I'm needing a motor to put in my 50 Chevy. I have a 350 trans already, and need to decide whether to go with a rebuilt 283 or rebuilt 350. I have a buddy with a rebuildable 283 who would give me the engine for free. I would have to buy a rebuildable 350 if I went that route. I also have a set of rebuilt heads ready to go that came off a 70's 350, would they work on a 283? What would I gain by going with one over the other? The rear end I have for the car is a camaro 2.76:1 and the car will be just a daily driver. Any advice is much appreciated.
Buy an easy to get and less expensive 350 short block already assembled and use your heads. I believe there may be an issue between the small 283 bore and the larger 350 valves...not sure on that though, I've never tried that swap myself. It might just be with the 2.02 valve heads...but I've seen it mentioned here so its something you NEED confirmation on. With the high gear ratio you want to run and the size of the car, I think the 350 will be way more fun in a daily driver. Now with a lower rear gear and maybe a 700R4 overdrive trans...I think I'd chose the 283 just because I like them and the additional gearing would wake it up a bit for street driving. 283...350. I know what sounds better when you say it!
while both the 283 and the 350 would be fine , the 350 would have more torque..something to think about with a heavy car and 2.76 gears both 283s and 350s are cheaper to rebuild than most other engines..but,the parts for the 350 would be the cheapest. pistons for a 350 are a lot cheaper than 283. you should be able to find a rebuildable 350 for $50-$150 heads for the 350 would bolt to the 283 (not 2.02's , valves would hit the cylinder walls), but depending on which ones you would lower your compression ratio.if you have the 350 heads already done your cheapest way would be the 350..it's easy to put $300-$400 in a pair of heads i do prefer the 283
The cheapest and quickest would be a long block from GM. Last I bought one, it was WAAAYYY cheaper than rebuilding anything. Now, as to your choices, the 283 would be better on fuel, and smoother, but not as much torque. The 350 would be the opposite: worse on fuel, a little rougher, but with more torque. T'were me, I'd buy the new GM, and sell the others on...given that you DID say it would be a daily. Cosmo
Some economic considerations to add into the cost: Open chamber 350 heads are a mediocre choice for the 350, lousy choice for the 283. You'd need fairly expensive pistons to get any compression...and that rear gear is about the some, liveable with a 350, extremely bad choice for the much less torquey 283. 350 would be cheaper to build as all parts are the very cheapest engine parts available, same stuff for 283 costs a good deal more. What I'm saying is that an extra $50 for a 350 core is still cheap...and it is also hard to beat the considerable extra torque in a biggish car, especially with a 3 speed and high rear gear. That being said, hotrodding is the art of the impractical--and a 283 is a lot neater than a 350. If you go that way, go to 305 or small chamber 350 (like 1987 Vette) heads, and lose the 2.whatever gears.
I think it would depend on how good of machine work you can get done in town....do you know someone at a good shop? if not maybe you'd be better off with a new motor instead. Teh 283/th350/2.76 gears would be a nice thrifty daily driver, but not real quick.
Like they always say, "There's no replacement for displacement." It's also almost 75 cubic inches bigger. Pistons will be cheaper for the 350. Probably rod and main bearings, too. (since the 283 will have the small journals--the small journal stuff is more expensive, because there's less of it left, and it's used a lot less compared to the millions of 350s that are in circulation) To get even close to the same power, you'd have to really "cam up" a 283, run higher compression and rev it higher. On the other hand, a nice mild 350 will perform the same, and be more sane. Also, a bigger engine has to work less to move the same amount of weight, so you might not see the fuel mileage benefit you think from a 283. Dress it with script valve covers, an intake with an oil fill tube and a generator, and NOBODY will know the difference. -Brad
If it's an early front mount 283 you can't run the 350TH because you NEED bellhousing side mounts with the front mounts. If you hang a front mount engine just by the tail of an aluminum transmission it will break the bellhousing off the engine. with the later ('58 on) sidemount engines, the mounts are further back on the engine effectively balancing the engine and this is the only reason they get away with just the transmission rear mount. World Products makes what they call a S/R 305 head with 1.94" intakes and only 58cc chambers that fits all the smaller bore blocks. They do this by putting the valves closer together than Chevy did. I'm running them on a SBC 262" Federal Monza block and they "work".
if you want a 350 , get the GM goodwrench 350CI 260HP...i've used many of these , and all where great. at $1359 you can't hardly rebuild one. and you get a warranty http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stor...irect&categoryId=22627&parentCategoryId=10763
I have a 52 Chevy car w/ 2.73's in the rear. I had a mild 283/TH350 in it for a while. Then I put in a mild 350/TH350. Much better... Now I have a 4-speed... As far as anyone knowing the difference... I'd be surprised if more than 1/3 of those registered onthe HAMB could just glance at them and know the difference. That would equal less than 10% of the people at the local cruise, and barely over 0% of the general public. How often do you open you hood?
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