Northern Auto parts has a lot of upgrades from the base "cheap" kit. I've put a lot of miles on small blocks with their "cheap" ring and bearing kits over the years though. Cam wise I'd hunt for an early 80's Z28 spec cam with hydraulic lifters and maybe snoop the GM performance catalog for a factory cam and lifters for first gen small blocks. The O98 Duntov becomes a real pain in the ass on a street engine that doesn't see the drag strip when you have to adjust the lifters all too often. Keeping it authentic and true to it's roots you want an intake that is early enough that it has the oil fill tube hole in it. Side note, back in the late 80's my son and I put a 307 with power pack heads, Performer intake, Portland swapmeet 25 dollar Z28 cam and numbered lifters that were a new engine take out and a Holley spread bore double pumper 4 barrel. Granny 4 speed and 3.7 posi in a 70 Chev long bed. It got 16 mpg on the highway and he did a hell of a lot of cross walk to cross walk goes on the ave with it to the point my uncle got word of it's reputation on the street. I even drove it to Texas, picked up a cattle trailer in Oklahoma and hauled a load of furniture back from Texas with it. You don't always have to put a lot of money or fancy parts in one to have a runner.
Don't "Over Cam" a 283, it will become a real turd because of the short stroke. They don't like too much duration. Don't dismiss the idea of a 350 [unless you want to keep it a "matching numbers" family heirloom] Me being "the king of cheap" would hunt down a late model roller 350 cam shortblock and "ring and bearing" the shortblock . [you will need a flywheel for a one-piece rear main crank flange] Then shift everything over from the 283 to the 350 [Heads, Intake, Carb , Exhaust, Waterpump, Pulleys, Oilpan, Rocker Covers, Distributor, Mounts etc etc ] You will also need a compatible Dist Gear for the Roller Cam, and You will need to Drill a hole in the intake for a "PCV grommet" Paint it Chevy Orange and use some repro 283 decals [use a silver sharpie on the rocker cover scripts] A 8.5:1 Compression 350 will net about 9.5:1 to 9.8:1 compression with 283/327 power pack heads. Keep the small valves and 2 barrel carb and the engine will be really "crisp" at low RPM's There will be no issues with wiping out lifters, AND no oil leaks
Bought my parts from our local engine parts supplier. Prices were as good as online. Cam came from orelies. Got it cheaper from them than online. EZ to rectify issues. The cam showed up in 2 pieces. Had a replacement the next morning.
Nothing in life is 100% guarantee [except death, taxation, and the girl of your dreams eventually causing grief] If reliability was our motive, a Prius is the answer [but that wouldn't be fun!]
This is it, at Jegs. I looked at Summit, they mainly have Speedmaster stuff. https://www.jegs.com/i/Dart/301/01311111/10002/-1
Oh ok...obviously wouldn't work on the 283...I've looked for kits like that and havnt found anything compatible with a 283...ill post what summit suggested when I called them about it
My advice if the motor is still together check a few things before disassembly. I would check the side clearance on the rods and check the end play on the crank.
My recommendation is probably going to be something far different than what most others will suggest. But, my advice is based upon my own personal experience. Many years ago, I bought a 1968 GMC 1/2 ton pickup. The truck had been converted from 6 cylinder to a 283 V8 by the selling dealer at the request of the original owner. After many miles & years, the 283 was getting tired. I decided that torque is what I wanted & needed. After all, torque is what you feel. I used a Crane Cams RV/Fuel Mileage cam & a 450 cfm Holley Spreadbore Quadrajet replacement carburetor (on an old cast iron 4bbl carburetor intake (designed for the Quadrajet). I absolutely loved the results. My truck ran original 4.10 gears & 3 speed manual transmission. My fuel mileage improved, the increased torque was fun (smoking the tires was easy). When I hooked to a loaded trailer, it moved the load easily. The engine idle speed was around 450rpm. This is an inexpensive type of build that results in a fun, docile, driving vehicle that works well for enjoyable drives.
