Technical 283 intake on 350?

I’m wanting to go for an “old school “ look under the hood of my ‘55 Chevy. I have a 350 that is rebuilt. I can get a 4bbl intake from a 283, and ram horn exhaust manifolds. Are there any problems with mounting that intake to my block? And how difficult is it to find the right carburetor for it?

 

It depends on the year of the 350 . Anything prior to vortec or fast burn cyl heads will work . Ports maybe a little smaller on the 283 so a work around is to get a set of gaskets that will give enough meat to get a good seal . Ive got a few old 283 small bore 4 barrel intakes on 350 and 305 . The give away is always having the cyl heads wid acc mount bolt holes

 

Intake isn't a problem, the 350 used the positive crankcase ventilation so it doesn't have the provision for the draft tube. If your intake has the oil fill tube on the front, you'll still have to use the holes in the valve covers for the pcv system. And I believe the 283 has a spread bore pattern, a quadrajet will work i believe?

 

Early 283 4 barrel's used a Carter WCFB or Rochester 4G carb, small square bore pattern. Later 283's may have used a Quadrajet, I can't say for sure.

 

Around 1965 was the switch from the square bore to quadrajet on most of the small blocks.

The heads changed on 350s in 1987, and again in 1996(?), so knowing what engine you have, helps. Generally if the valve cover bolts are around the outside of the valve cover, then you can bolt an early intake to it.

 

I think it was Johnny that said "and with a little help from an A-dapter kit"

 

I tried mounting a tri-power manifold from a 265 onto my engine and you could see the ports on the head so that is something to look for.

 

I don't think that any of the early intakes with the oil fill tube were Quadrajet intakes. That came after they went to full PCV.
There are plenty of 327 intakes with a filler pipe that take an AFB though.
There are plenty of WCFB carbs around that fit the 283 intake and a rebuildable one shouldn't be very spendy.
You still have to run a PCV valve with that engine. There is no way around that unless you want oil leaks from crankcase pressure pushing oil out anywhere it can.

Then when it is all said and done, the heads and front accessories on the engine still show it is a late engine in an early car and you get spotted as a pretender.

 

I have no record of a 283 using the spread-bore quadrajet (4-MV). Some books refere to the 4-GC as a quadrajet, so important to know if one referring to a square-bore or spread-bore.

The 327 used the quadrajet (4-MV) beginning in 1966.

The "sleeper" effect for the 350 is to modify the carburetor port size on a 283 intake, and use the 700 CFM Rochester 4-Jet from a 355 marine engine.

Jon

 

That's why I put a question mark at the end of my comment, you're way smarter than I am.

 

You haven’t mentioned what 350 you have and the exact years I believe early 80s went to an exhaust manifold with a longer bolt spacing on the end port that the ram horns won’t bolt up to if the extra bolt hole wasn’t done but can be drilled and tapped.

 

They added an extra hole, further away, but the earlier hole is still there, and you can use the older manifolds on the later heads. But you can't use some of the later manifolds on the earlier heads.

 

It’s a 1974 350 with late ‘70s-early ‘80s 305 heads. And the intake is the small bore 4bbl. I assume that it’s a 283 intake. I have not looked it over. A friend has it. I’m not worried about “pretender “ status, just want the overall look. Besides most of the people most of the time can’t identify much of anything. I could drop an Olds engine in it a hose it down in orange and most would still think it was a SBC!

 

Make sure you figure out where to get a good carb for it before you get too far along.

 

Correct, but on a very rare occasion I’ve seen were only the hole for the later manifold was was there and to use the other manifolds the hole needs to be drilled and tapped.

 

huh, i've never seen that. The head would not work on the other side of the engine, then.

 

That’s a great point. Now I have to think. I believe they were marine heads that had the long boss and the 7th hole was missing. Think they were even center bolt heads. I have to go look at my collection now.
And this is why your currently the most knowledgeable person on the HAMB.

 

There were 327/350 cubic inch spread bore quadrajet manifolds with oil fill tube around 66-68?. The engines with valve cover pcv used a sealed oil fill cap.

 

4gc carbs were referred to as Quadrijet in my older books.

 

That's not what I found, due to restorers a correct part number matching WCFB for an early SBC command pretty good prices, if you can find them. But, people do get lucky, so if you're patient you can find a non-SBC WCFB for not too much.

 

Unfortunately I was running a Qjet on the same engine back in the early ‘80s and it got away from me. Yes, Squirrel, I’ve seen the prices of the early 4bbls, not cheap. But what are ya gonna do?

 

I ran this 283 intake on a 305 with a Summit 600 cfm carb and the home made adaptor shown in pic. Nice and torquey down low but it did run out of breath on the top end. With rams horn exhaust, too.

Gary

 

Yeah, this one will be pretty much the same. Torque on the lower end, not much at the other. That’s ok, I just want to drive the darned thing after more than 35 years!