283 Build Advice

[Sam63c10]

hello All im the owner of a 63 c10 and am located in the UK,

Good small block engine are hard to come by over here in the UK, lots of very tired 305's but not much else for sale over here, evrything needs a rebuild! but have managed to find a 283 small block to go into my truck.

The truck has a manual 3 speed with overdrive.

This is the first Motor ive completely rebuilt, and could do with some pointers.

Im not building the Motor for speed or all out power, just want a strong running motor thats going to let me keep up with modern traffic, give me half decent fuel mileage, and put a smile on my face once in a while

Ive stripped the engine down, It is a 1966 2 bolt main truck motor, with power pack heads.

My plan is to rebuild what i have, add a vintage edelbrock c3bx manifold that i already have and a edelbrock 500cfm carburettor.
The engine i stripped, heads require guide work, new valves, and a skim. Crank is very good with next to no wear. Bores are worn and will require a rebore.
Im about to order all the parts to rebuild and befoe i do id like to ask some experts for some advice
My questions are,

1) Will a 283 give any kind of performance in a c10 truck?

2) If so should i opt for an upgraded camshaft if so what sort of grind would suit my application?

3) Ive found a pair of 520 powerpack heads fully rebuilt with new valves, guide sleeves, hardend seat inserts and skimmed ready to go, are they a decent head?

4) Should i bite the bullet and purchase a 327 crank (availabe locally) and Over-bore the block to 4'' to give me a 327 displacement?

thanks for any help, my thoughts are that ill need to buy pistons etc anyway and pay for the boring work so an overbore and increase to 327 isnt going to cost me much more? My block number is 3896944 so i beleive it will take the 327 crank an the overbore?

[68Gold/white]

The 520 heads are 283 heads. Came stock on my 67 Bel Air passenger car. I had the engine rebuilt in 1983. One of the best heads for a street driver 283.

It's not likely that a 66 block can be bored .125 over to get to a 4" bore, cylinders are likely too thin. Cylinders can be sonic tested to make sure. If they will go .125, I'd do it!
Doesn't matter what block number you have, it will need to be checked first for cylinder wall thickness.........

The 327 crank would go a good idea whether you can make it a 327 or not. These heavy pickups need as many cubes as possible, more torque, please! Chevrolet made the 307 engine, which is a 293 bore with the 327 crank, should be no biggee. Make sure the main journals on the 327 crank are the smaller ones. I believe 327's went to large journals in 68, as did all small blocks did...If you did find a large journal 327 crank, the mains could be ground to small journal size.

Federal Mogal used to make forged pistons for 307's and 283's, they may still, I'll let you search. Cast pistons would likely be fine, forged is always best, regardless of intended purpose. The stock replacement cam for small blocks is the Sealed Power CS274. Anything more radical will help kill low end power, which a 283/307 already lacks. HYlift-Johnson are the only American made lifters and the best period, another search...

The C3BX ibntake is excellent, I'm guessing the E-carb will bolt right up without an adapter? Beware you cannot use a HEI distributor with this intake. You will have to use a small body distributor like a stock points dist, or a MSD type. Nothing wrong with a points dist.

No need for headers, these small V-8's don't have enough air flow through the engine to warrant the use of headers, headers do sound cool, though!!!

I built a 283 back in the 80's for my 67 Bel Air, for a daily driver, hoping the small engine would yield 20+ MPG...It did get 20 MPG, although at best, only.

A 283 or 307 or 327 will make a great dependable driver at best, but will not be anything overly wild in the performance dept.

[68gmsee]

The 283 was and is a great little engine. Reliable and could give you up to 200 to 250 hp with a well tuned carburetor, exhaust and ignition. A lot of hotrodders used them for circle track and 1/4 mile racing back in the late 50's early 60's.

You say you don't want to build it for racing so stay conservative in boring the block. Early 283's had thin walls and you had to be careful how much to bore them. Later years were thicker walled. I agree that going with the 327 crank is a good upgrade.

One other thing I will add. Don't go overboard buying all the parts you will need until you have the block and heads completely checked and reworked. Nothing worse than the shop finding the block has hairline cracks or other defects and your stuck with the parts.