Yes, thats how I like to do things as well. If you go that route with a different block/heads, you need to insure that the clutch pivot position and or the bracket mounting locations you need are on the block you buy. Since it's not money that is the problem, but just wanting to build a decent engine yourself, I'd start out by arming yourself with some books that will guide you and educate you. Here is a good one and its still available on Amazon. You can pick up used engines very cheaply. Since it will be a "first time" build, I'd probably stay with mostly simple modifications. You will have to make some choices as you build and this will be a good place for a learning curve. Things like rods need some thought. There is nothing wrong with stock rods.......but you should upgrade to ARP bolts....which means the rods need to be align honed. By the time you do that, you will probably be better off with some aftermarket rods which are stronger and already have ARP bolts. But don't stop there........buy/make a rod balancing fixture and a digital scale and make sure all the rods weigh the same on each end. If they need some weight removed to be equal, then balance them . Here is one I made......... It doesn't have to be fancy. I had this stuff left over from something and decided it could be easily converted to what I wanted. Get a cheap digital scale. Weigh pistons and wrist pins as well as the rods. Crankshaft.........grinding and having it balanced to the rod/piston assemblies you weighed should be fine......... Camshaft.......I'd buy an engine that has the factory roller cam with a retainer and go with that because of the compatibility with distributor gear. Heads....now thats a big choice there. Its going to cost some bucks to refresh heads that will provide marginal performance increases. I believe someone makes aftermarket aluminum heads that come with a double hump on them. Paint them red if you want them to look nostalgic Lots of ways to use this as a learning process and put your touch on it.......... All of that said.........I'd also look at some of the aftermarket blocks as a starting point. By the time you clean and machine an old block it may be better to start with a new block that has upgrades and finished machining and go from there. One of the mistakes many people make is "using what they have because they have it and can save a buck..............This started when most people didn't have a pot to pee in and had to innovate and hope it increased performance. Most people today aren't as innovative because they can buy superior parts for less than modifying old parts. It used to be that rodders bought "reground" cams for the most part. Now they mostly buy new cams. There is a reason for that trend.
As far as the 283 vs 350 thing goes, the reason why many 283's are sitting around and still available is because they got pulled out and replaced by 327s and then 350s. 283s only made a comeback when they began to be "nostalgic". I remember buying a 327 shortblock from a local guy who had replaced the 265 in his 56 Chevy. He changed the oil every 1,000 miles. It had about 50k on it. It was still perfect but he bought another oem shortblock to replace it simply because that was what he wanted to do. Don't remember if he upgraded to a 350 at that time or not. He told me if I could get a spoonful of sludge out of the engine he would give it to me. I paid him and took the prize shortblock with me. Virtually Nobody ever pulled a 350 and installed a 283..........till nostalgia became the buzzword instead of performance. Note, I did pull a 427 BB Chevy out of a Camaro and put a smallblock 283 (I think) in it. Thats because a friend was trading the Camaro in and they wouldn't give him any additional trade in value for the big engine he had specially installed in it. He told me if I wanted the engine, just put something else in it so he could trade it in. I jumped on that deal.
Thanks for all the insight! I do have a book I've actually read about 5 times over a few years lol..something similar to that. Basically gave me an idea of what I'm getting into...but doesn't walk you through like an instruction manual.
Just an FYI, you'll find that unless you have a roller-bearing in the fixture when doing the big-end (to take out any drag at the pivot), you'll not get repeatable weights when weighing the ends of the rod (especially when the fixture is reversed and you're weighing the small end). I tried multiple types of fixed pivots (for the big end) and then took a set of rods on/off them multiple times and the grams of the small end kept changing. Then I made a roller-bearing based pivot - problem solved. Also, having the pivots fit the rod bores very closely ensures that the weight is always distributed the same - rod to rod. I make new pivots for different types of rods. Also, make sure your scale has enough resolution to get down to tenths of grams. Also, you have to balance each end of the rod - both ends need to match across the rod set. And then the totals should match as well. Here is what I ended up with for my setup:
To check if rods/crank are reusable? What other things should I check/ measure tearing down? thats a good point..
I may be better off leaving that to the machine shop unless I should double check it after machining. I would probably have the shop assemble rods to pistons and handle all balancing
I like to check the rod side clearance before teardown for reference, if it is excessive it will bet worse if you have the rods resized. If the crank has a lot of end play and the thrust bearing is not worn the crank probably is. This would be more common on a stick shift car, where every time you push the clutch in you are pushing the crank forward against the thrust bearing. It would be a shame to do all your work assemble it and discover the crank is worn out or the rods have more side clearance than you want, or maybe they could be on the tight side. Take your time and look things over and get all your stuff hospital clean for assembly. Read about deburring a block , etc. nothing trick just basic clean up. Write it all down , it is interesting to check ring end gap to, just for your own benefit.
