Technical 283 mild build

What you fail to grasp is that there are exceptions and variations which are given a pass at this site because its reasonable to do so. Beyond that virtually everyone who builds a car and posts it on this site will have things on their cars which are needed or desired but never available in 1965.......probably your cars as well. The 500 Cad was not available in 1965 but did become available in the late 60's. How many 350 Chevy engines were available in 1965..........ZERO, but they are still acceptable here.
How many people are using transmissions with overdrive (manual or automatic) that were not produced prior to 1966? How about all the fancy new wiring kits with modern wire, or the guages that parrot original guages but weren't available in 65? Radial tires ? Yep, lots of exceptions to the pre-66, because they are inclusive rather than rigid ......flexible so to speak.

As for the expense of buying a 500 vs rebuilding a clapped out 283. You don't know what you are talking about. Many of the old 472/500s were driven very few miles (60K) and then kinda went by the wayside. I'd say thousands of them have been pulled out of old Cads and installed in other vehicles without having to do anything beyond a carb rebuild and an ignition tune up. How often do you find a "never rebuilt" 283 out there..........that doesn't need COMPLETE rebuilding. Basically a running low mileage Cad can be found for $400/$600 and a lot of them come with the original Turbo 400 transmission.........which also usually doesn't require rebuilding. Put a couple of seals, a filter, and some new fluid and they are often good to go. Thats for someone wanting to do a cheap (budget restricted) conversion. Lots have been done that way.
I have 3 complete and 1 partial Cad engines. A couple of them came with good transmissions which I resold for a couple hundred dollars...........making my engines even cheaper. One even came with a brand new Comp Cam (never installed), and a set of tight tuck headers. Never paid more than $600 for any of them. I have one currently running motor on my test stand that all I had to do was change the oil, new ignition coil, and add gas....then it started right up and doesn't smoke. Sounds healthy .

If someone decides they want to upgrade the Cad with a new carb, Edelbrock intake and new (better) rocker arms and springs, the rocker arms and springs will be more expensive than a Chevy. A few other parts are more expensive as someone adds parts, but when you are done...........its easy to have 500 lbs/ft of torque at your command and maybe even 500 HP. And its a streetable combination. Try getting 500 out of that naturally aspirated 283 (especially if its an automatic) and making it streetable.

The last comment was meant to poke fun at you. You might want to take the time to see when many of the other popular engines used in nostalgic Hot Rods were first produced...especially the Big Block ones.

Edit: One last point, I'm not suggesting putting a Cad into a 57 Chevy or any other Chevy that originally came with a V8 option. It is a legendary engine and to me I would always think a Chevy in a Chevy is more natural. Chevys produced prior to 1955 however are fair game for swapping alternative engines into them. Thats what seems right to me..........I also feel that there are certain times when exceptions....are acceptable. Like RoadKills Hemi Powered "Blasphemi" which was on here sometime back.

 

I love the ignore function

 

Can't take it when someone refutes your mis-information with actual facts....Huh?

 

Let the original poster of this thread use it, maybe all the bickering about unrelated stuff will end.
Heck, maybe I should let the op use my 307 to jump coke cans, at least it's a stroked 283 ha

 

Thanks everyone for all the information. I've got some good info on the dual quads, the meat and potatoes of what i originally posted, and some other quality info on the build. I realize everyone has their own opinions and things that matter to them and things that have worked for them but some advice from a newbie trying to learn.... Keep your bickering to your own posts and just answer the questions. Thanks again for the help.

 

A 283 with a 177 blower FTW!
(Not what youre after really i know, lol, but would be brutal!)

 

I had a ‘55 with a healthy 350 and a four speed hanging off the back of the bell housing for over a decade of abuse. Never broke or gave any trouble except that the engine rocks more than desired, so a 1/4” cable down to the upper control arm as the factory did on full size models was used on the drivers side.