The Chevrolet Turbo-Thrift engine is a straight-six produced from 1962 to 2001 by the Chevrolet division of General Motors. The entire series of engines was commonly called Turbo-Thrift, although the name was first used on the 230 cubic inch version that debuted in 1963. The new engine featured seven main bearings in lieu of the four bearing design of its predecessor, the "Stovebolt" engine, and was considerably smaller and approximately 100 lbs lighter.
Design
There were other major differences between the Turbo-Thrift engine and the Stovebolt:
Bore spacing matches the Chevrolet small-block V8's 4.4 inches, Stroke of the 194 and 230 engines is the same as the 327 small-block and 348 big-block V8s Wedge-type "closed chamber" cylinder heads with a "squish" area surrounding the combustion chamber cavity, Stamped ball-pivot stud-mounted rocker arms were introduced, similar to the V8, with a 1.75:1 ratio, rather than the earlier shaft-mounted 1.477:1 rockers.
The first use of the new engine series was the Hi-Thrift version in the 1962 Chevy II; the following year, Chevrolet passenger cars adopted the version across the range. Studebaker and Checker also began using the engine in 1965. Chevrolet and GMC trucks, which previously used the Stovebolt and GMC V6 engines, also switched to using the Turbo-Thrift from 1963 through 1988, as did Pontiac in 1964 and 1965. A inline-4 version of this engine was also offered in the Chevy II/Nova line through the 1970 model year.
After several years of steadily declining sales (just 3,900 units in the 1972 model year), the straight-six was dropped from Chevrolet's full-sized cars for 1973, the first time the full-sized Chevrolet had not been available with a six-cylinder since 1928. However, when the B-body line was downsized in 1977, the engine was reintroduced. The base six cost about US$334 less than a V8, and weighed some less.
Overseas, the engine was also mass-produced in Brazil. It was used in the Chevrolet Opala from 1969 (230) to 1992 (250). It was also used in light trucks, including the Chevrolet Veraneio. The Brazilian version of the GMT400 – the Brazilian Chevrolet Silverado – is powered with a 4.1 instead of the Vortec 4300 V6. Brazilian-produced sixes manufactured to the 2001 model year gained multipoint fuel injection, unlike the US-manufactured sixes, which retained the Rochester Monojet one-barrel carburetor. These inline-sixes and their four-cylinder siblings were converted for marine usage by Mercruiser and Volvo Penta, and also used in stationary applications (such as power generation) and in Clark forklifts. Aftermarket port fuel injection and re-engineered cylinder heads have been the norm, although parts for the inline-six, such as aftermarket intake manifolds (from a three-carburetor setup or a single 4-barrel carburetor), exhaust headers, and hybrid cylinder heads based on Chevrolet's small-block engine are costlier than those for the small-block, unlike the rival AMC inline-six (which has a cult following with Jeep enthusiasts, especially with the 4.0 L). Chevrolet's inline-six engine was also manufactured in Argentina and South Africa.
194
The Hi-Thrift 194 was introduced as the optional engine in the 1962 Chevy II. Bore and stroke are , for a total displacement of . It was also optional in the 1964 G10 Chevy Van -ton vans, and standard in the G10 in 1965 and 1966; it was not available in the C/K10 -ton trucks. The engine produced peak power of (gross) and of torque.
The 194 variant ended production in North America after 1967, but remained in use by General Motors' Argentinian subsidiary until the mid-1970s. GM de Argentina also developed a four-cylinder version called the "Chevrolet 110" for their Opel K 180 compact car.
1962–1967 Chevy II
1962–1974 Chevrolet 400 (Argentina) 1962–1967 Acadian (Canada) 1964–1967 Chevrolet Chevelle 1964–1967 Chevrolet El Camino 1965–1966 Studebaker Commander, Daytona ('66 only), Cruiser and Wagonaire (built by McKinnon Industries in Canada) 1966–1967 Holden HR (South Africa) 1966 Beaumont (Canada)
215
Pontiac's (1964–1965) was a smaller bore of version of the Chevrolet straight-six engine. One oddity is the crankshaft bolt pattern; in lieu of the Chevrolet V8 bolt pattern (also shared with the rest of the third-generation six), the Pontiac V8 bolt pattern is used.