Hot Rods Built 283... anyone remember those?

Not exactly fit for a towtruck but it revs... well like a damn crotch rocket.


Is this in a working tow truck ?
Or was that just a rhetorical statement?

 

I run a similar setup and run ACr45's

I think on the set in my truck it must have 5-6,000 miles on them and there still doing good.

 

Had a new 1967 mustang GT in 1966. Lived next to a ford dealership mechanic at the time. Was having some type of problem, don't even remember what it was. Anyway had the mustang at the dealer and we were messing around with the plugs. The dealership had a machine that tested spark plugs under pressure to see where they broke down. I was shocked how fast the plugs when down hill! After very few miles you could see a difference with a high compression engine, and after a few thousand miles a major difference. Ever notice that at the drags a lot of engines get the plugs changed after ever run. When we dirt track raced we changed plugs every week and reground the valves about once a month. It really made a noticeable difference.

 

I remember well the .125 over 283s with the Duntov cams and double hump heads screaming at 7000. Those were the days---then came the 327s. Man. AC 44S plugs.

 

Ran a 400 sbc in my deuce for 50k miles, and decided it was time for a new motor. Went and found a worn 283 and had it bored .030 over and freshened up with new pistons, polished cranked and old rods. I changed heads to a mid 70 307 head and installed hardened 1.94 valves. Edelbrock airgap intake and 500 Edelbrock carb was used and Petronix diz and coil.

Just came home from 6000 mile trip to LA and Yosemite. Gas mileage went down with the 283 (288). I used to get 18mpg with 400 and now get 15 with 283. I WAS running E3 plugs to start with, but not sure if it was the altitude changes or the plugs themselves, but during a climb up an 11,000 foot moutain I lost a cylinder firing.

I pulled the plugs and it looked like oil fouling, cleaned them but no help. Got to a town with a parts house and bought new AC R45's and brought engine back to normal again. We continued the trip home and checked plugs again after 1000 miles and they looked similar to E3 but not as much on the tip of plug. Bought another set and then went another 200 miles, looked, and they show signs of fouling starting.

Plugs are cheap ($18.) so I am going to live with it. The oil level has stayed the same the whole time so i find it hard to believe it's caused by oil. It may have been the high altitude that fouled the first set and lose a cylinder. It may also be the shitty gas you have to buy in other states, some E85 and E90 shit.

I did put a wild cam in the motor, a lot of people have asked if it's a bib block. Don't have the cam specs at the tip of my finger, they are in the garage.

 

10 K was pretty much normal tune up intervals on point type ignition engines in the 50's and 60's. It wasn't uncommon at all to replace the points and plugs every 10K and go again and think nothing of it.

 

What ???
307 heads had shitty compression because of huge cambers , 76 ccs. They'd maybe get you 7.5:1 on a 307. Drop the swept volume down by 1/4" in the stroke of your 3" 283 crank vs the 3.25 stroke of the 307 and your compression went into the crapper. Maybe with huge huge domed pistons it might work but the domes dont help on the swept volume. Add a wild cam into an extra low compression engine and I can't imagine how bad it gets on the dynamic compression.

You'll need about a 30% richer fuel mixture to run E-85. No way that i know of that you could fill up with regular fuel then fill up with E85 and drive off unless you have a late model flex fuel computer controlled vehicle.

 

I had a 302 back in the seventies (pretty similar motor) that was hard on plugs. I had the best luck with Autolites. Nothing special, just the regular, garden variety resistor plugs. I used 25's but my heads were taper-seat.

 

I just built a 283. its going to replace the 350 in my OT 1981 3/4 ton. Did a ring & bearing job on a 64 block. Used a 305 cam and casting #602 305 heads.The 602 heads have a combustion chamber of about 58 CC and hardened valves combatable with todays gas. topped with the 283 Rochester two bbl carb. im hoping for better fuel economy than the 350 gas hog its replacing. Open chamber large CC heads & big cams are not the ticket for small cube engines.

 

I've been running the same engine in my 55 since 1977. It's a 283 bored to 301, (0.120 over), 11:1 compression, 2.02 fuelly heads, 375 hp 327 cam, Edelbrock Tarantula intake and 780 Holley. Champion J12Y plugs have always worked well in this combination.

One of the best changes was going to a Mallory Unilite. The timing is much more accurate and the plugs last longer, with the Unilite.

 

I hate to argue with you but seven of us hotrods on the trip all got a tankfull of E85 and drove 120 miles without a problem. It may lower horsepower but will get you to next station.

 

283...it just sounds good rolling off your tounge. I have a 63 327 with a tunnel ram and two 450's in my 48 chevy 1/2 ton. My question is...in what year did the 283 become unable to be bored to 301? I have a 67 283, with 80 thousand miles on it, and would like to take it to 301 ci. if possible. Would also appreciate any opinions on the best combination of parts ie. cam, carb, heads etc.
Grumpy Jenkins (R.I.P.) proved a long time ago what a small block chevy is made of .

 

Wow. I just read through the new stuff on this thread and I am here wishing I actually knew people like y'all, that are familiar with the gen 1 rev monsters. Anyway, research I did before I posted here pointed me towards autolite, I've never used them so I was skeptical. Seems plenty of you guys have had good luck with them so I'm gonna try em.
Zeuglodon
I must say too, I may be mistaken about the heads casting number I guess because mine are straight taper seat plugs. My bro said 461 but I guess I should pull the valve cover and make sure.

