Hello all! I think i may have finally found a motor for my nash. Is a 64' 283 chevy motor. Heres my questions. Iv only messed with the 70's up smallblocks. What was different on the earlier ones? What should i look out for? This one has a pressed on harmonic balencer, and i was wondering what it will take to get it off so i can swap my valvetrain. I have a crane 272H grind cam, 305 ho small chamber heads, double roller magnesium timing set, edelbrock performer intake, and a mallory dual point. Im not looking for alot of power, just enough to scoot me down the road and have fun. Any and all help or advice is appreciated. Im young and asking for help, amazing huh? Id rather not screw up on it, and break it. Well, not until i can find a 327 small journal
dont use the 305 heads, stay with the stock heads. also the harmonic balancer will pull of like any other small block chev with a good balancer puller, look at getting the end of the crank tapped so you can put a bolt in there to hold on the balance like the later smallblocks they are great motors, check the cc's of the 305 head, if they are equal to the 283 heads then think about it, if not keep the compression up, if not youll regret it. jeff
i agree drill and tap the end of the crank you can make a drill bushing to do it and a tap bushing too to keep the tap stright. the heads it depends whaat are the 283 heads? are they power packs? is so they would have the inverted V on the ends. if you have them then you will need to have the guides bronze walled to bring them back to specks and a good valve job. new springs afterall they have been in there along time.
305 HO heads are a good choice in my book. They have small enough combustion chambers to keep the CR up and have 194 intakes. Dont really like the look of the heads with the bolt holes in the end though. Makes an early SBC look like any old late one. l
The 305 heads are a good coice but not all are created equal. The # 601's and some others are best. Search 283 & 305 heads on here. I am either going to put a couple bolts in the ends of the heads to clean them up or I may just grind them off and weld up the holes if they bother me that bad.
Thank you fellas! Now onto the next question. How do i install the harmonic balancer back onto the crank? Is there a special lock***e i should use? I know they make some press ***e stuff for pressed on bearings and such.. Any and all info is greatly appreciated!
You might see previous hammer marks -- I have banged them on dry with a lead hammer,or with a piece of oak in between -- for the balancer check for a groove from the chain cover's oil seal - a speedy sleeve will clean that up
once you drill and tap the crank for the new retainer bolt just grab another bolt thats a bit longer and use that to pull it on, mr gasket sells the new front bolt of a junk yard will have plenty of them. use the big think washer to pull it on with, i wouldnt put any loc***e or anything on it, thats what the bolt is for now. jeff
Am I the only one who thinks a 272H Crane camshaft in a 283 is a little too much ? He said it is for his 1941 Nash. Little engine, big heavy car ... too much camshaft. I think he needs to back down on the camshaft to gain some low end torque or go to a 327 or 350 ( a 400 will be even BETTER ) in a car that heavy.
Keep it coming, I also just about to use a 283 and would like to know a bit more about them and what works good.
1.Drill and tap the crankshaft ,Some where i saw posted a harmonic balancer flew off and killed somebody at some race track .I wouldn't want one flying off while I was looking under the hood.2. Leave the heads alone ,Any markings on the heads of a triangle .
Second the recommendation to have the crank drilled and tapped. You can do it yourself with a floor mounted drill press. Crank the table down. Put a square of 5/8" or thicker plywood on the table. Bolt the crank to a flywheel. Set the flywheel on the table. Drill and tap.
Regarding too much cam. He's completely redone the body on the Nash. It's a lot lighter than it originally was. A LOT lighter.
