six cylinder engines that they stuck in the first few 55's just to get rid of them. So the "left over" concept referred to engines, not cars. It wasn't like there would have been a big call for complete Corvette six cylinder engines for dealers' inventories.

 

Three side draft Carter YH single bbls. Same basic carb as the carter downdraft YF used on earlier 216 and 235 motors but in a side draft configuration. YH carbs were also used on the Nash metropolitan and I think a couple of other limited production type applications. They are not identical to the corvette variant.

 

The Carter Y series carb was used in numerous applications by a number of manufacturers. Some were downdraft, some were sidedraft. Military versions were waterproof. Some were electric choke, some were hot air choke and some were manual choke. Model designations were Y, YF, YFA, YH and YS.

Chevrolet used them on two applications - the six cylinder Corvettes and the turbocharged Corvairs.

The ones used on the Corvette had extended throttle shafts which allowed the three carbs to be linked together. They also had manual chokes.

http://www.carbkitsource.com/carbs/tech/Carter/Y-index.html

 

Both 6 cyl and 8 cyl were available in 55 but hardly anyone wanted a 6 so few were made.

In addition to having more HP the V8 was lighter.

As previously mentioned, they were having trouble selling 54's and there was no point in assembling cars that no one wanted. So left over parts were used to make the 55s. The late 54 and all 55 6 cylinder Corvettes are identical except for the VIN tag and some 55 engine blocks had "F55YG" stamped into the number instead of "F54YG".

Chrome valve covers and ignition shielding on the 54 and 55 6 cyl cars appeared randomly from mid 54 on. Most were painted but it is possible that all 55s came with chrome valve covers. Not enough examples known to document either way.

In any case the 6 cyl valve cover was the same part number in 54 an 55 with the slots and oil fill cap in the front. 53 valve cover is also Corvette only and is sloped in the front to allow for hood clearance.

I also saw the Pennant Blue 54 at Hershey. Very nicely restored example.

I've had a few 54s and still have one (restoration 80% complete) and a 55 V8 (restoration 60% complete).

 

I have Owned for over 31 years