I've heard the "lose the points" and "carb is too big" quite a few times, but I'm pretty happy with the performance of the truck as is. I don't really have the money to do it right and put an hei distributor and a 700cfm BG on it so I'm stickin with the cheap stuff til I get a raise or my wife and daughter stop eating three meals a day. Not to mention I'm havin oral surgery next month so there's $3000+ out of savings. But I just priced a good distributor and I can't shell out $250+ for that and new wires. That would be pretty sweet if I could though

The towtruck comment of mine was just me saying its not a motor that makes much torque, it's in a 71 Chevy c10. 4sp manual, that I traded for. The clutch is like 10.5" the guy said it was out of a z28, I think an '80. People have a hard time believing I have a pickup with a 4 speed that will run 70 mph in first gear.

To all those who commented on the idle and sound of a well built 283- this truck lopes so hard it has set off quite a few car alarms just idling through a parking lot in first gear. One of my favorite things to do is cruise by the local car show with it countin em off. Nothin like straight pipes. Nothin like the feelin I get when I scream by a Harley and MY irritatingly loud truck over rides the clickety-click of said Harley. Or the unspoken challenge when I'm the first guy at a red light and a nice, clean gt mustang pulls alongside. I don't even have to look like the bad guy when they red line and shift at thirty and I open the secondaries and let the little monster breathe.... By the time I shift out of first, most challengers have decided against runnin my dirty old pickup

That bein said.... My truck is a dirty, dented, primored sleeper. Sleeper is the nice way to say it. Most people would probably call it junk. But most people are silly, pretentious, cowards who don't have the nuts to ride around in somethin ugly. Just like me, not much to look at, but it's whats inside that counts. That's what mom said anyway

 

Also, thank you to everyone who posted helpful tips, I've written down most of the plug part numbers but I think I'm going with the autolite. I've tried r44 and r45 which were both ok but I switched to the accel because of the tapered seat (putting a flat plug in a tapered head and driving it shows ya just how green I was when I got this thing- lucky I didn't tear the threads out!) and they were short. I will probably take my current plug to a parts store and try to match with an autolite. I guess resistor will be ok, I just wanted to maybe add juuuust a little spark so I could idle it down to 800 or so. May have too much cam for that but trial and error will have to do for now until I can get the ignition system set up the way I really want

 

Another vote for R45 gapped at .035 on my 461 heads 2.02/1.60 valves, flat tops, 10:1 compressions with 8 degrees at idle and runs like a rapped Ape, oh yeah .510 lift cam.

 

I am still running the little 1955 265 WCFB in my little 1948 Chevy coupe and Don't see the need in all those cubes of the 283's ha ha!

 

I think the answer is 1962. As I remember that is whwen they changed the core assemblies and went to the thin wall cast versions, cosistent with the introduction of the 327, but I am not completely sure.

 

Is 045 too much gap? That's what I've always gapped my plugs at. Maybe I should go down to 040. I bet that's been the problem all along

 

I tried to run Autolite race plugs late nineties, It seemed like out of every 16, at least one was nfg straight out of the box. That gets old in a hurry, especially when you are at the track and only have one box of fresh plugs with you. Happened 3 times in one season, never gave them another try after that, and probably never will, the NGK's are damn good. I dont fix shit that aint broke. Since Champion changed to all the wide range bs, I have been running NGK almost exclusively. I have used Accel a bit as well, but the NGK's are easier to find locally in the heat ranges I need. I dont spray as a rule, so cant speak to that, this was N/A.

 

The 35 in my avatar had a 283 stock bore just honed with some NOS forged pistons and a mild cam.
A/C 45 plugs worked good. Great motor.... it never let me down and it got hot a few times on long grades.... 215ish.... and hardly used any oil. I was always going to get a raised water pump to get the fan centered on the radiator better, but never did. Got good MPG too.

 

The problem is in the tune up.

It sounds like you need to take a trip the nearest chassis dyno and get your air/fuel ratio lined out for drive-ability as well as wide open throttle.

I also use NGK exclusively.

 

Your plug gag is pretty wide for a point ignition- though with the right coil it might work. As I remember back
then plug gaps on stock motors were more like .35.

 

,

58-to 62 283 blocks have the thickest cylinder walls,and are the best choice for the .125 overbore for the 301. The 63-64 blocks can be overbored, but it is recommended they be sonic checked beforehand. Your 67 283 may also have a cast crank, the only year it was done so, in low po passenger cars, and may not be the best choice for a high winder.

 

In the '60s I ran a Rochester injected 301 in my '57 Chevy. Dontov 30-30 cam, 12-1 compression, new Fuelie heads and all of the usual stuff. I ran AC44 plugs after trying lots of others and they worked best. I replaced them at least monthly when I tuning to race. Best it ever ran was 116.71 at 11.99, not bad for a 3000 pound street car. It sure sounded sweet with open headers at 8000RPM going through the lights at Connecticut Dragway.

 

WAY wide for a point ignition without a box in a hi perf application, I'd be closing them up to around .027/.028

 

Dean what rear gear did you have behind the 12 flat dual wcfb combo?

 

Try a electronic ignition,I have them on most of my motors and can usually get about 30,000 on a set of plugs but my motors are mostly stock.

 

Thanks hotrod1948 and studerbaker eric for the info. Much appreciated. Did either of you make it to the meltdown drags? They were awsome!!!!

 

I've never actually built an engine from the bare block up. I have a well seasoned (not rusted and pitted up junk) 283 bare block I'd like to build up someday by myself. If I remember correctly it came up as a truck block. Looks like there will be plenty of help from the HAMB when I'm ready.