Question for you small block Chevy experts

I've got a bunch of "old school" **** sitting under work benches too in my shop that is outdated **** so I guess I'm one of you older guys too although my post count aint squat either ? I do know this , I just sold a 1968 Camaro with a 9.5 to1 434 C.I.D. SBC with a mild hyd. roller , Brodix heads , and a 4150 style 750 DP that ran mid 10's all day long in street trim and I could drive the damn thing from Victoria to Seguin ( slowly mind you ) , unload my cooler outa the trunk , make some mid 10 p***es , and eat me a ham-n-cheese sandwich on the way home with mayo - tomatoes - and no onions and even crack a few ***es on the trip home from those pesty little Mustangs that you pull up or the Jap Junkers with the Fart cans !!!!!! Still got the engine sitting there waiting for a new home since a guy just had to have that 68 body back worse than I wanted it ! Hell , I think it might just push my new 35 Coupe pretty good but oh wait , I'd have to do some serious grinding and buy some Chevy orange and pop a set of "OLD SCHOOL" exhaust manifolds even have the priviledge to park near you guys with high post counts ???? Poor old Racer32 and me just need to get together and go crush our **** cause it aint worthy ????

 

PS. my 35 coupe has a 1962 327 with 462 "double humps" and it was built in 1970 and the guy actually went to GM and bought a "brand new" T400 from stock with and "old school" Hurst shifter with a Coors Beer Keg Handle on the shifter . "Old School" SW guages , Sun tach , and get this , "PROPANE INJECTED " ! Should I junk all this old **** ?

 

****gy, What would be the "right" set-up for a "traditional" 283? Does it involve 462 heads that never were used on the 283? Now you could argue that the DZ motors in early Z/28's had double-humps, but those motors were built to conform to a sanctioning body's rule structure. The bowtie boys would have run more displacement with that engine if they could have. BTW, from everything I've heard the DZ was a DOG of a street motor...the only REAL Z/28 (a 68) i ever got to drive had the DZ short-block pulled and replaced with a 350. (This was LONG before early z/28's were anything special). My point here is that herd-like devotion to mismatched old-school parts doesn't make you a "traditional" rodder-it makes you a sheep that is gonna get fleeced when it comes time to build a decent-running motor (low-budget or otherwise). I'd bet my cash on Camarokid's big-inch SBC with the Brodix heads over your 7500+ rpm 283 combo in an old-school latenight street race.

 

LOL-why don't we sell our old-school stuff to the kids that want their stuff to look like it was built by their grandpappy (who would have KILLED to get a set of Dart or Brodix heads)? Course, most of my junk's late-60's Poncho stuff that has accessory bolt holes, so I guess my junk's no good...

 

Hey Charlie DeLong! My apologies to you for sideswiping your thread man-build your motor the way you want-not how someone else tells you to.

 

Racer32 , you can bet your bottom dollar if that frame in my 35 was already boxed with a few extra stiffeners added here and there , those 434 parts would be sitting in a new Dart block that isn't grouted and in that coupe by this weekend . Then I'd be hunting for a 9" after I puked that 57 rearend all over Main street after the first hit ! I still have the glide and convertor and a brand new Pro-Bandit and I might even get froggy enough to bolt the new SpeedTech diffusor plate on and giver her a try ! Hell a good 300 shot would help set the rings quite nicely I'd bet !

 

When you get that 283 built up , let me know . I love road trips and this old 327 may have enough *** to get the job done too ? It's had some mild mods itself for 1970 technology . I may have to hook that Propane back up ? LOL

 

Charlie, all arguments aside. Exactly what "look" do you want for the engine. If it is old school High performance with a lot of Bubba factor built in the camel humps would be the way to go but without having hard exhaust seats put in they won't last long for serious street driving. They also as a couple of the guys mentioned won't have a lot of low end torque but will let the engine rev all it wants to providing the cam, intake and exhaust match up.

the suggestion of selling the heads to someone willing to pay the price an getting a set of later heads is probably a more practical suggestion but may not provide th 'wow' factor that you want.

 

Hank Hill would be proud. Doesn't propane have an insanely high octane rating?

