Hi there everyone. I have a 64 Belair that has a post 73' 6 banger in it with a powerglide, i got a run on a original 283 from a 59 impala wagon. Can i get a reliable 283-300 horse out of this motor with out spending *BIG* bucks to pull around the big belair? I also might have acces to a 4-71 street charger but im not sure if i can get it yet or not. thanks for all your help! Jason
I just built a sbc 350 and got it balanced & blueprinted, line honed, .30 over with flat top pistons and a cam. Motor: $100 Machining and parts: $2600 Estimated HP: 300 Going in a 64 Bel air wagon.... is it going to be fast? Nope.
Do you have the trans from the '59 wagon? I don't think the '59 283 will work with the later trans, the starter mounts are different. I had to use the '61 'glide with the '61 283 block I have in my '64 impala because the starter mounts were different on the '64 'glide...my $.02. As far as 300 hp, it should be possible. One thing for sure is a later HEI (although not trad) will sure wake up that old mill. Jay
the wagon was crunched hard and is long gone, the motor has been sitting in storage for a few years, i dont have the ******, i thought i was going to use the existing glide in the 64.. hmm.....
I just finished a 283 build up...030 over, power pak heads,screw in studs,guideplates,Solid cam .456" lift 280 adv dur,108 Centerline,full length headers,recurved stock distributor,hotter coil,Weiand WC4D intake and 4 94's.and a pair of Vintage Vette Covers to top it off! that should put you in that 1 HP per cubic inch range!!
A 300hp 283? Not too hard...traditional way or new way that can be made to look somewhat traditional? Traditional way... Bore it all the way out to 4" and run a 302 chevy pop up piston. Run ported old school fuelie heads like the 462 castings. They are 64 cc's with big valves. This will give you about 10.5:1 compression, but it will still run on pump gas. Slip in the old Duntov 30-30 camshaft with a set of headers, a high rise dual plane intake, and a 750 holley dbl pumper. Balance and blueprint the ****er, and run good rod bolts, oil pan, and oil pump. It will easily and reliably rev over 7000rpm and make over well over 300hp. High maintainance with the solid cam and high revs. Be prepared to lash valves and change the oil and plugs all the time. This is an old school 301. Multiple carbs would make it cooler but harder to tun and not make any more power. New school way.... Take the 283 block bore it 60 over, find a 327 crank (small journal) and drop it in with a set of cast flattop 307+60 pistons and rings. You should be able to find the crank and pistons for dirt. It will be 316 cubic inches of stroker 283. The stock flattop pistons will be about 45 thou below deck. Deck the block to bring them to about 15-20 thou below deck. Run a set of late model Vortec heads with a matching single four intake from Edelbrock, or GMPP. These 64 cc chamber heads with the 307 piston setup will give you about 9.2:1 compression with the proper steel shim gasket, and have very good quench characteristics. Run a Comp Cams Xtreme 262 Hydralic camshaft, which has low enough lift to work with the stock vortec heads and should easily make 300+hp with a reasonable power peak of around 5500-6000rpm. Make sure it has a set of headers, a 600 cfm carb, and decent ignition. It has much more torque and should be a low maintainance motor. Put gas in it, change the oil every few months and drive it.
Yes. About 10.1 compression,a 286 duration hyd. cam.HEI ingnition.Weiand Stealth manifold. 650 Holley,and lots of revs! The early power pak heads are ok, on the street, with a little cleaning up, use a good doubble roller timing chain,roller lifters, and springs compatible with the cam,and lots of revs... Sparky
What ever you do get rid of the powerglide. I'd be tempted to run an overdrive automatic with a low gear in the rearend. At the worst you might have to drill out the starter mounting bolts to use a later model transmission. It's easy to run too much cam or carb on a 283. Pete
Yes, lose the 'glide. That 283 will need gears to get it rolling and up into the powerband. If you keep the Powerglide and stock rear gears, grandmothers in Hyundais will beat you across every intersection. My brother once bought a Nova with a genuine DZ 302 hooked up to a Powerglide and stock rear. Homeless people pushing shopping carts got off the light quicker; from about 75 mph and up, though, it sure was fun.
What rear gears was he running? I always heard that powerglides were good for draggin'? My 283 4bbl, pg in my '64 must have some low gears, cause it is quick off the line (for about 200 feet) but doesn't have much top end.
I believe those gears were in the high 2's, I'm thinking something like 2.78's. Powerglides are good for dragging for a light, high-horsepower car. That type of car can run steep rear gears that would be way impractical on the street, and take advantage of the glide's lower m*** and only one gear change. A heavy car, a lower power car or almost any car actually driven on the street is better off having the torque multiplication of the lower first gear, the multiple gears allowing the engine rpm to remain nearer peak power and the ability to use a milder rear gear for cruising at street speeds. My personal opinion (worth every cent it costs) is that for any street driven car, more gears (in the trans) is more better.
This is a larger displacement motor but this is one of the best articles written for all around dyno testing.I am building a similar 327 for my street car. http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/techarticles/74620/
Yes the guys above are right- IF you keep the powerglide and stock rear gear it will actually run -NO BETTER -even with the modifications performed. Big valves and higher lift cam wont come into play untill much later in the RPM band -than that car will be at, during highway cruising speeds...... It will respond much better if you drop the rear ration down to a 3:55 or 3:73... It will only develop the horsepower they and you suggest at MUCH higher revs than the stock stuff will allow. And on another subject- overdrive automatic ******?-It will actually Hurt gas mileage in this case...the 283 will actually GAIN mileage ONLY AFTER you lower the ratio of rear end significantly...by the way that 650 carb is too much for that stock auto trans car too -USE a 500 carter or Edelbrock it is more in line with the engines flow capabilities at that cruise RPM'S........ SAD BUT TRUE-That motor would get -WORSE- mileage lugging at 2300 RPM in drive than it will breathing at 3500 RPM in drive after the lower gearing!!!
I think using 305 HO heads off of a mid 80's Camaro will keep your compression the same but flow better than the old heads. And because they're for a 305, they're dirt cheap. That 283 is gonna get it's power from revs, so boost the compression, cam it up, partially split plenum intake (like an Edelbrock RPM air-gap), headers...and don't forget electronic ignition, you don't want points to float or break up in the high revs. A well built TH350 will wake that ****er up. I had a 57 Bel Air with a bone stock 283 and a Turboglide...slower then mol***es. I put a built TH350 behind it, it was a whole different car. Mine had a 2200 stall converter, TCI super pro kit with a manual/auto valvebody, and it kicked *** ********. 283's rule
I'm not a Small Black Chevy guy, but if you're gonna keep the hood closed, it's hard to beat the bang for the buck that Vortech heads give you...
Everyone seems to be talking around this, probably due to the perceived "evil" of the suggestion. If you are looking for economy, get a 305/350. If you want the car to have a good balance of power and performance, get a 350/350. If you want it to kick ***, get a 400 or 383 stroker to go with your 350 trans. In every case, the rear gear is important to both the performance and economy. Trying to get 300 hp from a little engine coupled to a PG is silly, expensive, and counterproductive in comparison to the other options.
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