Rear tire diameter and RPM? I'm loving the idea of my a833 but most of the Street/Strut action is an hour away from home... -rick
26.5 inch tall rear tire. 2950 rpm's at 70. I once drove my 61 from Oklahoma to Minnesota at over 100 mph most of the way with no problems, yes I had a good reason, please do not ask
So this will probably very unpopular but, hell I'm old and dont care. This is a Blueprint 430hp 383. My point is, with some creativity anything can be made to look old/nostalgic. With a car as heavy as a 64 Impala a decently built flatop 350 with a decent cam and decent heads will give you what you are looking for. Hell my dad replaced the 327 in his 64 Impala SS with a 350 in 1973! Retire that little 283, that has served so well to under the bench till you can build a fun little 30s coupe or roadster around it. My .02 Ps edit: that Vette ran and stopped like nobody's business when we were done with it and and at first glance it looked completely stock.
Back in the day, guys racing with 283 s in the larger bodies (62-65) took the bore out +.060 to 292 and used those half diamond castings. Those were not powerpac. They were 250hp 327 heads. They had smaller intake valves than the (double hump) 300hp 327 engines (1.94 intakes) . If you cc your combustion chambers I think you'll find they are probably around 61 cc. 1957,58 powerpac heads were around 57 or 58 cc. Also the 250hp heads had larger intake ports I believe. If you could find a set of 283+.060 F.I pistons with those 250hp heads or Zero deck the block and use flat top pistons. Either way you should be able to use 1.94 intake valves.
The Jalopy Journal
