Technical Let's talk 283s again...

I've never had any trouble finding good power pack heads. Around here people practically give them away. And in any event I've not seen much difference between power pack and two barrel heads.

Anyway I'll be starting on a 283 rebuild myself soon. I have a complete 57 power pack 283 I'm going to build into a loose spec 57 dual quad 283 for a model a

 

My injected 350 on methanol actually idled at about 700 rpm, and was reasonably driveable. You had to get the revs up to start rolling, but with the right gearing, 5.49 rear gears, and the Muncie M22 it was doable. But remember that was on methanol, open headers, 2400 pounds give or take a pound or so. And relatively consistent weather conditions, i.e. summertime, 70s to 80s f, and we didn't race in the rain!

Would I try it on the street? Maybe. But not for very long...

 

To this day, this is a mystery to me. We also ran a 429/460 in a Ford and got protested at a win at Islip. The tech guy looks under the air cleaner... aha... no Holley 4-barrels. We said, too bad that is a Holley 4412 2-barrel.

The rules were amended on the spot, no HOLLEYS at all. The car was just as fast the next week with an Autolite 2-barrel.

 

I just drug home 2 more 283’s yesterday. I use the KB pistons from summit. The hypo pistons work fine as long as the machinist hones to the correct clearance. They use a very loose piston to wall clearance. As long as you don’t pinch a ring they are awesome for the price. The last time I talked to JE about a custom piston set for a 283
I think the price was north of $800-900 and 90 days out.

I have one at my machinist buddy’s shop now with a set of the these I found while at a guys house buying other stuff. Going in the #2 dragster that I’m trying to talk my wife into driving.

 

The KB pistons you mentioned, are they the hyperutectic pistons? Can you post Summit's or KBs part number? I'm contemplating flat tops and heads with 56-58 cc chambers to get into the 9.5:1ish range. A slight dome would help, but nothing too tall.

 

That’s correct. The KB Hypereutectic. Here’s the link…
https://www.summitracing.com/search?SortBy=BestKeywordMatch&SortOrder=Ascending&keyword=283 pistons

they have a bad wrap for breaking but that’s usually from either….

A- pinched ring and it breaks the ring land or
B- Detonation breaks the piston.

they are fairly finicky because of how brittle they are but if you stay away from both A & B above they work fine and are good to 500hp according to my machinist buddy.

also, they should be kept on the loose side of piston to wall clearance.

the only thing that sucks is the ring groove size available. They won’t accept any of the new tech thin ring designs. I’m going to try and run total seals stepped rings. They call them “advantage” rings.

https://www.totalseal.com/rings/advantage-rings

Not sure how it’s going to work out with the Hypereutectic pistons but I’m going to find out.

 

Here is my 283, I rebuilt it on the nice and cheap in my garage with no machine shop work (Don't tell anyone lol), My neighbor who is a gold chainer muscle car guy is freaking out because one of the cylinders has some rust staining... I told him it would be fine "I took the dingleberry hone to it" lol.
For the record the sketchy engine stand in the picture held the engine the whole way I was pretty skeptical That it was up to the task but I digress.
If the engine fires up and runs good enough it will go in the '31 Model A that is in my avatar. It will be backed by a t5 out of an '87 Chevy Astro van.
I did rings on its .40 over pistons, new bearings, a pretty aggressive cam (not wild but definitely will have a lope) that I can't remember the specs to off the top of my head and some power pack heads (that a week after I bought them I got a set of 2.02 valve heads from a 1967 327 But I just can't bring myself to take it back apart and throw away brand new head gaskets to put on the way better heads)
I would imagine the 283 that I built it's got to be in the 250 horse range maybe 300 if I'm lucky. Hopefully it will sound great being a stick shift with a
This picture is a little old as the engine is now complete and bolted to the transmission and has some hooker swap meet special shorty headers (painted white of course), the intake is a stock four barrel and I bought a Corvette style air cleaner that seeing it in person I'm not a big fan of so I might change it to a more basic '50s car 4 barrel air cleaner. I was trying to go with the look thought it was just pulled out of a boneyard and slammed in a model A and the air cleaner is way too flashy.
Once I get the truck finished I might then play dress up with the engine or may even run a different 283. But for now all I want to do is get the truck drivable I knew it would cost some bucks to build a hot rod from scratch, all those little missing model a bits really add up and only so much of it can I find it the swap meets.

