Technical 283 intake on a 327

I have a 327 in a 61 Chevrolet that I inherited. It does have some kind of cam in it. I'm unsure of the heads, but I ran the numbers on the intake and they are 3731398, which the internet says is for a 283 with a 4 barrel. Does this intake significantly hurt performance in anyway versus an intake that would have come on a 327?

 

Don’t hurt nuthin
Post a pic of the heads. Early heads are easy to identify

 

Define hurt. What I mean is, how do you plan on driving the car? That intake will do well on take off.

 

That 's a '57 intake manifold. All '57 cylinder heads had taller ports than the '55-'56 heads, so it isn't the worst intake manifold you could have; however, the 300 hp 327s had an intake that used a larger Carter AFB as opposed to the 4GC or WCFB that your current intake uses.

 

Thanks for the information. I plan on changing out the 4 Jet for an Edelbrock, so that's good info to be aware of.

Thanks

 

What’s the plan for the 4 jet?

 

Beat me to it

 

Me thinks you will loose about 100 HAMB Bubba points by changing that carb and intake to an Eddy Brock carb and intake that it will work on .
I'd check casting and suffix numbers codes on the block and heads to make sure of exactly what I had if you haven't done so already. I've seen a lot of 327 Chevys that ended up not being 327 Chevys.

 

I may use a stock 327 intake that has the correct bore size, just depends on how much and availability. The numbers on the front of the block are gone because the block was decked. Where else can I find numbers on the engine to verify?

 

Why not try driving it in the current configuration, and seeing if it has "sufficient" performance?

 

If it ain't broke...

 

On the back of the block toward the top on the driver's side are 6 numbers that will ball park ya. They are cast in and will give you year range and displacement.

 

Your current manifold has smaller carb openings and runners than a four barrel intake that came on
a 327" in '62. Your intake was designed for a WCFB or Rochester 4g....ideally look for this 300hp
327" intake and Carter AFB 3721...but I would drive it and enjoy, then decide.

 

Fix it 'til it is.

 

Thanks for the numbers, Bob, I've been looking for which intake would fit an AFB.

It is broke, hence why I'm going to be making changes. I suppose, given some of the comments, I'll have to give the explanation to appease those that need to give moral advice over technical. I inherited the car, and the 4 Jet has been a source of problems for a while. Since I have owned it, I have completely gone through the carb and rebuilt it, and it will run ok for a while, then become problematic. I also took it to a guy I know that is very good with older Rochesters carbs and he got it running good, and then this year it's gone back to being a problem. I'm not looking for performance, just reliability and ease of tuning. I'm going to be changing the carb. The bores of the intake are not going to be big enough for the new carb, so I'll need a spacer if I keep the current intake. Determining how much restriction the 283 intake is for this 327 will determine if I replace the intake with the carb, so I don't have to use a spacer, or if I'll replace the intake with one that had stock larger bores and wouldn't require an intake. Again, I'm not concerned with high performance, but I never realized this was a 283 intake, and so if I have an unnecessary restriction, then now would be a wise time to remedy the problem.

 

For what it's worth, the 250 hp 327s came from the factory with an intake manifold and carb setup similar to what you've got. They also used the same cylinder heads as a power pack 283.

 

I ran this one for a while on a 305 with the home made adapter shown and a small Holley. Good throttle response and bottom end, but nots so much above 4500 RPM.

Gary

 

I got these pictures from the casting numbers and heads. I gather from the number on the back of the block that this number was used for 283 and 327 engines. I'm not able to determine anything from the number on the front. Also, I'm unsure what heads these are.

 

Adapters are still available, depending on what you are after for looks and performance. Not uncommon . You do have a 327 can't find that suffix code though

 

That casting is for a '62 to '67 small journal 327"
3789817
Chevy Casting Number identification - Block casting numbers (outintheshop.com)

 

heads have bolt holes

 

Those are 1969 or newer heads. Pull a valve cover and get the casting number.

 

Are the valve cover bolt holes straight across, (top to bottom), from each other? At least some of the 58 and 59 283 heads had bolt holes in the ends. I think that they were used for the factory air suspension pumps.

I have a 58 PowerPack 283 with bolt holes on the ends of the cylinder heads. The valve cover bolts are staggered, and the date codes are 1958. It had been stored since the early 1970's, and was very obvious that the engine had never been apart. However, the bolt holes are only on one end of each head... Not both ends.

From your photo it looks like there are holes in the passenger side front of the head, where on the 58 - 59 heads, there would not be any bolt holes. The bolt holes would only be on the driver's side front and the passenger side rear of the 58 - 59 heads.

 

I'm wondering if I should put this in a different thread as the topic has kind of evolved, For now, I'll just keep it here. After doing quite a bit of internet searching I've determined a few things. I think I will go with a 500 cfm edelbrock, because my 327 is not a huge hp motor, and I almost never revv beyond 3500, or at worst, 4K rpm. I just like to row the gears sometimes. I believe I'll go with an Edelbrock 1901, which is the newer style AVS2. In looking at intake casting numbers, I've listed what I have found below. I have listed all the intakes that were available for the 327. I have ruled out several for different reasons. If it came with fuel injection, or a 2v carb for example. I have also ruled out some of the aluminum intakes because they are very expensive and since I'm not looking for performance, I don't mind using a cast iron intake.


Below I've shown the intakes I have ruled out in red. one in yellow I was unsure of and the ones in green are the ones I believe will work for the AV2. If anyone sees anything wrong with this assertion, please let me know. Some indicated they were for a carter or for a quadrajet. I'm confused by this because I thought the spreadbore and squarebore were not interchangeable.

 

A helpful guy online that had a 3799349 measured the primary and secondaries, and comparing that with what edelbrocks website had, it looks like an edelbrock would bolt directly to a 3799349 intake, provided the bolt spacing is correct. I'm still finding conflicting information online as to that part. There's a similar intake, 3872783, that according to what I've found online is practically identical except it has the spacing for a Holley. I have found some info that says there were some Holley's that had different spacing than newer Holly's, and some have said the two intake part numbers mentioned above have indentical bolt spacing, and some say it's different.

Carb Primary Bore Secondary Bore Height
AVS2 1901 1.44 1.6875 3.25
Edel1403 1.44 1.69 3.25

Intake # Primary Bore Secondary Bore
3799349 1.563 1.712

 

Just measured my 3844459 intake and the mounting studs/holes are 5 3/4" apart going
front to back, and 4 1/2" going side to side.

My Holley mounting holes are 5 1/8" from front to back, and 5 1/8" side to side.

Maybe someone can give you the measurements for the 3872783.

 

Any Edelbrock AFB style carburetor I've seen (and I've seen a lot of them) had two sets of bolt holes, and would bolt directly to either a 349 or a 783 intake manifold. Be aware, though, that both of these intakes need to have a stainless steel plate between them and the carb gasket, or else raw exhaust will warp and burn the base of the carb.

 

Thanks for the info, guys. I'll add it to the spreadsheet and post up the info when it's done.

Heathen, would one of the fiber insulation gaskets meant to insulate heat (stop vapor lock) work in place of a stainless steel plate?

 

I used core plugs (frost plugs) to block mine. I think 9/16 or 5/8" and a thick 4 hole gasket to give plenty of butterfly clearance to my adapter.

Gary

 

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