Technical Let's talk 283s again...

I have desire to build 302, flat top, with power packs, or TF DHC heads, 097 cam. The CR gets a little sketchy, or fall back to iron double humps.
(Keep vintage appearance)

 

Cylinder Heads: Anyone with 283 cyl head casting flow numbers?

 

Don't skimp on machine work

 

These days it's Boyd's Motorwerks in Gloversville, N.Y. Which reminds me, I have a 327 to get over there soon... been dragging my feet for no good reason. That led to the 283, and we can all see where that's leading to...

It's a sickness I tell you. A sickness!

 

Come on man.......FOCUS!

 

I know, right? I'm making progress on the Whatever project, however slowly. I really would like to know how Marty does it. You look at his projects, and there's what, 3, 4, 5 cars at a time. I put it down to I spent so much time behind a desk. That and a body that just doesn't work sometimes.

 

Yeh, I should talk!

 

Hmmmm
I have built a lot of 283'3 and more 327's but I have to say the hey its cool to be old wears off fast the first time you get into something that looks almost exactly the same but has a extra 200 HP and a ton more torque and runs on pump gas .
I still have the 327 I raced 42 years ago on the stand rebuilt . Id have to detune it with big chamber heads to run it on the street as its almost 13-1 .

Unless the rest of the car is 100 percent or close old school Ill pick something like 350 , 383 or even a 400 that's about the same cost wise if your doing machine work especially if its got a hood and fenders . I have a 413 SBC I'm hoping to get in the altered that should be 600 HP or so with the sprint car heads I have .

Was at show last year and a guy was bragging up his 27 roadster because it had a 282 and not a damn 350 . Now how that mattered when it had a fibergl*** body and turbo 350 and billet windshield posts and a rear end out of a s10 I really can't get my head around. He had a nice car and im sure it went fine but when everything else in it was new it made little sense to me .

The 57 Vette is getting a 383 soon with a hyd roller cam and will make around 450 HP on pump gas and Im going with a OD transmission ( haven't decided yet ) . Its about the 5th engine I have had in it and it had a 427 BB in it before me . I doubt it will be the last engine it gets . But I need to to run 75 to 80 on the interstate all day long and do it with ease and I want it faster / quicker than it is
.
There is a late model some what built .060" forged piston steel crank 307 CI with 194 462 ported heads in it currently that runs just fine and makes more than any 283 did in 57 . I could dublicate the same engine on a 282 block . Its still to slow and im at the edge of being OK on pump gas .
In the last 30 years I think maybe 3 people have mentioned that I had a later model engine in my 57 vette and only one noticed it had bosses for side mounts and no road draft tube both . Other than the larger dampener , the side bosses and the road draft tube that I could fake and the PVC I added thats hidden 98% will not know or care .
Its only because sites liek this have made people more aware of saving history and or duplicating it that more peopel actually care ow than say 15 year ago



If I had a old original build and all the right stuff then sure id go small journal SBC but id still likely build a 327 or a 301 or even a 307 .060 over on a 283 block if the crank fits . I appreciate the guys with early correct cars and the tri 5s that race 283's and have a ton of early speed equipment very much but I not stuck on the HAMB rules on every car I have .

my gl*** 23 or 27 may get a 327 because its sitting there but if I had to spend a couple grand ( easy to do today ) for a fresh engine with machine work I'm going to go as big as I can . If i ahd a early Hamb correct steel body car with early stuff id absolutely go early 283 or flathead or this 331 hemi I have here . The way I see it is the body is a fake as is the frame and most else on it why care about the year of the engine when 98% of the parts that make it unique like say a Ridge Runner ram or a 57 2x4 intake will still fit .

More people getting it up and running sometimes out ways the year the block was made IMO .

Its a shame the 283 dont have the piston selection like they used to there needs to be some cheap 302 flat tops for the ones that can take that over bore or how about some 80 overs.

I know this may not be a popular opinion here but its how I feel.

 

Valid argument. As you said about gl*** t buckets with billet stuff and other items, the Whatever project is certainly an unique mashup of eras, as I call it a track roadster crossed with a DIRT modified. I have considered a crate engine for exactly the same reasoning you have pointed out. It's ultimate engine is NOT going to be the 283, but rather old mangy, a 1968 327 block. It's the same block used in 350s that year. And it's getting a roller cam, new heads (probably aluminum, those TFS fast as cast double hump aluminum heads. Look old, has the heat rejection rate of aluminum). That has some advantage in reducing the tendency of preignition/detonation. And the fast burn combustion chamber shape.

Being a light car, I don't need huge displacement. I'll probably build a stroker 327. That's a nice way to say a 350, but it is okay to say a stroker 327 here. That's all because the 327 has a cast crank. I just can't put a lot of time and money into a cast crank engine.

So you ask, why the 283 at all? I've got a hankering to see what can be built these days but using many of the old parts I've got in the garage, and upgrading where appropriate. It's end use? Not saying yet, still collecting parts for Son of Whatever, aka Sonny. But it'll probably have Hilborns, Vertex magneto, solid roller, heads tbd.

This thread has helped with parts sources. It was good to find out about the forged pistons. And there's other odds and ends to source: for instance, head gaskets. I still have to find a source for a gasket with the correct bore size. 305 gaskets are too small, and the rest are sized for 4 inch plus bores! 3.905??? Haven't found them yet.