Also if the block is a go, talk to the machine shop people to see how much it will need to be bored before buying pistons and rings .

[Classic v6 GMC's]

I'm not sure if this is always the case but I tried to set a small journal 327 crank in a 283 and it would not go. Maybe with some machining it could be made to fit but I would just build a 283 or 327.
A 283 will have plenty of power for a driver.
Make sure that you stay conservative on the cam choice.

[AcampoDave]

A recent 283 discussion http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=711810 Tons more to search out on this site too. It was quite useful when I built mine. 283's have been around for so long that they have spawned many a thread. They have also been not produced for so long that they have spawned many an urban legend about their (unknown to me anyway) potential to whup on unsuspecting opponents with fire breathing 9000 rpm attacks.
Keep up the research and keep us posted. Best wishes.

[68gmsee]

Originally Posted by AcampoDave

...they have spawned many an urban legend about their (unknown to me anyway) potential to whup on unsuspecting opponents with fire breathing 9000 rpm attacks...

Yeah, man. Some of them true. I grew up in the era where Chevies all had six cylinders but when the v8's started to show up they were immediately installed in these older cars. A lot of these engines, especially the 283's, were installed in earlier model cars. Some were made into hotrods and others basically left stock looking. Surprised a few flat head ford owners that thought they were drag racing a Chevy six at the stop sign or midnight strip... : )

[Sam63c10]

Thanks for the replies! A wealth of knowledge and wisdom from all.
If could get 250-280bhp think i would be very happy?
Think Ive pretty much decided that ill stick with the 283 crank and use the powerpack heads.
The block will need a rebore so am thinking of going to 0.60 over. which if my calculations are correct should give me 292ci ish.
Im hoping a head skim and the increased capacity will bump up the compression ratio slightly.
Good news that my old edelbrock intake is worth using too, i have a GM HEI ignition and this was fitted with the intake, very very tight but it did fit.
As for carb, i have a very tired looking Rochester Quadrajet, when i ran the numbers it came up as marine carb for a 350. Will need a rebuild kit and rejetting no doubt. So im thinking of just biting the bullet and going for a new edelbrock 500cfm, which im hoping wont need much tweeking to get setup.
Ive noticed some people offer a torquer cam on an r.v cam? are either of these worth bothering with? or should i just stick with the standard grind?
Thanks again, such a good forum!

[AcampoDave]

I just went back and bumped that thread I linked here to see if the o.p will give an update as to how he liked the cam he chose. The thread is in the 60-66 section of the forum. As for me, I like my cam which is the old school r.v grind produced by many companies. Some of which are Summit (1102) Edelbrock (peformer plus), and Melling (mtc-1) I think even Sealed Power makes the same grind too. It's an economically priced option and with so many producers of the same model it's easy to get the best price.

[68Gold/white]

If you use a cam much more than stock, in your application (the Sealed Power CS274 or equilivent) you start losing low RPM cylinder pressure, which starts killing low end power, something one cannot stand on a small engine like a 283.
I'm sure many here have cammed up 283's with seemingly great success. My engine had a Crane thriftmaster cam (which I doubt they no longer make) it was likely exactly the same as the CS274.
My engine dyno'd 195 horsepower. You say? that's not much, well that number was net HP at the crank, likely would be 250 as many publish their fluffed up numbers that are published in magazines to get bragging rights as to how great their engine building skills are.
I would favor the quadrajet, if you do, you need to get your parts and tuning setup parts from www.Cliffshighperformance.com He can send you all the specific parts you need AND give you a general formula as to how to set the carb up. No one else can do this for a quadrajet. Need to get his book also!!!

The 500 cfm E-carb sounds good, but may prove goofy to tune. The secondaries come in at a given rate, that is not easily adjustable. The part to full throttle transition can be a doozy to get down. I don't favor ANY E-carb, period!
What else???

[mattfranklin]

Congrats of getting a good 283!

There is a classic book on rebuilding small block Chevys by David Vizard. I have one copy of the old one and two copies of the new one. Lots of good information in there. It's a little dated for newer stuff, but for an older classic engine it's perfect.

As far as cam, consider using a vintage Corvette copy.