Technical 195hp 283 '64 Block upgrades

Looking into what I can to to get some more performance out of my stock 283. It's the 195 horsepower/ 285lb/ft model, all original except for a dual exhaust with a Rochester 2GV carb. Just curious to see what can be done to wake it up a little bit but I still want to either keep a stock look or a period correct hot rod look. Any ideas or help is appreciated and links to parts would be great! Thanks!

 

Well I can tell by the pics that it already has the power pack heads, so the simplest way is a cam shaft and 4 bbl. Looks for a stock or close to stock high performance cam shaft and a single 4 on a dual plane intake. That won't make it a "high performance" engine but it should give you a pleasant bump in performance without going into a complete teardown and build.

 

+1 on Beaner's recommendation - you're probably around 9:1 compression - maybe an "097" solid cam or a "L79" cam (or a modern profile of the same) pick an older 4 bbl intake like a c4b or similar so you retain the front oil fill and a List 1850 Holley or 500-600 cfm AFB/Edelbrock - make sure your ignition system is in good shape and curved properly too. Rear end gears can also greatly improve performance - it appears this car has a PG trans too - how about a turbo 350 or 700r4? ........I know you asked specifically about engine mods, but if it were me, I would make sure my current combo was running as good as it could and would concentrate on the gearing (Final drive and tranny) first.

 

Totally agree with the Beaner on this..
That will wake it up nicely..and not a lot of $$$
Lots of threads on here about this...
I love the little 283's....
I went a bit further and went with a .60 overbore, 305 HO heads, L79 Corvette Cam (350hp) Edelbrock Dual Plane manifold with a 500 cfm Edelbrock carb, Corvette 2 1/2" Rams Horns with full 2 1/2" exhaust, electronic ignition..and a few other things.
With my four speed manual trans it is a very pleasant and spunky little small block to drive..
I have a Saginaw with a 3:11 first gear, and a 3:73 rear end.
Note I only use a 500 cfm carb...you do NOT need a big carb..
Good luck and keep us in the loop..

 

Think about a modern dual pattern cam nothing to wild with an automatic. I have had good luck with .435-.460 lift low 260's duration. Makes good torque and that's what you need. X2 on small carb, dual plane intake.
If it is a powerglide it is not going to jerk your hat off from a start unless you change rear gears.

 

My second car in high school was a 57 BelAir, had a 1964 283 that was originally a 2 bbl engine that had been updated to a Rochester 4GC. I blew up the 3.08 rearend and put a 4.11 third member in it and it felt like I had put a blower on it.

 

Was it hard to do? Could it be a weekend job sorta thing?

 

Any ideas for a good intake + carb combo? I know this isn't a hipo build and I don't want/need it to be, just want to get a few more ponies out of the motor and keep the 50s-early 60s hot rod vibe. Considering that, what would be good to make it look period correct? Doesn't have to be 100% accurate but be in a similar style. All the help and input has be greatly appreciated!

 

Also, i have been considering an attempt at porting either the heads or intake. I've never done this but it seems like a fun thing to do (I like messing around with car stuff [emoji846] ). Would this be a good idea? Would I screw up the heads/intake if I do? Any tips for a first time port job?


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Not hard, I bought a used wrecking yard third member that was a 4.11 plug and play.
What was hard was one axle was stuck, so I borrowed a big slide hammer from the guy I bought the car from and proceeded to break the head off of it.

 

My '62 Impala was much the same. 283, 2bl, 3on the tree. I swapped the 3/on the tree for an M-21, slapped on a Corvette air cleaner & valve covers, it was a beast!
Realistically, the Beaner's got it covered. Add a little cam, a little carb, duals, fresh tune, you'll be smilin'. Key word being 'a little'. Real easy to over cam/carb these mighty mouses, stock compression considered. If you can swallow the mileage difference, a steeper rear gear as DDDenny suggests, will really wake it up.

 

Also, with the higher gear, what kind of tranny are you running? With the powerglide and 3.08s I'm pulling about 3000 at 60mph I can only imagine putting 4.11s in would really hurt highway performance


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I might suggest as a few others have suggested, a mild hydrallic cam, a SMALL 4bbl carb (500 CFM) an alum. intake manifold and a good tune up with a electronic ignition up grade & coil (use stock GM distributor housing) maybe a slightly better rear end gear say no more than 3:70's and you will actually feel difference. I would not suggest porting and polishing the heads, you MAY improve the performance but not enough for all the effort. and like you said you have never done it before

 

283 have the short stroke 3.00 inch, so some revs don't hurt them; sure mpg can drop a bit higher rpm vs lower, all else being equal. You should be less than 3000 rpm @ 60 mph with 3.08 unless you have a real short rear tire diam. 3000 should be closer to 70-75 mph. You sure you have 3.08 gears? One good thing on the 55-64 Chevy style rearends is the third member can be easily changed. As DDDenny said, simple swap.

I agree on the basic recipe for improved performance as Beaner suggested. If you are willing to change the transmission, you can get a lot better 1st gear with a T350 or 700R4. T350 has the same 1.00 high gear ratio as your PG; but the PG is kind of like taking off in second gear vs the T350. PG 1st gear is 1.76, and the T350 is 2.52, so you can see the T350 will really help in low speeds with seat of the pants performance. The nice thing is the T350 and PG can be swapped real easy, same basic dimensions.

