Thread: 383 cam? intake? Carb?

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Alright so here's my situation, I am buying a super low mileage 383 from a friend.
I am going to transplant the engine into my El Camino. Here is the question it is a tbi motor now and I want to put a carb on it. I also want to make quite a bit more power and possibly spray it. The specs on the motor are as follows,
3.750" stroke cast/steel crank, 5.7" forged rods with ARP rod bolts 9½ to 1 compression hypereutectic pistons. The heads are 165 dart iron eagle s/s with 72cc chamb. 194 intake valves.
I would like to get as much hp as possible on pump gas.
Where do I go from here?
Thanks Joey

Depends on what you want to run and of course your budget....Techinspector has been working on one for me, Chevy small block forum title "383 air flow"----some very interesting numbers!!!!!

Originally Posted by 84cruck

I am buying a super low mileage 383 from a friend....

I guess you have to do what you have to do, but this could be a problem from the git-go, at least it would be for me unless I tore the whole shebang down and found out what was in it.

1.You don't know the piston crown configuration.
2.You don't know the piston deck height.
3.You don't know the block deck height.
4.You don't know the squish dimension.
5.You don't know the piston compression height.
6.You don't know the ring thickness.
7.You don't know the gasket thickness.

Without knowing 1, 2 and 7, you can't figure the static compression ratio, no matter what the piston manufacturer claims. Without knowing the static compression ratio, you can't choose a camshaft because there is no way to figure the dynamic compression ratio. Without figuring the dynamic compression ratio, you have no idea what the cylinder pressure will be, so you don't know if the motor will run on pump gas or not. And even if it will, is the combination dialed in to the best efficiency of parts that could have been used? Could you use more cam, less cam, stock rockers, 1.6 rockers, thinner gaskets, thicker gaskets, different crown configuration, what about the heads.....is a 165cc runner going to provide enough volume of flow with the cam that's in the motor, where will the heads nose over, will the r's be enough to support the gear you will use. Does the cam match up with the torque converter you will use. What about the crank. Is it one of those cheezy Eagle units from China that everyone bitches about....you know, the ones with uphill/downhill journals and crank snouts that break off. Will the ring end gap be ok with spray or will the rings butt together and break off the top ring land on the pistons......yada yada yada ad infinitum......

In order to be absolutely satisfied with a combination, you have to know what's in it and figure everything for yourself. TRUST NOBODY.

Are you sure #1 and #7 can't be checked ?

I will do a little more research on exactly what is going on with the engine. It is a crate engine so I should be able to get a some pretty good #'s from the specs on the motor. Thanks for the advice I will post some numbers soon.

I would not spray it with hypereutectic pistons. That's a very iffy proposition.