Re: 1951-54 288 engine

Posted by Ross On 2015/10/9 16:47:34

I have put a 4 bbl setup on a 288 in the past and will not be in a rush to do it again. Two things: the larger intake runners had a tendency to make the engine bog at lower rpm.
Second, for all normal back road driving, the 2 bbl has a quicker tip in than the 4 bbl jobs and actually feels peppier most of the time. The 4 bbl begins to help at rpms that I seldom reach unless I am demonstrating to some mouth breathing troglodyte that a 288 will easily run up to 50 in second gear.

For a nice peppy 288 just do a standard port and relieve job, and find the latest 288 head that you can get your hands on. Skip trying for major compression increases as they make flatheads fussy and unpleasant in normal driving. One ends up with the timing so retarded to prevent knocking that any performance gain is lost. And carefully set the camshaft timing, using a stepped drive key if necessary to achieve the cam timing specified for the other 54 engines. Mmm mmm good.