Bought this 283 at the beginning of March to have rebuilt. I am going to run it with the tri-power and T5 that have been in the 37 Chevy for years. I looked down the cylinders with the borescope to see if there was pistons and valves in there and everything seems good all the spark plugs looked sooty but all the same color. Squirted some sea-foam in the cylinders and turned it over by hand the timing chain has noticeable slop but it turns over freely. Changed the oil and filter(poured all my half opened oil cans in until it was full) I pulled the distributor and primed the pump and got a starter from the auto wrecker for 15.00$ and a flex plate from the parts store for 30.00$. Jumped the starter with battery cables and a screwdriver and started to do a compression check but my battery went dead after the first cylinder which was 100 psi . I think the battery went dead from spinning it quite a bit to push the sea-foam out. Got bored waiting for the battery to charge so I made some brackets out of scrap to make a engine run stand and got a radiator for it out of a mid 80s Malibu. My question is if I run power from the battery to the coil do I have to install a ballast resistor ? If it compresses well and does run I hope to run it for awhile and get it up to temp and install a oil pressure gauge. Thanks to any suggestions and look after yourselves with all that’s going on.
It will be OK for a little while running without a ballast resistor. Don't worry about it, until you get it in the car.
No... But your point's will be at risk, if ya get a ballast an new points in the future, Run it now...
Thanks Jim and Hollywood-East that’s kinda what I thought . My thinking of making this run stand isn’t so much for any big ideas for this engine in its current condition but if it does work out that I can have this engine rebuilt I will run the rebuilt engine on this stand.
I wonder how many guys will be copying your engine-run-stand? Make up some plans and/or pre-cut materials, and sell them! I'll be out in the shop this evening taking some measurements, and looking through my scrap steel pile. Thanks!!! I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
If it's an old condenser and points, I would add a resistor because if your planning on keeping them the Chinese shit your gonna get to replace them will never hold up.
Run it,,,,,,it will be okay for now . I have done this before,,,no problems at all . Hope you take a video of it,,,,it would be cool to see and hear it run ! Tommy
Your compression test isn't really valid, if you have a weak hole. Now if all are nice, move along and get busy. I/e a cold cylinder may show 75 PSI, yet warmed up be 120 (stretching it).
As Jim said, to just fire it up and run it you can do that without a ballast resistor. As Hollywood-East mentioned if you actually plan to run it on the stand for a bit, go spend the money for a ballast resistor that costs less new than a six pack of cheap rot gut beer. A Standard products RU 10 is 7.20 on Rock Auto making it probably 10 bucks at the local parts house or they can cross the number to their number. Too cheap to not have one. 3.97 from Amazon plus shipping from Amazon plus 6.95 shipping if you have time to wait. https://www.amazon.com/Standard-Motor-Products-RU10-Resistor/dp/B000C7ZUEW
If it Compresses and runs for a minute or two I will get a ballist resistor. When I went into the auto parts store today it was a lonely place and the guys in the store just looked like they wanted to go home!
That was the same here, I ran into Autozone to snag a can of Tuff Stuff for my wife to clean some spots up with today and one of the clerks might be happy that the gal working with him told him to get out of there and go home when he coughed. He better be glad that she didn't have her carry pistol on her or he might have a ventilation issue from the look she had.
I like your bracing to make a run stand out of an engine stand. You could probably put an early Camaro cross-flow muffler behind the upright, and run it quiet for a while, to make it easy to listen for noises.
I have a set of super rusty headers that the bottom flanges rusted out on and some crusty mufflers that I will weld on if I can get it running.
I learned this in a truck I bought in 1986. GM point type distributor needs a ballast resistor. Just get one for a darn Dodge and make it easy, pick 1976 whatever. The ballast resistor resists the battery voltage to the coil and points to 9 volts. This is why the cars or the old days had the wire from the I terminal on the starter to the coil for full 12 volts on cranking and better starting. When you continuously drive without at ballast resistor the said GM point ignition vehicle like my 65 Chevy, you will be left stranded in parking lots and etc with burnt point contacts. This is one of the reasons why is changed to GM HEI in that truck. And then spark plug wires started killing the ignition control module because of resistance. Shitty shitty bang bang, glasspacks, on an Air Force base, and 2 1/2" pipes.
Did you pull the plugs and spin it over to get all the seafoam out of the cylinders ? Everytime you said I want to see if it compresses I cringe thinking about compressing liquid in them cylinders.
It's only the coil that's the issue. The points don't care [it's only a switch] When you convert a car from 6v to 12v [doubling the voltage] you don't need to change the points. The rest of your explanation is correct. A 9 volt coil makes it easier to start because of the voltage drop
I did a compression test on the little 283 and it’s not so good. 1 75 2 75 3 75 4 60 5 60 6 70 7 75 8 60 I’m okay with these numbers I bought the engine as a rebuildable project. Going to try and see if I can get it running for the hell of it .Any advice on how to proceed?
If you get it running for a few minutes and redo the compression test I bet the numbers will be up a bunch.
A update on this greasy little 283. It took a little F-ing around but the engine ran pretty good for a couple 20 minute periods. I let it cool down and changed the oil and filter and ran a second compression test and was totally surprised. test 1 test2 1 75 150 2 75 160 3 75 160 4 60 165 5 60 160 6 70 160 7 75 160 8 60 160 I am totally impressed with this 283 so far I’m going to hook up a temp ,oil pressure gauge and get it running better. It’s odd to me that it has no vibration dampener- the crank pulley just bolts to the flange?
It’s the first time I’ve ever worked on a engine while on a stand. It is so much easier to work on than leaning over the fenders and getting under the car .
Tri-power has found a good change in his situation. Were the compression changes found with a wet compression check or after the engine had been ran for a while again? I am not in correction mode in any of my statements as a 1965 Chevy pickup is "born" with a 12v system. The ignition coil was a common 12v coil. Not sure of what update year that GM did that, but I am really sure it was previous to 1960, kinda double check me really sure.
I did install a dodge type ballast resistor before running the engine for longer periods o time. And on the second compression check the engine was warm - not hot - just warm.
Warm engine will show moving parts properly tightening together on a compression check. I don't think you have a carbon ring stick problem. You may have a dog that will hunt very well. I have a '59 283 sitting in a garage corner. It was pulled out of a farm truck sometime back, stuck into a 1967 GMC 3/4 ton during 1984 by myself and my Dad, and pulled out by me to save for something next. Several tons of zucchini were hauled into Mattoon with that old 283 and the 67 GMC. FWIW, my avatar shows a small block Chevy that has the infernal point distributor with Crane electronic conversion kit. That Crane unit also has a built-in adjustable rev limiter. It, along with the repainted MSD coil, do not need a ballast resistor. I need to remember to pull the distributor cap when I have the engine out of my A this weekend to see if I can see where I adjusted the rev limiter to. I know it's north of 5500 and the oil pan doesn't have any extra parts in it, or through it.
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