 

Thanks for the information. Especially the rings. And the Summit link showed RaceTec pistons. Went to the website, and they have forged pistons for the 283! So you pointed me in the right direction. Exactly what I was looking for.

 

no problem. I didn’t know about the Racetec pistons. I may be ordering some as well!

 

That’s awesome. It’ll run fine with a little rust pitting. It’ll just hold more oil. This is what Hot Rodding is all about, not spending a months salary at the machine shop.
I have a few of those sketchy Hobo Freight stands as well. Just don’t take a nap under it.

 

Dang! I'll add a thank you as well. I had not heard of RaceTec. So their flat top is .030 over, 1.800 CH, (9.2 CR with 58cc chamber), machined for 1.5mm/1.5mm/3mm ring set and includes fitted pins with lock rings. Catalog shows weight of 540g, I wonder if that includes the pins. If so, that would make them about 100g lighter than the KB hypers.

 

Machine shop gave me a rough cost estimate to rebuild my 283. As there's not much wrong with the cylinders I'm seriously considering a DIY hone job instead. you're pretty close on the month's salary.

 

Yeah, prices at machines shops have gone nuts. Especially if they went out and bought the latest and greatest Rottler push some buttons and walk away machines. Don’t get me wrong, some engines warrant that stuff but 95% don’t. I still can’t sleep after getting the bill for the last Dart Block for my dragster.

I found a guy selling a Van Norman 777 and a sunnen hand hone set up just so I can do my own Hot Rod stuff. If it was good enough for grumpy Jenkins it’ll be good enough for me. Just have to learn how to use it.

 

Do it. I see sunnen or other name brand hones for sale all the time on Craigslist and egay.l for cheap. Find a junk block and practice. Dingle balls have their place but only should be used for 5-10 strokes in my uneducated opinion.

 

If I were really crazy, I'd get an old Van Norman boring bar up and running again. It was given to me 2 or 3 years ago. That and an old fashioned rigid hone...

Well I'm crazy, but other things keep finding their way to the top of the to do list...

 

I also have a Lincoln with a 460 that I have pulled the engine out more times than I care to admit in the 27 years I have owned it and I put it on the 1000 LB engine stand (the Little stand with four wheels Not three like in this picture) and it just slowly bent over, One day I noticed the engine was pointed slightly downward but I thought "ahhh it'll be fine", go to work for 4 or 5 days then I go back to screwing around in my garage that weekend and I noticed my engine's harmonic balancer was almost pointing at the ground. The stand didn't technically break but The vertical 2x3 ish box tubing had somehow bent over without buckling It almost looked like it was hydroformed. Needless to say it went in the scrap trailer after dealing with the weight of a fully dressed cast iron 460.
So fast forward to recent times I bought another engine stand After that happened one of those big dual leg 1 ton stand from Harbor freight (This was also years ago probably 15 or 20 now) It has been wonderful unless you want to rotate an engine over then it's all you can muster.
I was going to use that engine stand but go figure It's got a dead 460 on it from that same Lincoln Continental. I told myself this is going to be the last time I do the engine for that car so no more pick a part engines, craigslist engines or anything like that I might actually spend a few dollars on it (notice I said a few) So it has patiently been sitting on my engine stand for the last 4 years well I screw around with slightly older cars that are more my style (I really like the Lincoln I've had it since I was a teenager but I beat the hell out of that car and saying it's wore out is an understatement).
The engine stand you see in the picture came with The 283 attached to it, well most of it, it was disassembled part way when I got it. I think a small block Chevy is on the upper edge of what one of these three-wheeled engine stands can hold up and God forbid if you roll it around the garage sketchy is the best term I can come up with but That too is part of the fun and I will be damned if I buy a another engine stand that can support the weight of a V8.

I am all about doing all the work myself on everything I own (especially cars) in my garage on a shoe string budget, As I've gotten older I will now spend the money to take things to that next level but I will never have a street rod or a brand new vehicle. I like polishing turds too much.
Back to the 283 in the picture I told the neighbor it will be just fine and if it has an issue it'll just burn a little oil but honestly I don't think it will burn much oil It's such a minut issue. Honestly with new rings and bearings I would imagine this will be one of the best running vintage engines I've ever messed with since everything else I just usually clean it up and bolt it right back together with fresh gaskets and seals.

