There are no short-cuts to making power. You still need to move the air.

We frequently get emails and letters asking us to do stories on how to build up small V8s, and they very often sound like this one from Anthony Benson, of Luminary, TN: “I recently traded my ‘92 Ford Ranger for a 1975 Chevy Nova LN. I'm the second owner, and it’s all original, with 122,000 on the factory 262. Everyone says to pull the 262 and go with a 350, but I want to stay with the 262 block. What would be the best way to get more power from the 262 without going broke, and what kind of results could I expect to see out of it? By the way, why haven't ya'll done an article on the 262?”

For a lot of reasons, Tony’s friends are right. It’s a lot better to pull the old 262, and drop a 350 in its place. The 262 had a 3.1-inch stroke with a 3.67-inch bore. That small bore really kills the party, making the valves so small that it’s pointless to do anything else with the motor. You’ve got to move cfm if you want to make power, and a small bore, small valves, and poor-flowing heads are useless in that fight.

We have to assume that Tony’s willing to do a standard rebuild, like honing and boring if necessary, putting in new rings and bearings, installing fresh gaskets, getting a new valve job, etc. Why? Because the stock 262 only made 110 hp from the factory, and making respectable power on a 32-year-old, 110,000-mile engine will dictate this.

Beyond this, Tony would need to do one of two things if he wants more power: port his cylinder heads, or install nitrous, or both. Because the bores are so small on a 262 and cash is at a premium, Tony would need to keep his old heads and port them. The nitrous option would take away the porting requirement, but new valve guides and a valve job would still be needed. The whole thing would then need a bigger cam, carb and intake at a bare minimum. More power is the product of more airflow, and there’s just no shortcut to moving cfm. Working in his favor: these items aren’t that expensive, and can be purchased one at a time over a period of months.

So what would Tony have after slaving over his 262 for months? Probably not much. If he doubled his horsepower to 220, we’d consider it a success. By contrast, a brand new GM Goodwrench 350 crate motor runs about $1,500 through Jeg’s or Summit, and makes 260 hp. A junkyard Vortec 350 from a late-‘90s truck would be about the same price after yanking the EFI and putting on a carb and intake, and it would make between 300 and 350 hp.

The same scenario applies to many other GM, Ford, and Mopar small-blocks. There is a feeling among owners of these small engines that if they just put enough love rubbing on them, they’ll respond. Another false assumption is that “small cubes” equals “cheap,” and that isn’t correct either. At the end of the day, horsepower comes from cfm, and that’s because an engine is just an air pump. The ranks of NHRA Comp Eliminator are full of small-cube naturally-aspirated V8s, but they aren’t cheap. In fact, on the basis of dollar per horsepower, a small engine is more expensive, and that’s why you haven’t seen a story on one yet.

Having said all that, in the next 12 months, we are planning on doing a story on a 305 Chevy, so keep your eyes peeled to the pages of Popular Hot Rodding.