Technical Breathing life into a 283 - FED Destined

That's Crowerglide.

 

Man you guys are hardcore. I'll be along for this ride.

 

very interesting!

 

I'm confused (???). Small journal crank, that you're talking about offset grinding, then using a 400 engines 5.65 inch rods, that are large journal size (???). I know there WERE spacer bearings available at one time to put large journal rods onto a small journal block, but then the cranks been offset ground to what size? Or, do you have some aftermarket rods with "Honda" sized journals? I know you know what you're doing, I'm just not understanding exactly how it's going together with what you've said. Those "reproduction" Camel Back/Double Hump heads are better than Viagra! I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

If I remember right, those TF heads are somewhere in the 53-56cc range.

 

I was in awe of these cars, they were Giant killers ( at least until tire technology caught up with them)! Sign me up.

 

I'm in the camp of being blown away by those heads... thanks for sharing that link! That opens up many doors of possibilities!

 

It's just a frame of reference as most are familiar with the factory stuff. Offset grinding I will be shrinking the rod journal down to a Honda Pin which is 1.888. I will probaby have GRP make me custom aluminum rods for this.

 

They are 60cc but I may roll them over a degree depending on what I can make happen with the piston dome.

 

At least if you don't mind being down a bit on compression on alky unblown , say 11 to 1, you will be about right for nitro I'd say. As long as you have about 80% in it . Lippy

 

Makes sense now; pretty much what I thought. Keep posting for us less fortunate souls when it comes down to custom part prices. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

When they did my splayed caps they offset the align bore to keep the same relationship of crank to cam. They do have special shorter timing chains but best to keep things where GM intended them. That is some very nice machine work.

 

Gene Adams is the man, to get you going. He is a book of knowledge. He got me going.

 

Gene and I have worked together for the past 7 years. Been a amazing mentor to me. We just finished up competing at Engine Master Challenge with our joint effort.

 

So, lets chat about the Honda journal size. I see its the new rage. What's the advantage?

 

Bummer, looks like a few days of posts have been lost.
I'll have an update on some of my progress later this weekend. Currently painting on some Glyptal onto the block.

 

This is the kind of engine build I really enjoy. Thanks for posting such fine details of your nice work. This is going to be good. Mike.

 

I understand not wanting to do it, but it would be really neat to see what someone with skill and a flow bench could do with some old Powerpac or camel back heads

 

Ive build a 327 for my 55. stock 69 short block. Just new rings & bearings. 30-30 solid lifter cam. C4B edelbrock intake. And I used a set of 57 power pack heads. Because they where on the first 55 I ever owned. And I also wanted to use some stagger bolt. finned aluminum valve cover s I bought when I was a teen. Someone has extensively reworked those heads. ported and polished. bigger valves. machined for dual valve springs. screw in studs. I think they cane off something that was pretty radical back in the late 50,s

 

Watching closely , I was hoping maybe for the Anglia but a fuel anything is cool .As far as the Honda size rods its my belief that the reason is to use cranks that may be damaged, offset grinding and the bearings are very available and inexpensive.

 

After a few hours in my oven at 250°F to bake on the Glyptal. I usually don't got to this type of effort but wanted to test a few theories.





So next thing I plan to tackle are some main cap straps for the front and rear cap. After that I need to line bore/hone and correct the cam tunnel. I may go ahead and enlarge the cam tunnel just depends on how far it is off.

 

That's what I call "showing that little 283 some love"!
The last time I painted a sbc valley with Glyptal was about 1975.

 

^Funny that's around the same time for me too...

 

You might look into the disadvantage of using the 5.56 length rods. The concern is the rod ratio. Most builders go to a 5.7 or 6.0 rod when building high pro 400's The same consideration might apply to the 283 as well? Sounds like a fun project.

 

I bought a can to use for our Engine Masters Hemi heads. I did two pair and they turned out pretty awesome. The key is baking to full temp for about 3 hours then let cool slow. It's like a powder coat at that point. I've seen the stuff come loose before but you can tell it never seen any heat because of the color. Prep work is pretty critical too. Figured I better use this stuff up.

 

If you look at how current Comp Eliminator engines are built they all are a really short deck blocks and have short rods. A shorter rod in drag racing doesn't hurt. Now if a long stroke was used and the cylinder walls were thin then by all means a longer rod is a must to make it live. Anything to lessen the rod angle and be easier on cylinder wall loading at that point. In this case I'm fine with a shorter rod.

 

Great thread! I'm in.

 

Another vote for the Camel hump 202's. Yeah, I know the out of the box aluminum heads are ready to rock, but on a mid 60's inspired 283 with vintage Hilborn icing the OEM camels just look the part. Sort of like vintage Halibrands rather than new out of the box wheels on a vintage Rod.

Love me a 283. Just picked up another 283 core (free!).

Beautiful machine work. Will enjoy following the build.

How tough of a chore is it to tap that cast block?

 

If you are referring to the main caps it's a full days work to do what I did. Most don't got to that effort to make sure the block itself is flat and true.

 

Beautiful work and attention to detail.

Who do you use to design custom camshafts?
(we use Bullet Cams)