283 V8 performance

[leyrret]

I have 283+.60 in my 56J. 305 swirl port heads, Melling RV cam, Holley dual plane with 390 Holley, Sanderson headers, Mallory dist.,Cd box and coil. Coupled to a T-56BW. 3.73 rear at the moment. Not a high RPM machine but has no lack of power in the mid range. Cruises effortlessly with mileage in 20's at interstate speeds. Great engine.

[Swifster]

A modest cam upgrade, a 4-V intake and carb, and some duals should perk the car up a bit. I'd probably check out the cam from a 300 HP 327 as a good upgrade.

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Tom - Mulberry, FL

1964 Studebaker Daytona - 289 4V, 4-Speed (Cost To Date: $2125.60)

[14x7]

What about bigger size tires in the rear for a slightly higher gear range.

[buddymander]

Hey Eric, if your car is a second gear start, then the best money would be on a first gear start valve body. I think I would opt for a 700R4, tho, myself. Since it would bolt right up to the engine, all you'd need is a driveshaft cut for the 700 yoke, a crossmember, linkage, and some minor wiring. That would be a sweet ride with awesome power off the line with the 700s low first gear and a real mileage maker with the overdrive. If your trans is the second gear start variety, you could always go for the valve body for now and then if you want the 700 later, I'm sure you could recoup all the valve body cost and then some; selling your complete trans.

[Hippie]

I have an interesting article I scanned from an old Car Craft on hopping up a 283 you might be interested in. It goes against most popular 283 hop up standard practice but it's worth looking at. I scanned it to a PDF file if you're interested. They did a comparison between the 461/462 Double Hump heads and a set of pocket ported 283 Power Pak heads on a mild .060 over 283 with an Edelbrock Performer cam and intake, close ratio 4 speed (2.20 first gear) and a 3.31 rear gear in a '66 Chevelle and the results were surprising.

Massaging the stock heads with a Summit 1102 cam ( same as the Aperformer cam ) and a 4 Bbl. intake will really wake the 283 up without adversely affecting mileage or driveability. A 200-4R automatic is a good match for the 283 and would work fine with the 3.07 gear in a light car, a heavier car could use a little lower gear like a 3.36 or 3.42. The 200-4R soaks up less power than the 700R4.

Analog man in a digital world.

[garyash]

My '65 Wagonaire has a 283 bored .040 over, an "RV grind" cam, '63 Chevy 4-bbl intake manifold with 4GC carb, '82 Camaro 305 HO heads, MSD distributor with electronic ignition, dual exhausts with stock mufflers (Smitty glass packs were too loud). The FOM transmission is stock, but I had to make a new bracket for the kickdown cable since the carb is wider. Rear end is 3.31 TT.

Computed output from Dyno 2000 is 235 hp vs the stock 185. It runs strong and is probably equal to a Studebaker 289 R1 engine. [Now, that will get some comments!]

As others have said, the easiest - and cheapest - thing to do is to just buy a brand new Mr. Goodwrench 350 long block and put it in with whatever hop-up goodies you want. Building your own engine is more adventure.

I can beat most of the econo-box "tuner" cars from a stop light, and I can get the brick-shaped Wagonaire over 100 in the blink of an eye. More horsepower is always good, but how often can you use it? [Yes, I know even the infrequent usage of lots of cubes feels very good.] OK, so just drop a 400 cubic inch SBC into the car and be done with it!

[img=left]http://www.studegarage.com/images/gary_ash_m5_sm.jpg[/img=left] Gary Ash
Dartmouth, Mass.
'48 M5
'65 Wagonaire Commander
'63 Wagonaire Standard
web site at http://www.studegarage.com

[ChampTrucking]

My 2 cents; Your RPM range of useage will be idle to 5000 rpm.You want to source parts for this RPM spread. A nice Edelbrock Performer,or Weiand equal 4BBL manifold is what you want.Get one without a EGR boss in it.Summit has a private brand one that would work fine. For the carb,do not go big.600-650 CFM will be fine on the small cube mouse.Your choice of intake manifold will dictate carb selection,IE:spread bore like a Quadrajet or Square bore like a Holley of Edelbrock.I prefer the Holley Street Avenger brand carb, Summit Racing has just introduced their own private label carbs,which look just like Holleys with Summits name on them at a great price. As far as camshaft,there is a WIDE range of choices.Keep in mind a camshaft for a bigger cubed motor(say 350-400) will act bigger in a smaller cubed motor (the 283) So do not get crazy in the lift dept.You need to spend some time @ the Chevy Hi Performance magazine web site reviewing small block build ups for ideas. The Comp Cams line of camshafts have way surpassed the old 60s cam grinds for power and torque. If your 283 has 60 or 70,000 miles on it,a simple timing chain replacement will also wake it up by removing the slop in the timing dept. A nice dual exhaust will also help.2.5 inch pipes might be overkill for the mouse you have.2.25 would be easier to fit and would keep exhaust velocity up.Mufflers are your choice as far as noise,but remember glasspacks are not the best flowing replacements out there.But if you like the noise,go for it. Put a Pertronix kit in the distributor,because points need perodic adjustment for maximum performance,but how often do you really think about adjusting your dwell? Set it once with electronic and forget it. An HEI GM distributor can be retrofit,but finding one with a matching timing curve will be a chore. Try and find one for a 307 CHEVY (not Olds!) motor used in the 70,s Chevelle-Nova cars. The factory rams horn exhaust manifolds are fine,but the 70's Chevy pickup trucks used the same configuration rams horn manifolds with a 2.5 inch outlet,as opposed to the 283's 2 inch outlet.These will flow better on the exhaust side and look stock.I am also guessing the alternator mounts will be the same,but YOU will have to verify that before swapping them.
How far do you really want to get into this motor? An intake/carb swap.duals and the timing chain/Pertronix swap should make it better for the least investment.Find a flanged 331 rear end and swap that in.That will also make it more fun to drive. It just depends on how much work you can or want to do,and your wallet!!!!!

