Chevy 265 performance

[V8lover]

Anyone know what kinda performance you can squeeze out of a 265? I found a 1955 265 in one of my sheds and feel like rebuilding it, but I can find hardly any information on this motor (no doubt due to it's short build life). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Shortbus]

I have a book somewhere on the 265 I will see if I can find it.
I am pretty sure you can do anything to it that you can do to any other small block Chevrolet. I am also pretty sure that a lot of circle track drivers liked them because they were High Revvers.

Factory stock in the corvettes they produced 195hp and in the passenger series they were 165. Though I think those numbers are probably exaggerated a bit since they were BHP numbers.

[techinspector1]

Originally Posted by V8lover

Anyone know what kinda performance you can squeeze out of a 265? I found a 1955 265 in one of my sheds and feel like rebuilding it, but I can find hardly any information on this motor (no doubt due to it's short build life). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My best advice, leave it alone and advertise it for sale in Hemmings Motor News. Some dude out there is salivating for a bone stock 265 to complete his '55 Chevy project. With the coin from this sale, get yourself into a nice 350 crate motor.

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by techinspector1

My best advice, leave it alone and advertise it for sale in Hemmings Motor News. Some dude out there is salivating for a bone stock 265 to complete his '55 Chevy project. With the coin from this sale, get yourself into a nice 350 crate motor.

To expand on what techinspector states above, do ditch it and don't use it for any sort of performance build. If you want a 'numbers matching' car or one that has everything as it came from the factory with in 1955, this would be OK - however:

The 1955 265 does not have any provision for an oil filter on it.

Unfiltered oil + performance = bad moon rising.

EDIT - this is a SERIOUS necro post. 9 years old!

[techinspector1]

Originally Posted by silicon212

EDIT - this is a SERIOUS necro post. 9 years old!

Yep, I didn't notice that, but my advice would be the same if the post was written today.