283 or 327 Small Block?

Wow. Guess I should not have melted down those s**** covers to make key chains and ash trays....








(kidding)

 

You have to calculate how much you are willing to spend to redo a 283 or 327 vs a 350.

The early heads are not setup for unleaded gas (If OZ only has unleaded now)
You would have to have hard seats installed in most cases. also figure that you will have to have the guides replaced and replace the valves.
The majority of 283 and 327 blocks will have to be bored at this stage.
The early ones used a canister oil filter that are a pain to change the filter on. They do look rather nifty chromed though.
Myself I'd probably go with a late 70's early 80's 350 and then decorate it up with the early intake and valve covers.
A bit over 20 years ago I built a 307 for my sons 70 Chev pickup. We ran the 307 with 283 power pack heads and a 300hp 327 intake. I picked up a mid 80's Z28 cam and lifters (slightly used speed shop take out) at the Portland swap meet for 25.00. With a Spread bore Holley that truck blew the doors off a lot of cars running a compound 4 speed and 4.11 rear end and still pulled 16 mpg in a full sized pickup. If I had had early valve covers on it I could have easily p***ed it off as a power pack 283 or low performance 327.
There are a million combinations out there to pick from, I just wouldn't pay a premium just to be able to say that I had such and such a combination unless only that will do for you.

I would pay a bit extra for a really nice set of finned Corvette valve covers though as they were almost required equipment on any 283 swapped into any hotrod in the late 50's early 60's. Chev probably sold 100 pairs of valve covers for every Corvette they sold in those days.

 

Deuce roadster, thanks a million for all that stuff. I have a friend who's selling off three 283 motors, and yes 327s are more difficult to find. He has one which he had 60 over 500 miles ago before blowing the crank for what I'd say is $220 US, the others are runners for about $400 US, but would need to be punched out a lil anyway. In Australia the early staggered valve cover bolt pattern was available in cars till the mid 60's, we're always a lil behind it seems.

 

Ok, I know, opinions are like ***holes, and everybodys got one, so here's mine! Build a 350 for gas milege, a 400 for a race engine, a 305 for s****, but a 283 or a 327 were made for Hot Rods!