So is it smart to build a 283? For that matter the 327? Crate engines are affordable, have warranty coverage, make decent power, run on pump fuel, can be dressed to appear to be of the era, and probably a lot of other factors. I can only answer for me. For my purpose, yes.

 

This year 2023, there were approx 30 Jr's at Tri Five Nationals. More being built, goal to be 1968 Correct. An early article was found listing which models were optimum for cl***es. My 210 4dr wagon 205hp fell into N/S. 210hp with corvette cam. Then fun part is look up record for cl***, and try and get there using as many correct parts as you can. Not a lot of money, but a lot of fun doing it.

 

283 waiting in the wings to go in my '57 Chevy pickup. '58 truck block, PowerPak heads, Fenton tri-power intake. Have some aluminum Corvette valve covers for it too.

 

I could give it a good home. I'm just saying...

 

Time for an update. Got a set of stagger bolt valve covers for the 283. Got them on yesterday. A little more appropriate for the engine. Here it is in all its glory. So thanks to the collective knowledge here, I was able to check out a lot of the parts needed to build it the way I'm considering. Forged pistons, small journal connecting rods, and other ***orted bits and bobs.

And even got better at using the search engine to find stuff. And that's a bad thing...

I looked at powerpack heads for sale, 305 heads, even read about the aluminum Vette heads just before the reverse cooling fiasco. This led to aftermarket heads. World Products SR 305 heads, in iron, Trick Flow small bore aluminum heads, the choices are many, the questions even more. Most of the heads have sub 60 cc chambers, good for getting the compression up. Late heads not traditional and hard to hide it.

So what path on heads, I haven't decided yet. Open for suggestions and opinions. I will, however take any powerpack heads off someone's hands... just saying!

 

I got a set of PP heads here in bama.

probably stupid shipping to NY.

 

Where in NY are you?

 

Only an idiot would pay more $$$$$ for less HP








I am that idiot.

 

I resemble that statement! We can start a club. Sort of a reverse Mensa. I bet you and I won't be the only members...

 

Near Saratoga Springs.

 

Commonly called "Uppa US"!
Dave, let's get crack'n on that 327, or as my pal used to call 283's.........
Vega motors.

 

You know how you make plans to get something done on any given day, but then something happens and you say, "Well there's always tomorrow" but then something else comes up to be dealt with and this continues to happen for weeks on end and barely a day goes by that you have the best intentions to get back on track, but it never seems to work out, causing even more delays?

Yeah, it's been that kind of year! But I promise I'll get the 327 to the shop soon. No, I really will! And I have a round tuit!

 

Yeh, I'm so guilty of putting things off my wife says I should start a chapter of Procrastinators Anonymous!

 

So we combine that with the reverse Mensa Anthony and I have in mind and we'll get a club that people will be waiting to join. No really, they'll keep putting it off until tomorrow.

 

Agree....
Build what you like, dream... I like these Olds, Buicks, Pont, in-lines too, adds flair at the shows..

 

So building Austin A-series engines doesn't seem unlikely to you! It's been called the small block chevy of the British motoring enthusiasts. The basic engine dates back to the early 50s, with a whopping 800-ish cc displacement, or for us US numbers nerds, approximately 48 cubic inches of fire breathing... well, not very much more power than a Briggs and Stratton lawnmower engine.

Yup, I also have a soft spot for the unusual engines. Fr'instance, take the 1963 Jeep Tornado engine. 230 inches, single overhead cam, crossflow 12 port head, hemispheric combustion chambers. The cam only had 6 lobes, operating both the intake and exhaust on a common lobe. Probably not a great design for hotrodding. Can you imagine the cost of grinding a new profile? But I'd love to try...

But first the 283 and 327, one for the Whatever project and the other for a yet to be declared and fully defined son of the Whatever project, colloquially referred to as Sonny.

Back to the 283, I am still in the decision making process, with heads being up in the air. And that is one of the primary choices that will help flesh out the rest of Sonny.

 

283 power packs, update with hardened ex seats, should work fine. Keep 9.25 CR.. nice driving power. Endless Intake options...

Best castings
898
520 < highest power output.

 

Are those the complete casting numbers or just the last 3 digits? And do either one have the staggered valve cover bolt holes. I'm kind of hooked now that I have a set of the stamped covers with the Chevrolet script on them. That may become a driving force behind my decision on the choice of heads. Not the best reason, but hey, I've got other engines that can get really good heads...

 

My 327

 

Show off! I like it! And those headers in the background! My only change would be the Corvette valve covers I've got in the ba*****t. I've been dragging them around since the 90s, when a friend gave them to me. He was restoring his 57 fuelie Vette, putting together a correct numbers matching 283. And the later straight across bolt heads, a set of 462 castings. They were not the right parts so of no value to him.

It really is a sickness I tell you. The stuff that I have been dragging around the country with me for the last 5 decades...

 

https://www.mortec.com/castnum.htm

All casting numbers and detail here. They have years produced, and performance, some applications. Go to a big SWAP MEET or heads your looking for are quite cheap except 2x castings you don't need.

Staggered valve cover bolt holes, are early castings. A few have performance potential.

 

In the late 1980’s we found an SBC sitting in the gr*** in the middle of Commercial Avenue in east Brentwood. We had never seen the Chevrolet script valve covers before so we scooped it up because it was cool looking and mostly complete. Some time later my buddy blew the 350 in his Chevelle and decided to plop in the mystery script engine. Turns out it was a 283 and a really fun little engine that ran great. He eventually replaced it with a 383 stroker and sold the 283