Engine opinions

[Coupeguy2001]

If you want reliable engine with a little get up and go, you can put a mild RV cam in the 283, get a set of power pak heads polished and ported, and a cleanup bore with Iron rings, silicone seals, and The right stuff on your pan and timing cover, and intake, pertronix points eliminator, Edelbrock 2101 intake, and a Holley economaster 4 barrel, and let 'er rip.
done it about 30 times, and every time, it was a successful build.
You can upgrade the heads if you want, but be mindful of the compression.
Iron headed engines can't tolerate more than 8.75 compression on today;s gas.
91 doesn't mean 91.
Not when they were designed for 100.

What I did on my 57 was to go to a wrecking yard, and buy an 88 corvette engine with the 4+3 trans, and re-ring the 350 with bearings and seals, and it's a reliable 300 horse engine with the Marine full roller cam. Torque is right up there at 360. It's the same cam in the HT383 crate motor from Chevy.
starts and runs good. Old school small block with some punch.
Used a carb instead of the TPI fuel injection, but someday, that may change.

[62lwbc10]

I went with a crate 350/290. I wouldn't recommend this motor as I had to do a hell of a lot of work to it to make it a decent truck motor with some torque.
I put Dart aluminum heads on it to get better flow and up the compression, Sanderson headers, Holley 670 and a high rise aluminum manifold. Stock cam is decent and actually a little lumpy, the truck sounds kinda mean with flowmasters if you like the drone (which I do). With a worked TH350 and a decent 2200 stall converter it's fun and making around 335 HP which is stupid and more than enough with the stock rear. I have to be careful with the pedal as she is prone to breaking free...

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by Jesse Z

Everyone over 55 years old: 283

Everyone under 55 years old: LS

I'm 62. My '55 had a 283, I'm swapping in an LQ4 6.0, 4l85e and Ford 8.8 limited slip rearend. So age has nothing to do with it. My 283 could have been rebuilt and made to run very well. But it wasn't going to produce anywhere near the power or the mileage, not to mention the life and reliability the LS will.

"Old-vehicle-with-more-modern-more-powerful-engine. Isn't this THE recipe for a hotrod? (I mean, unless you're on the HAMB - where there are hundreds; if not thousands, of Model T's, A's, Deuces, 30's, 40's and 50's cars running SBC's and BBC's, but NEVER mention putting an LS in your vehicle or those guys have a fatal aneurysm!)

[1project2many]

I went with a crate 350/290. I wouldn't recommend this motor as I had to do a hell of a lot of work to it to make it a decent truck motor with some torque.

In the wrong application it really isn't a strong engine. Use with numerically higher gears (3.73 and up) or advance the cam 3-4 degrees.

These days I'd opt for a hydraulic roller cam if possible.

[62lwbc10]

Agreed. As I said I put a fair amount of money in mine to wake it up. I'm not looking for gobs of power (I have big block chevelle for that). 300 HP in my truck with stock suspension is plenty for me. A cam swap would wake it up even more

[Coupeguy2001]

I have an 89 corvette 350 with a marine cam, and a corvette 4+3 trans with 342 rear in my truck.
I can burn the tires all day, and with the overdrive, I get almost 20 miles per gallon if I keep my foot out of it.
I used to have a 327 in it.
The 350 works less, and yields more gas mileage, and more power with just a cam change.
Your 283 would need better pistons, better cam, intake, distributor, new heads,and a stroked crank to even approach the 350 power output.
The problem with the 283, is that they quit making the around 1965. The 283 parts aren't the mainstream chevy engine parts for over 30 years.
The parts cost more. more than double of 350 engine parts.
If you want the Look, and have a 283 nostalgic effect, run with it. re-ringing a 283 is about $500.
The 283 has pushed chevvies millions of trouble free miles. It's a good engine, but when cars got bigger, they needed more cubes, and that's why chevy has a bunch of newer engines available since 1962.
It's your build. do what you want.

If you are thinking I want an LS engine, but can't afford it,
You can buy an engine and trans for less than a $1000. rebuild that 283, and it's more than that. plus you get a computer controlled trans with it.
However you go, the LS is going to take more work, but there is a high tech Gee Whiz factor to that swap.
There is a frame modification that you are going to have to get done, and it's best to pull all of the front sheet metal and the cab to get it done. And it's going to take a lot of time.
In my world, that isn't possible any more, so I went with the 1st generation small block. Lots of parts available, and cheap prices, and it gets the job done.

[Port&PolishMan]

327 with Stroker Kit bringing it up to 347 Cu. In .

Or a 350 Bored to 355 CU IN. - 357 Cu Inches ..

Roller Cam - Roller Timing Chain - 10.50 Compression ..

Currently getting 14.9 Mpg with Final Gear of 5:14 and a 1:1 Trans

Looking at 4:11 or Possible Over_Drive ..
4:11 might bring up Mpg 15.9 Mpg -16.9 Mpg
Over Drive might 17.5 Mpg -18 Mpg ..

Anyone Installed OD - see what type of MPG Increases ?