I must agree with the other guys, a 272 is a lot of cam for a 283 no matter how light the body is. I would seriously consider a 268 or smaller especially since Dynaflash_8 stated in the beginning that he just wanted enough to scoot down the road and have some fun. With regard to the 305 heads, those late model heads also have issues with lightweight castings. They are more prone to cracking than early heads. True enough, the 283 heads will likely need guides now. I just remember that even the 2bbl 283's were great running engines in even heavy cars like the full size Chevys. Dynaflash_8, if you go 4bbl (and I am sure you will) keep that carb really small as in 500cfm or less. I also reccomend having the crank drilled for the balancer but would rather see you use a balancer installer than draw it in with the balancer bolt. Perhaps you can borrow one. If you don't get the crank drilled then if you have access to an electric oven, try heating up the balancer to around 200 degrees or so. You can knock it onto the crank much easier if it is hot and the steel has expanded. Just be careful handling it okay. Also, lay a little film of grease on the front seal, inside the timing cover before installing the balancer. Just a little. One other thing that may seem too obvious but perhaps you are not away. Those early small blocks vented the crankcase fumes through a vent in the lifter valley and out the downpipe. If you don't reuse this system then the pressure will build up and pop gaskets. A pcv system could work too but it depends on the look you want. I hope you have fun with that 283, they were nearly indestructible engines, really great. Joe
That's one of my favorite things about the early (pre 68) blocks. I like to stick a pcv valve in the road draft hole (there are adapter bushings avail.) and connect it to the intake. It works really well and then you can run clean valve covers.
you can put a grommet in place of the down tube that comes out of the valley and put a pcv valve in and you don't lose the old look of the engine. I don't remember the part number's I used when I conerted my 327, I didn't want to lose my 327 turbo fir valve covers.
Well here it is. The front stamped numbers are F07IWF and the casting numbers are 3896344. I think its a 67' 195hp 283. It turned over, so i went for it. $100 later, and its an awesome find. No ring ridge, and you can still see the hone marks, so it was overhauled at some point in its milage. Crank bearings lood good, same with rods. Timing set was spot on too. Its all in the trash now though. Got it all dis***embled cept for the rotating ***embly. Its got flattops in it too. I dont know much, as stated before, but whats it take to get these up around 300 horse?
The '67 283 2 Bbl. is basically the same as the earlier 220HP 4 Bbls. except it had a 2 Bbl. and single exhaust. Good core for a 283 build. If you are considering 305 heads the two best castings are '601 and '416 but the Power Pak's can be made to work really well. If you wanted to keep the PowerPak heads having the intake seats opened up for the 1.84" intake valves from a 305 HO is a good upgrade. I'm usually "Mr. Conservative" when it comes to cams and carbs and I don't think the 272H Energizer is too big for a 283 with a little gear behind it. It's very close to the Comp 268HE and a ton of those found their way into 283's. I'd consider the Summit 1103, it's a dual pattern cam with more exhaust duration and lift than the Crane 272. I know people who have used it in 283's and 305's and it worked well. In a 327/250HP it just has a slight lope. The Summit 1102 cam is identical to the Edelbrock Perfomer, it also works well in the 283 and 305 but the 1103 will give it a much more noticable "lope". I sent you a PM.
If you are considering 305 heads the two best castings are '601 and '416 but the Power Pak's can be made to work really well. If you wanted to keep the PowerPak heads having the intake seats opened up for the 1.84" intake valves from a 305 HO is a good upgrade. I'm usually "Mr. Conservative" when it comes to cams and carbs and I don't think the 272H Energizer is too big for a 283 with a little gear behind it. I'd consider the Summit 1103, it's a dual pattern cam with more exhaust duration and lift than the Crane 272. I know people who have used it in 283's and 305's and it worked well. In a 327/250HP it just has a slight lope. The Summit 1102 cam is identical to the Edelbrock Perfomer, it also works well in the 283 and 305 but the 1103 will give it a much more noticable "lope". I sent you a PM.
Got the motor back together and in the frame today. Port matched the 305 HO heads, and smoothed the exhaust side up a whole bunch. Got everything bolted back in, and ready to run. Im gonna use the stock rams horns exhaust i think, rather than my ugly headers. Im both excited and nervous at the same time, kinda like an expecting father. Expect a video tomorrow!!!! WHOO!!!!
On "fire up day" I'm always a nervous wreck until they fire and that first 20 minutes of cam break-in is done. But I'm grinning like the village idiot the whole time. I don't care if it's only a a 1 Horsepower Briggs & Stratton, I love it when a fresh engine I built fires and runs like it's supposed to.
Heres the motor. Runs good! <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hWmTuqsgNJ4&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hWmTuqsgNJ4&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
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