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- 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. 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 3+1⁄4 in (82.6 mm) 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 194 cu in (3.2 L) Hi-Thrift version in the 1962 Chevy II; the following year, Chevrolet passenger cars adopted the 230 cu in (3.8 L) 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 153-cubic-inch (2.5 L) 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 hadn't been available with a six-cylinder since 1928. However, when the B-body line was downsized in 1977 the engine was reintroduced. Sidenote: the base six cost about US$334 less than a V8, and weighed some 188 lb (85 kg) 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 already used in light trucks as the A and 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 six e.g. aftermarket intake manifolds (from a three-carburetor setup or a single 4-barrel carburetor), exhaust headers, and/or hybrid cylinder heads based on the small block are costlier than the Small Block Chevrolet, unlike the rival AMC inline six (which has a cult following with Jeep enthusiasts, especially with the 4.0 L). Besides Brazil, the six was also manufactured in Argentina and South Africa. (en)
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