[prager]

In addition to the above post...(from a good friend)..Anybody remember the 69 Camaro DZ engine? 302 c.i 4" bore block..283 crank (3" stroke)..screaming r.p.m.'s..Don't ditch the 283 forever...maybe set it aside while the 350 runs the car..then you have the extra short stroke parts to build a screamer...Or keep the plant...re cam, new intake, carb, headers.4bbl carb..dial it all in on the cheap and you'll be good to go..

Making resverations at the poor house parking lot for me and my 62 Lark..

[colt45sa]

Some time back, Hot Rod published an article about increasing the power in a 283. The took a set of over the counter late model Vortec heads and a Comp cam and made over 400 HP with the combination. Power is in the heads and Vortecs are very reasonably priced.

[Pinchbolt]

I just ran across this topic on a google search, and registered. Though a 350 would be the easy way out, I share with you what econo upgrades I did with my old 283 (on top of a complete rebuild): Used a nice set of early-eighties "14022601" big valve casting heads. These were essentially a power-pack head for the 305. Does take some wreckin' yard motor-pile prowling to locate these. They have a casting mark on the end similar to the old inverted Vee found on 63-67 283 heads, instead of the double prongs that 305 castings usually have. They had 1.88" intakes, and a smaller, 58 cc combustion chamber for a compression increase. I used a Melling Camshaft with 204/214 degree duration, and an old cast-iron Holley-base intake that was used on some 1966 327's. They show up at swap meets on a regular basis. Also, used a Holley 600, and an 70's model HEI Distributor that I overhauled. A 283 cid can run pretty strong, especially in a relatively light car such as yours, and the small displacement still enables you to get decent mileage.

[leyrret]

Don't remember # of heads I used on mine but they have the 1.84 or so intake valves with 58cc chambers. Also they are swirl port reportly good for low end but don't flow well at above 4500 or so. The melling camshaft also sounds like the one I used. Holley intake was aluminuim, don't
remember offhand the number. I used smaller carb as at lower rpm I run don't think anything larger was needed plus should help lower end torque.

[buddymander]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SBC-B...Q5fAccessories That's the link to an HEI distributor 65,000 volts with a performance curve that will drop in your 283 and increase performance and mileage and smooth out your idle for $44.50 BIN plus about ten bucks shipping. I would do that and adapt a larger 350 rochester two barrel from mid seventies on to it. And that's all I really would do to it if it was mine. The rest is in the trans.

[sbca96]

To sum up what others have said, modest dual plane Edelbrock intake
with a matching 4 barrel, dual exhaust if you dont have it, HEI, & put
a 700R4 trans behind it. This combo will not only make for some neck
snapping fun off the line, but also boost your mpg by 30%.

The results are a gear change without messing with the rear axle, then
opening on the engine to breathe better. Simple straight forward and
with the dime a dozen 700's around - still fits CASO.

EDIT : it is actually the GM 305 thats the crippled motor, the one we
have in our '78 Camaro is rated at 118 hp on a good day.[:I]

Tom

'63 Avanti, zinc plated drilled & slotted 03 Mustang Cobra 13" front disc/98 GT rear brakes, 03 Cobra 17" wheels, GM alt, 97 Z28 leather seats, soon: TKO 5-spd, Ported heads w/SST full flow valves, 'R3' 276 cam, Edelbrock AFB Carb, GM HEI distributor, 8.8mm plug wires

[colt45sa]

better choice

Hey Eric, if your car is a second gear start, then the best money would be on a first gear start valve body. I think I would opt for a 700R4, tho, myself. Since it would bolt right up to the engine, all you'd need is a driveshaft cut for the 700 yoke, a crossmember, linkage, and some minor wiring. That would be a sweet ride with awesome power off the line with the 700s low first gear and a real mileage maker with the overdrive. If your trans is the second gear start variety, you could always go for the valve body for now and then if you want the 700 later, I'm sure you could recoup all the valve body cost and then some; selling your complete trans.

If you might consider a more modern transmission, you should give a serious look at the 200R4. I has much better gear spacint as the 700 has a 1st gear which is much too steep and too short.

[swvalcon]

You can get decent power from a 283 but any thing you do with affect MPG. A small 4 barrel carb and aftermarket intake with headers or good factory manifolds. Small cam and I mean small. Over doing a cam in a little 283 is very easy to do so go more for low end power cam. You can go later 305 heads and have hard seats and a small improvement in performance. If I remember right they where on the ss monte-carlos . Should already have flat top pistons unless some one has been in there. A first design distributor HEI with the single wire like from a 75 model year are cheap and work good. But for the money hard to beat a 350 or 383 swap and just put the 283 under the bench.