Yes double check all work, the best machine work in my days has come from shops where there are two guys who do it all. But for the most part where I live those guys are long gone. Most modern shops don't even want to see the primitive stuff we are talking about.
Something to note . . . I've been heavily involved in some very high-end machine/engine shops. I can tell you that in most cases they HATE it when somebody delivers to them a basket of parts and then wants them to build an engine and assemble it. They end up finding that some parts were damaged during the prior disassembly, parts are missing, labeled incorrectly, etc. I'd chat with whoever you're pondering doing the machine and potentially assembly work before you tear into things. Also, if you don't have the necessary micrometers, tools and knowledge, then you are actually better having them check everything out. If you've never built an engine and don't have a mentor who has, then really think about "doing it yourself" - as to do it right, you need quite a few tools and the knowledge of how to use them. Also, if you're not building multiple engines, buying all the tools for "one use" doesn't make a lot of sense. I'm not trying to rain on your parade, just passing along some well learned advice. One shop I know will NOT even take in a disassembled engine - as it has become way too much of a hassle trying to locate all the parts that are either missing or damaged. They will just turn that work away . . .
Yeah I understand the need for a lot of special tools..I do plan on building more for fun as time and money allow . I have used micrometers, and dial indicators more. Not very often w a mic though..so will need to practice some to be confident with a mic... There are a couple more shops I need to talk with and make sure they are willing to work with me
If you want alloy heads for the baby 283 ,the best bang for your $$$ is a 1990 L98 Corvette Heads 58cc Chambers and 1.94" Intakes, 1.50" exhausts [hardened seats] raised "D" port exhausts They flow about 180-190 CFM [210 with a decent competition valve job] That is enough for 300 honest horsepower [and be streetable] The only downside is the FUGLY centerbolt rocker covers , but there are adaptors available [or weld on some bosses] Combine this with a "Faux" LT1 intake ,aka Holley street dominator [with the Holley Logo ground off] The last pair I purchased cost me $350
This is one thing that I think you should reconsider. The reason I say that is because balancing the components is a time consuming task to get it just right. There is a lot of pride to be felt in knowing that you did it and you know its right.Not sure how much machine shops charge per hour, but I doubt that most truly get the best balance. They get you a good balance, but time is money. Its a simple task,......but it takes time. Your Choice though. Since you plan to build more engines in the future, let me suggest that you keep your eyes open for some "intrimics" and a set of "Jo Blocks" also called gage blocks. Get a large set of gage blocks if you buy some. They ask some high prices for them, but if you watch you will also see some for about $100-$125. I just checked the local Facebook and there were quite a few available for $125 or less, and some as high as $1k. This set was CHEAP at $50. These blocks are extremely precise and you can stack them to get an actual dimension. They are good for checking both your micrometers and your micing skill. They WILL be correct and never change size (although big companies recheck them anyway). You can also use them to set some dial bore guages for checking bores. Simply stack the blocks to equal bore size and put the long bars in the box on each end. Then set the dial bore gage to that dimension and compare it to the bore you have. I like having intrimics for checking bores. These are a little harder to find good prices on, but again watching for them on Ebay will eventually yield some reasonable prices. $100-$200. You should also look for a "ring gage" for each mic. It will probably be some oddball size, but thats fine. You insert the intrimic in the ring and check its size. If your intrimic reads the ring size correctly, it should read anything you check correctly. The thing to realize here is that these type tools will always hold their value. They have depreciated to a point where you can get good buys if you watch for them. I have an intrimic for checking the 4.300 bore diameter of Cadillac engines. Easy to use quickly and very accurate. Of course being a "tool-a-holic" , I couldn't stop with just one. You don't need all of these, but I make lots of things other than just measuring engine dimensions, so I bought these over about a year or so. Good luck with your project.
It is not all that easy (unless you're very experienced) to measure a bore or bearing ID accurately with just a 2-point mic. A snap-gauge is better - in that you take it back out and use a mic to get the dimension, but a 3-point mic or 3-point dial bore gauge is what you really want. The only problem with 3-point dial-bore gauges is they are very expensive!
Wow enough there to start a machineshop! Yea that stuff is not cheap. I do have an old set of Starrett bore gages
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