 

I think we are all ***uming the heads are all hogged out. If the heads are stock 1.94's and unported I think they would work fine on a 283. The major problem you run into with the small cubic inch engines like the 283 is getting a decent compression ratio. That leaves you with the 462's, the power pac's, or 305 heads. Most of the 462 heads were close to 68cc, and they will drop the compression a little if you compare them to the 305, and the early 896 casting power pac heads. I love the "look" of the camel back heads. Anyone who has been around cars long enough will look at the engine and say "cool". The power pac heads will get you respect, the 305 heads will make me raise my eyebrows and roll my eyes and go on. If you run a hood and it's not a show car I guese who really cares. And ya If I could afford brodex heads on a 434 stroker motor I'd go find me a cherry 32 3w body and drop a 283 in it. Fuel injection and chrome make me ill too. I do respect the people into the new stuff, but it's just not me.
Jeff

 

Thanks to all of you for the education!

Charlie

 

I Heart Racer32 and CamaroKid.

another thing to consider with the 283...realizing you're probably in the "Well, I've got it, might as well run it" phase. a Pal of mine has one in a coupe with dual quads on it. as I recall, he too is running some "smogger era" 305 heads with "little"1.88's. I found a Cam card for an Isky 260 Mega cam (which is a bit steep...but it is a standard.) and open headers-lakes style.

it's pretty quick. it's not big block fast, but you will still have fun with it. he got his 100 m.p.h. patch in it his first p*** out. (cool!)

OR.
Put a blower on it and have a good time killing it while you build a 400.

 

and some industrial/heating only blends have a fairly high sulfer content as well...which cushions valves. and it doesn't raise cylinder pressures as high as Nitrous. the only downfall I have seen is build up on the back side of the exhaust valves- but that was on a motor that used it with trash gas, and was pretty well "****ered up" to begin with.

 

My 283 in my T roadster has them heads onit.

Came with the engine, from the last guy. the engine runs great,
running with an edlebrock1406. and points and lakes headers. Ya don;t need a torque monster in a little car.

I got an iron head AMC 304 that's got 100,00 hard miles since a valve job on "soft" seats. i wouldn't worry about that either.

ya got the heads, use 'em. I still like to see them when I look at a Chevy

 

First of all i know that new heads do breathe a little better yea i'll admit it but really how much is needed and on my 302 i'm stuck with large chamber heads (World) to get down to 10 to 1 because of the gas, i'm still gunna daily drive it in my 64 camino but i hate to see cars set up that look good and old only to have my stomach turned by a newer motor why even screw with a 283 if your going to put modern heads on it? if you want a nice traffic motor go a warm 305 it's cheaper and way more torque which is far more practical and yea i realized if they had the stuff then they would have run it but they didnt. Really how much is breathing going to be a problem on a 283 anyway, racers in the early 60's punched 283's out over 450 cubes and were able to use those heads with a serious port job

It ran fine then other than octane whats changed?

 

I just thought of one more option. If the block is 1962 or newer you could bore it to std 4". This would give you a lot more options to add cubes. I turned the mains down on a 350 crank one time to build a 350 out of a 283 Chevy II block. It worked good. Engine really worked good. Or you could use a small journal 327, but I'll bet you would save enough on the master overhaul kit for a 350 to pay for half the machine work.
Jeff

 

Punched out a 283 to 450 cubes in the 60's ? ****gy , you need to quit smoking your dirty underwear before you get on line dude ! If you're a Viet-Nam Vetran , tell them your outa meds !

 

450 cubes? WOW

 

You're welcome. And again-sorry for sidetracking your thread. If you decide to use the 462 heads, get'em magnafluxed before you spend a dime on them. They are prone to cracks straight across the combustion chamber between the valve seats. If they check good and haven't been ground on or milled, consider setting them on top of a mild 350 with a tri-power manifold and progressive linkage. Someone else mentioned the difference in price between rebuild kits for a 350 and 283...you might be about the same in the end if you buy a 350 block on the cheap. The motor would still look "traditional" and would run better than the same heads on the 283. ****gy would probably never even know the difference.

Oh, and here's a link to some REAL experts: http://www.racingheadservice.com/Information/Technical/RacerFAQ/DoubleHumpHeads.asp

 

Oh man... Got an old set of the Pro Action heads... Smoothest "as cast" heads I had ever seen!

 

dont know what direction your build is going but the vortec heads (think 2000 GM trucks) will build you much more power than any of the 60's-70's heads. unless you really want the double hump look I'd sell the 462 heads, depending on the date code they could sell for enough to replace them with the vortec's. The port shape and volume will work perfectly for your 283, find a set off a 4.8 liter truck, they go very cheap as most people are looking for the 6.0 liter heads.

If you want to stay traditional you should be able to trade out the 462's for another set of double humps with smaller runners and get some $ in the deal.

I just gave away a set of good 305 heads from an 85 z28 that had had a recent valve job, guy running demo derby cars I work with. I have a few extra cast iron non egr spread bore intakes if you want one.