 

I believe it is 3.08 as it was the base gear for an impala. Also, my speedo might not be spot on


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the only way to make a 283 and powerglide feel like a performance motor would be to put it in a dragster. turbo 350 would be the best improvement.

 

a good ignition will help. I put a new Mallory electronic ingestion in my 283 and it helped throttle response as much and any thing we have tried.

 

Take it OUT and GIVE it to ME....
Nice little 283, smooth idle, stock appearance, equals SWEET.

 

I'm not looking for crazy numbers like 300,400,500hp, that's unrealistic. Honestly I'm looking for either getting back lost power to put me back at 195/285 or maybe 250 horse tops. I guess 300 could be achieved but I'm not going to do anything that serious. I don't think asking for 220-240hp out of a 283 is that tall of an order.


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I love that motor !! Back in the day I did lots of stuff to them. They are actually a sweet little motor stock. I used a stock 4bbl manifold on several and since I am old, I still like the 4bbl Rochestor WCFB carbs that were on them as original equipment. We ran one with a Duntov cam, reworked heads, stock dual point and WCFB in a 1955 Chev for beginner dirt track stock car stuff. We had very good results in the 1960's era with it. We later got an adapter to replace the WCFB for Carter AFB carb which was slightly bigger and was easily tuneable.
I realize this is all really old school stuff, but it was all really simple to work on and did not have the look of a "catalog" car......you have a very nice look as is.
If you want to have some fun with cylinder head work, I would suggest buying a set of swap meet heads and "playing" with them as a side project. When you are learning porting, polishing, grinding, stud upgrades etc., you may encounter an "oops" and ruin one of your good original castings.
Later on, if you want, you could easily do a clean up overbore job .060 over and use some low budget replacement pistons and not get crazy on compression increase.
Again, great looking and running traditional motor.....keep up the good work

 

If you want to pull the heads you can use valves with a better shape,Manley for instance,clean up the port pockets and do a really good valve job.That will make a difference you can really feel.Use something like the Victor .030" compressed head gaskets and have the castings milled maybe .010" to make sure they are flat.Between that and the head gaskets you might pick up half a point in compression.I have had good results in small SBCs with the comp cams 262 and 268 series.You can always use a stock cast iron 4bbl manifold.The edelbrock 5-600 carbs work well. I would clean the exhaust manifolds up at the ports about 1\2" deep and clean up the outlets as well.if you want to go to this much trouble you WILL be surprised at the result.If you dont want to do that much work do what Beaner and others said,that will work fine.

 

Ditch powerglide for a 700r4 the 3:1 low gear makes it feel much quicker off the line plus you won't be spinning it to the moon cruising. Drop a mild cam and 4 bbl or tri power on her and enjoy the tire roasting.

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If you're going to cam it up you better address the rocker studs at the same time.
They're pressed in and will pull out after several hi speed shifts.
Water then gets past the ones in the water jacket areas and shit starts happening.
Best is to upgrade to newer performance heads a nice Edlebrock 4 barrel on a hi rise dual plane manifold, and a mild street cam with moderate lift and duration.
A very simple combination to play with.


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Same engine with a cast iron 4 barrel manifold and either a Rochester 4GC or a Carter WCFB had 220/230 HP on who you believe. The heads by that time on the 2 barrel cars were the single triangle over the raised rectangle indicating they were the 4 barrel heads of the 57-up heads. I had that combo in a 53 Chev with a 30-30 Duntov and it was a lot of fun with a 4 speed and 3.55 gears.
With a Rochester fuel injection is was 250 HP and got phoenominal fuel milage. This combo was the Corvette base FI engine. I did this combo in a 65 Chevelle with 3.08's and a powerglide. My wife drove it for 6 yrs that way. 23-25 mpg on the road and 18 in town. Good luck.

 

I see it has an automatic...if you put in a stick, the rear main will leak..100% guarrentee on that.

 

Thanks! I'm actually looking at a 62' 4bbl manifold from a 327 on Craig'slist for $50 that I hope I can get. That'll give it a nice stock look that I'm going for if I do switch manifolds. Also, I found a 72' Satellite parts car (reaaaaally rusted out) that hopefully I can grab the intake/heads off of the 318 it's got so I can practice and give porting a go like you said. That way if I do goof up it's no big deal.


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You can't be serious about the Mopar....why waste time and money on that when knowledgeable guys have given you proven by time solutions that will give the improvements you are looking for? You're spinning your wheels day dreaming.

 

I don't see why teaching my self to do simple porting on heads that I can get for $20 is a bad thing. I even said I'm also getting a stock 4bbl manifold as well.


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I don't see how picking up a set of heads and and intake for $30 just to practice porting on is a bad thing. I'm also getting a 4bbl manifold like I said already and I've put dual exhaust on it.


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Is this a daily driver or weekend warrior? There is no free lunch, especially when you modify a stock car. For example-stiff gears will really make it scoot around town, but at the expense of degrading your road trip manners. A bigger cam will add power in one rpm range and steal it from another. I agree that a th350 or newer automatic is a GREAT change. Remember-you are going to loose some of one of the car's good attributes to increase another. So decide which compromises/gain/loss you are willing to live with, and get to work. A 64 Impala is no lightweight, so keep your expectations reasonable. The 283 that will yank that barge around like a go-kart would have to be so hairy you couldn't/wouldn't drive it on the street. You have already been given all the good answers there are if you intend to just go with bolt-on stuff, or at least keep the engine in the car.