 

First my disclaimer. This is a generalization Obviously without seeing your particular engine I can't give you my two cents accurately... That being said I may be formally ASE certified (it expired) But as a mechanic I have done some relatively sketchy stuff on my own cars and Derek from vice Grip garage before he had money is the way I like to roll So use your own discretion when taking my advice.
You will be just fine if you install some new rings on the Pistons that came out of the engine just make sure the ring end gap is proper and you measure it where the rings never actually ride That way you get an accurate measurement, too tight of a ring gap and you will leave the top of the piston edge in the cylinder, you also need to remove the ridge the top of the cylinder for the same reason.

Obviously if the cylinder has serious damage or there is a huge ridge (Not something you can barely feel but I'm talking like .10-20ths You probably should get it bored and new Pistons but if it has no ridge or almost minuscule ridge which most small block Chevys tend to have (It's very rare I see a small block with a serious ridge) I would personally just inspect the Pistons really good to make sure there's no cracks in them or anything like that and then just clean everything together use a decent cylinder hone and put it all back together it'll be just fine You're not building a race car you're building a fun car.
If you plan on lead footing it everywhere you go the way you would have drove when you were 20 years old it's probably smart to do a proper rebuild, If you are just going to build a nice cruiser that occasionally you might jump on a garage rebuild more than likely be just fine.

 

Not the 283, but old mangy, the 327 that's eventually going into the Whatever project. But what is holding up the engine is an engine stand that I made years ago (1972) for the first small block I ever reassembled. It's overkill because I used what was available in the scrap rack at the shop I worked for back then.

It's held big blocks, small blocks, a flathead, a couple of 4 bangers that it didn't even know they were on it, v-6s. It's been in western Massachusetts, Columbus, Ohio Ann Arbor Michigan, and now 51 years later, upstate New York. The only things that have been replaced over the years are the bolts to hold the engine.

And when its turn comes, it'll be holding the 283. And now that I have some parts sources identified, I can see it in my mind's eye. But that's for another day...

 

My 283 is running nice for what it is. Over 70passes down qtr. Runs nice, reliable, great oil pressure.

Houchins Machined
0.050 over KB flat tops, Aline bored mains, decked square. Balanced, GM intake, EDEL 1405 carb, Mild cam, .450lift hyd. Houchins picked out cam.
302 crank, Camaro pan and windage tray.

3800lb wagon with driver.
Best so far 14 52 @ 94mph. Matched best ET with FT 327 that was tired. Thru mufflers, and air cleaner. My final goal is 13.95 @96mph.
Put it in lighter car....13s out of 220hp, 8.5:1 cr.

 

What transmission and rear gear? It's moving pretty good!

 

And it’s the scarce Chevy II block as well.

 

Yep, told my brother he should throw it in his 66 Nova. 13s with a 283 with less gear.

Has a nice lopey idle, runs on pump gas.

 

Ran Vega trans with 4.56, then Muncie with 5.38. 5.38 was better in 4th gear.
Not hitting it all the way off line, this year 4th gear slider was hanging up.
I may put power packs on to get compression up. Probably where my MPH is lost.
040 heads, my street stock heads, are close to 68cc. They just run well, been on 3x motors.

 

Nice! Now tell us about the avatar picture engine. That looks interesting...

And if you need to find a home for those heads, I've got a 283 that could use more compression

 

These power pack heads, had an.old machine shop tag on them. They have slightly larger intake valves. I'm removing light surface rust, oiling, and will check seats this Winter. I have several intake combos to try out, want to put WCFB or AFB on it.

 

If you want to see 283s, 265s, 327s, checkout videos for Tri Five Nationals.
2022. @8.0min. Pair behind us running NHRA legal engines.
Jr Stock team is pushing to be correct carbs, Intakes, builds to be 1968 NHRA class correct.

 

Tri Five National Stock Configurations.

 

The straight axle cars, especially the fugly green one, were wild. So how many times do you think he got into the walls with that thing?

 

The Jr's are making good power with OEM carbs, and cast iron intakes. Bullet makes the 097 cheater cam. Many run in the 13s running flat top pistons. CP Carrillo also makes the NHRA legal pistons.

 

Rings and head gaskets cost more than a 350. All other parts were about the same price. I used 40-over forged pistons, 300hp 327 cam, Winters intake manifold. Nice running engine.