Hot Rods Going price for a rebuildable 283 these days?

My brother is installing a crate engine in his 61 Chevy.
What can be expected for a good running complete 283 that using slight oil?
And what about the two speed tranny. Trying to offset his labor cost.

 

I’ve got ‘em from $0 to $100

 

Maybe enough for fluids. Is it a cast iron glide or aluminum? Has it been gone through before, can the engines internals be machined again, or at end of life?

 

It’s an aluminum glide. Engines never been out of the car. So it’s a good guess that it’s machinable.
Oh wow. I was expecting in the 750 range.

 

'61 with an aluminum Powerglide? Someone must have done that after the fact. Yeah, honestly, a used 283 isn't going to bring a lot of money. Only weirdos like the people who frequent this board have any interest in it. If it were a '57 engine, it would be a different story, from a restorer's point of view.

 

Just tell em it came out of a Vette? Gotta be worth more right! Cause didn't all loose 283/327's come from Vettes?

 

I think it's different by area, because around here anyone with a 283 thinks they have hit a jackpot; if it's a running engine with no major problems it's $500 minimum, some guys want over a grand. There's a complete engine on local Craigslist for $300, it "ran when pulled from car" some time ago, been sitting in a garage. Another $100 for the Powerglide trans, but you could probably make a package deal. On the other hand there is a dissassembled 283, the blopck has been hot tanked, bored 30 over, double hump heads (need rebuild) asking price is $1100.

 

I couldn’t agree with you more Mark.
I’ve tried to convince him into a rebuild for a year. The crate engine is bought and the small block is out of the car now.

 

In my neck of the woods the power glide is popular with the drag races.

As for the engine, if it were me I would rebuild the 283, they are great engines but I would use a 350 turbo behind it. HRP

 

Rotating and complete around here could go 250-500.
The pg, don’t know.
The race guys hoard those.
Running really just means it rotates on its own.

 

Crate over rebuild? Probably cheaper and faster to get the car up and running again.

 

100 bucks for core aluminum glides.

 

Same around here, 283 ain't gonna bring much.

If a guy is in the market for a small block, why not just buy a 350, more cubes, parts available cheap, popular etc. So yeah a 350 will bring more around here than a 283 other than maybe someone trying to do a restore.

.

 

Power glide is whatever you can get for them, scrap value only. 283 if I shop Facebook or craigslist I see them around 350. If I wanted one and looked actively,free to 100 bucks

 

7 - 283"s for sale out of Cleveland CL curently, $100-$1,100.

 

I bought a rebuilt 283 attached to a rebuilt aluminum powerglide recently for $400 but I would call that a smoking deal.

 

Sure it’s not a 302

 

I did pay $200 for this one

 

Ok, I lied. I actually only paid $200 for this deal on the chance that it was junk inside after sitting for 25 years in a barn after being rebuilt. After I pulled it apart and verified that everything was still fine and just needed new gaskets, I decided to give the guy another $200. I did go ahead and have the block vatted and installed new cam bearings since the water jackets were full of mud dobber nests.

 

I've got three complete 283s (I think; I haven't taken inventory yet this year), and a bare '57 block. The last 283 I got was free for hauling it away, and it turns freely.

 

Out this way they think they're made out of platinum!

https://newyork.craigslist.org/lgi/pts/d/merrick-runs-perfect-1960s-complete/7572709270.html

 

I have several small blocks, a couple of 327's,(one complete L-79 350 hp) but I chose to build a 283 for my '40 pickup.
They have sufficient power, run cool, and deliver better mileage than the others. I suppose it depends on what you put it in. And yes, it will have Corvette covers, because I like them.

 

I’m picking up a 327 that’s in a c60.
Wonder if it’s a vette 327?

 

Yes, if it has Vette valve covers on it.

 

In my dads old 65 Checker Marathon, it was equipped with a stock 283 connected to a Borg Warner automatic transmission.
That 283 ran smooth for all of the years I owned it.
The only thing I ever had to do to it, was change the harmonic balancer, that wore out.
In the Checker, there was a ton of room under the hood, to make it easy to get to everything on that engine.
Such a shame that such simplicity and ease of engine servicing and accessibility, isn't seen or applied to new cars or trucks these days!

" Everything old, is new again"

 

I love 265's, 283's and 327's. But these days, they are getting harder to come by and what used to be one man's junk has all became everyone's treasure .

 

Same here. Local cl has a flathead block for sale for $300, says its cracked..... Lol. So what's it for? Like yard art?

 

Give him a couple hundred bucks for it and stick it in the corner. save it, they aint making anymore 283, and a 61 is good one to rebuild. I hoard them and snatch up any 283 around me i can, right now i have 5 in the shop and one in my 39. If you were closer i'd offer to buy it.