Hot Rods Record Holder 283...Did I Just Get Lucky And Find A Treasure

Seeing as there was no bolt in the end of the crank, would this piece have been added to mate with a matching splined "socket"? It would give you a place to attach a breaker bar or ratchet to roll the engine over by hand to find TDC or adjust valve lash.

 

WAY cool find! Congrats on getting it and glad the neighbor saved it!

 

My '57 PU, an X Navy truck, originally had a 235 w/ a Hydromatic.

 

Funny - were there no signs there was a vintage racer down the block ? The son most likely threw what he could in the dumpster - great score on the engine .

 

Great find! Congrats.

I remember 50+ years ago a family that lived down the street had lots of cars. They were real motor heads. One car was a 57 4-door. Okay looking car. My friend told me it had a 4-speed automatic. Even then I knew enough to know that a 57 Chevy wouldn't have a 4-speed automatic He said it was a Cadillac transmission. And I knew that Cadillacs had Hydramatics... I saw that the engine was a 283 and wondered how they adapted the Cad trans to the Chevy engine. Maybe now I know...

 

Super cool find!

 

@RICH B is correct.

 

I ran a slant pan hydramatic behind a 283 once. Even with good heads, cam, etc it killed way too much power. I should have put one of the “new” aluminum powerglides behind it and waited for the Vega converters...... oh well.

 

As to your title, YES!
Great save! I can’t imagine a cool engine and trans like that just getting tossed in a dumpster. Does it turn? Are you going to try to fire it up?


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Yes, it turns over and is not stuck. Pulled the dipstick and what oil that was on the end of it, about 1/4", was clean. I talked to a friend of mine about it, Scott owner of Blue Collar Customs. I might be taking it down to his shop to see if we can't get whats needed for it to fire it up.
If I knew what I was doing and had the room I would tear it down and freshen it up.

 

Here's a Hydramatic conversion in my Street Roadster in the early 60s. It was popular and robust replacement for a bunch of "39" transmissions. It lasted almost 40 years in this car.

 

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The Chevrolet V-8 truck Hydro starter motors mount somewhat "upside down" to begin with, the solenoid hangs down underneath. A regular V-8, cast iron Powerglide/manual trans starter motor will not work with a Hydro. They were rare 25 years ago, can't imagine how much more rare now. $250.00 to $500.00 rare, for a USED, Chevrolet V-8 Hydro starter motor. So YES!!! The B & M adapter bell-housings for Chevrolet, had a recess machined into them, and a regular V-8, cast iron Powerglide/manual transmission starter motor was used, doing away with the rare hydro starter motor. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Thanks Butch. You are a wealth of (good) information.

 

Perhaps a 58 passenger car head??


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I see butch beat me to it on the 58 heads!


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^^^And only one end of each head had the drilled/tapped bosses. if they are 58 heads^^^. The fender-well header deal with the Tri-Five Chevrolet's actually started because of the Hydro being swapped into the Sedan Deliveries (they did't come from the factory with the Hydro!) and the "upside down" starter motor. There was no room for headers with the solenoid in the way, so fender-wells were the answer, and they just caught on for all the Tri-Five Chevrolet cars. Stahl Headers are still being made by ACP Headers, they bought the Stahl patterns, for the tidy sum of $1200.00 for a set of fender-well Tri-Five headers!!! Even no name fender-wells are 3/4 that price. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

^^^And only one end of each head had the drilled/tapped bosses. if they are 58 heads^^^
That's the way they are. Only one end of each head is drilled.

 

Unfortunately the cap and rotor weren't with the motor as well as the starter. They more than likely ended up in one of the dumpsters and carted off to the dump along with, who knows how much other rare and unobtainable stuff.

 

I have some friends who ran a 57 delivery back in the day in a stock class with 2x4 283. The sedan deliveries were classified as trucks (either by Chevy or the NHRA), so they ran a Hydro(because they could be had in the trucks) and 5-something gears. My buddy said first gear was really short.

 

The starter number is 1107674 or a #3644 Lester rebuilt.
There is currently on on E-bay asking price $425.00
https://www.ebay.com/itm/VERY-RARE-...RUCK-V8-W-HYDRAMATIC-TRANS-3644-/223959685264

 

If I'm going to try and get this thing fired up that starter is a must have item. The distributor can be replaced with something more conventional

 

Sorry the starter is listed listed as out of stock, I didn't look close enough.
At least you can see good pictures of it for identification.

 

It was listed as out of stock because I bought it. W/O that starter it would be almost impossible to get this motor started.
Thanks for the info.

 

I keep coming back hoping for a video of the start-up. Good luck.

 

Ummmmm. You could have pulled the trans off and put a regular flywheel and starter on to get it started. I would hate to run it with the trans dry.

 

Like I said earlier, you could always use a block mounted starter motor (I think), but in order for that to clear, the lower/innermost starter motor bolt boss on the bell-housing has to be removed (BFH, torch, hacksaw, etc). Guys used to do that with the manual transmission bell-housings on the Tri-Five cars; they are basically the same "dimensionally". But, I can't promise that will work, and you don't want to ruin a Hydro bell-housing, so measure everything until you're satisfied it will work, or not. You might try one of the truck specialty yards listed in Hemming's to see if they have a starter motor. A little hard to swallow that you probably paid less for the engine/transmission, and the starter motor will cost more. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

What an awesome find. I'd completely tear it down for inspection/cleaning before firing it. Too big a chance something found its way inside over the years. I love 283's. Would love to hear it run!
Interesting read. Wealth of knowledge everyone. Thanks for chiming in.

• Anyone know what became of the nicely hammered 34? Maybe Greg Sharp? Be cool if someone let him know the engine has been located. The ultimate would be reuniting the engine with the car in a throwback restoration.

"The stepson brought in two 40 yrd. dumpsters and was throwing everything away".

I just cringe at this^^^! God only knows what got deep sixed. Vintage heads, intakes, carbs, etc from the ex racer. Imagine if you were the driver picking up the full dumpsters? I'd probably dump it in my yard instead of the landfill!

 

Anyone know what became of the nicely hammered 34? Maybe Greg Sharp? Be cool if someone let him know the engine has been located. The ultimate would be reuniting the engine with the car in a throwback restoration.

A couple of days ago I sent an email to Greg Sharp, the curator at NHRA museum inquiring if he had any additional information, pictures or history of the car and to let him know that, more than likely, I have the original record holding 283 that was in the coupe. As of yet I haven't heard back from him.

 

I did talk to the curator of the NHRA museum, Greg Sharp, on the phone. He was telling me what he remembered about the 34. Said it was painted a bronze color and this motor still has remnants of bronze color paint.
Got the motor started today. Once the timing was right it fired right up. No smoke or knocks. Couldn't really get it running for long, didn't have any way of feeding the 4 carbs so we could only fill the bowls which was only enough to get it to start and run for a second. Here's 3 videos. You can tell a little by them.
Sorry, I don't remember how to go from the link to the actual video.
https://youtu.be/GvDGam7tzGo
https://youtu.be/5W0GGWBEAmg
https://youtu.be/LdovMS-bTAk