Hot Rods Give me some learnin on 283s fellas

Well everyone Im still slowly chippping away at my build, and ive had the 350/th350 combo sitting in the corner for it for a bit, but im honestly not happy with it. Not much character really. found a fella with a few 283s for sale i was thinking of checking out, but i know nothing of them. Whats a neat lil mild build for one that could get my 37 toolin around good? Im not after a power house but i do like a good spirited drive.

 

also i may add that i intend on keeping the th350 as its fresh rebuilt with trans go goodies and a aftermarket converter. Also ive got 3.42 gears out back but thats not something i couldnt change.

 

You have been on this board a while now. Should be aware of the search function.
Try a search for 283 upgrades, modifications, ect.
I believe this subject comes to life about every other week.

 

439916.jpg by bowie posted Jan 13, 2013 at 8:23 PM

Basic rundown: 1st 283 is1957 no side mounts, last 283 is 1967. Stagger valve cover bolts thru mid 1959. 4 barrel power pack heads have single pyramid on front of head, 2 barrel heads don't. All are small journal crank. Most if not all (?) are forged crank.

 

If you are going for the period correct factor of a 283 then for starters you want the early heads. Either the so called power pack or camel hump heads. If you go with the camel humps stick with the 1.94 intakes. The rams horns will look right and work good too, but the single plane intake will be weaker off idle and through the bottom end than a 180* manifold. There are tons of 180* manifolds out there but again, to be period correct you will really want a GM iron, or the early aluminum hi perf ($$$) manifold or something like an Edelbrock C-4B, or C-3B. Even that Edelbrock Carter carb clone will brand you as a wanna be.
For ignition run a points type Delco or an aftermarket distributor that looks the part. For sure you don't want a HEI on it, in fact I wouldn't want one on anything. After all that the accessory stuff is just as important, thermostat housing, valve covers, everything. Study pictures and look at the details.

 

You might not understand what people are telling you here,hell you don't even know how to spell your city

 

That's the state, not the city sweet heart.

And what Im wanting to know is, what some folks are running in theirs as far as cam,heads, and so on. I swear half the time I ask a question on here I get 40 replies from people that some how my inquiry ruined their damn day and 2 actual useful comments.

 

As a follower of the belly button 350, I just picked up this $200, running, no smoke, pile-o-power '61. and needed the same info.
I found about 12 hours of info by doing an advanced search for 283 SBC, hop-up, heads, intake, carbs, etc. found A LOT of good stuff from folks who actually had run them. Pull up a chair.

 

If you keep the TH350, you will want to keep the cam on the mild-to-medium side to maintain vacuum.

I have a L-79 (327/350hp) clone cam in mine with a .030-overbore and PowerPack heads (1.74 in/1.5 ex), in front of a Muncie 4-speed. It's not running yet, but I have heard and been in the same setup, which is why I chose this combo. Manuals are much more forgiving with high-lift cams.

 

This has a familiar ring to it.

 

A lot of guys have used the Duntov cam or 096 ... (Me included) .. It used to be dirt cheap from Chevy parts department at $24 in the mid 60-s. This was the GM performance cam for 283 sbc engines. you can find the specs and match as most aftermarket cam grinders make one. This was the best cam from back in the day. Will be ok with an automatic. I had on in a 265 with a powerglide.
Joe

 

I have a stalled 283 project, and I asked tons of questions about them in the forum. Just do a search from the early part of last year and you will see tons of stuff from Squirrel and Pork n' Beaner, invaluable information.

 

There were cam grinds galore for the 283/327 thru the '60s and '70s...Some were just copies of the basic Duntov, while others were copying each other.
@55chevr Joe is spot on, go with a KNOWN grind close to factory specs, instead of some 'Super LeGerra Killer' grind.
Based on true life experiences with a plethora of customers' engines, where "the customer was always right"... HA!
Sometimes the smart ones listened...

 

Thanks for the cam info guys. As far as I know its a power pack engine and is complete and ready to boogie, now in person this weekend I'll see if this is true. If so its coming home and I'll be opening it up and probably doing a rebuild just for safeties sake. I'll order the cam ground to the right specs. Most likely from comp since I get a discount there through my job. As for the intake I'll see if i can track down a period correct, but if thats too much trouble I'll toss aftermarket on, I'm not that anal on it being 11110% period looks wise. Hell the fact my car doesnt have twisty billet wheels and air conditioning and an IROC drivetrain means its not fitting in much around my town, so if someone complains I'm not up to traditional code then oh well.

 

hotrodA That's a GOOD deal you got.Bruce.

 

Had a Comp Cams 268 hydraulic cam in my 350 years ago, a very sweet running "engine".
A little too sweet so upped it to a 280, can't comment because it's never been on the road.
I'd bet the 268 would work great in a 283 streeter.
Linky
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/hrdp-0808-comp-cams/

 

I second this, the one I'm lookin at is 3 times that and some change.

 

Burly- I've got two ideas for you. If the 350 is good and the only problem is that it's a 350-- you could dress it to look like an earlier engine and get away with it from 95% of the folks. And you already own it. An intake with oil fill tube, no breather valve covers, short water pump/accessories, etc.
I saw one guy that did a bondo and file job to disguise his aftermarket heads so they'd appear to be factory (street racer).

On the intake side, a similar approach if you don't find an early one that you like and want to spend the money on. I have an aluminum intake that I ground the makers name off and stippled to match the rest of the casting roughness, then painted it (mines cast iron grey) to match the rest of the engine. Chevy orange or whatever you're painting the engine.
Again, these are a couple low dollar ways to have the look, and if you already have a known good engine, few would bitch about the extra torque.
I'm not one that's worried about people judging my rigs do displacement. My '39 ran a "worthless" 307 sbc. Ran like terror with a cam that wasn't made out of pot metal like the factory ones..


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The main issue with the 350 i have is its a TBI setup out of a 89 silverado, so its got the center bolt junk swirl port heads on it, and for what i could spemd replacing those, I can pick up this 283.

 

I have one of those former TBI '89 Silverado engines, Edelbrock intake & 600 carb now.
Biggest beef is the block: Fuel injected, it was not bored for mechanical fuel pump pushrod!
But it does daily driver duty in my F100. Nobody knows it's in there... (other than 12,652 HAMBers, that is. And those guys never talk.)

 

They make adapter plates for your heads to accept earlier 4-bolt style valve covers!! Just a thought....

 

I plan on keeping the 350 for later on, maybe to use in the wife's el-co but i dunno just seems so bland to have a ford with 350/350 combo. Maybe i should just forget the 283 all together and do one of those 6 popper cummins dealios?


Don't nobody get your britches twisted up that was a joke.

 

Thanks! I'm a tightwad, so it was meant for me. Found on C/L, about 70 miles away up in VA. Guy had it in a 50's Jeep pickup chassis he had bought for parts. The Hurst front mount came with it. Cranked right up through the fuel pump. Definitely needs some ignition parts, so a flat top Mallory will take the place of that HEI. Have some Power Pac heads that I swapped a Vega box for, a C4B or an iron intake, and some no hole Edlebrock covers. Just need a 4GC or WCFB.
Enough of the hi-jack, back to regular programming. Sorry for the run away.

 

You from Gastonia?

 

About an hour and 20 from the gas house. Down here in salisbury.

 

Yes! My experience with small cube SBC's is that it's all too easy to over cam them.
Then they become a little more sensitive to gearing.

I had a 262 in a light weight OT Monza with an Erson RV cam, It always ran really good, but it sounded a little too over cammed and was a little over geared. My $2.

 

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I just built a 62, steel crank, power pac headed, stock bore 283. The intake is a home built two-2GC, the cam is a XE286H. Dist. is a mechanical advance mallory out of a boat, with a Pertronix Igniter and a recurve job. The heads were gasket matched and bowls cleaned up. New valve job and .030 milled off, and .015 shim head gaskets. It's in a 1995# A modified, with a 2:20 low M21 and 3:50 gear in the 9 Inch. This replaced a kinda worn out 350 with flat tops huge 76cc chamber nothing heads and a Comp 292 cam (not my motor). I love the 283! It pulls great and I don't think I lost anything except a little low end. I'm not even sure about that. It idles like an old vette, stays cool, gets great mileage. And as a bonus when people ask what it is I can proudly say 283 without their eyes glazing over.
Don't believe all the nay-sayers about the little 283, most of them have never had one!

 

You guys are making me feel like I got a scream'n deal on the 283 I bought for the '34. Recent rebuild, Power-Pak heads, Edelbrock single 4bbl with a Holley carb, (reportedly) 327/350 cam, and a fresh 350 TH hanging off the back. It sounds good, I gave $1,000 to a guy who pulled it from a nice '65 Malibu SS to put an LS in. I have an old Offy dual quad intake I want to use on it. I was happy with the deal.

 

I guy I know has 2 engines he wanted get out of his place, a 350 and a 283.... I took them both.. I missed getting a 64 Chevelle 283 4-barrel for free 15 yrs ago That was once, never again.