Thread: 283 Build

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Cool little mouse motor, Mike! It's great to spend that bonding time with Cade, he'll remember that for many years to come. That'd make a great motor for an 80s Monza/Vega/Sunbird if you can find a decent one.

"..... That'd make a great motor for an 80s Monza/Vega/Sunbird if you can find a decent one......"

It's funny you should mention that, as I that crossed my mind yesterday. I could live with a little notch back Sunbird and I know first hand the Tri-Power will fit under a Vega (or one of it's cousins) hood.



Lets see a Tri-Power 4 speed Pontiac sounds like it might have some promise

Actually the reason I haven't gone out to the wrecking yard I often deal with is I'm afraid they might have one, and I really need to get back on the 37 Dodge.


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Originally Posted by Mike P

....................................and I really need to get back on the 37 Dodge.

Yes, you do!!

If you do put that sbc in a Pontiac then you should get the valve covers lettered "Parisienne"

We made some progress over the last couple of weeks. Last Sunday I dug out a starter and generator to rebuild. I’ve found that if we do some of the smaller projects that we can completely finish in a short period of time it helps Cade feel like he has accomplished something and keeps his interest up. I decided on using a generator for now for a couple of reasons. I have several generators lying around from doing alternator conversions and for now, it’s only real function will be as a tensioner for the fan belt (when the engine goes in a car I’ll probably change over to an alternator). I also figured I’d start Cade off with the basics on how a generator works and then build on that later when we do an alternator.


Both the starter and generator were bench tested and were actually worked so this was basically be a tear down to clean, paint, lube and reassemble. Yes I purposely picked the nastiest looking starter I had…..remember this is partially about Cade getting his hands dirty LOL. Other than finding a loose bushing in the starter, there were no surprises when we tore them down.




During the week I got the stuff cleaned up, painted and ready for today.









On the engine itself we got as far as getting one head off last weekend and Cade got to see me screw up. I was using the impact wrench to pull head bolts and rather than grab the impact socket I used a regular chrome socket ……yeah, it split. I got to explain to why we use impact sockets.

When we got the head off, we found the bore is still standard and surprisingly had very little ridge. I also found out that instead of a soft plug or pipe plug in the oil galley at the top of the deck, the older 283s used a solid plug about a ½” long.



We initially drilled and tapped the plug for a ¼ X 20 bolt and tried the slide hammer on it…..it didn’t budge. The next trick was to redrill and tap the plug for a 3/8” bolt. I put an oversized nut over the plug and then screwing down a nut to pull the plug out (something like pulling a rocker stud) which worked well.





Today we got the other head off all the head bolts came out nicely except one. It was the only one that was rusty (I’m guessing that maybe it somehow got put in without sealer?) and yeah, it snapped off.



I suppose next Sunday I’ll show Cade how to remove a broken bolt. LOL.

We also got the pan off, but ran out of time before we could get a main cap and rod cap off to see if the crank is still standard. One thing I found that kind of surprised me was that the engine doesn’t have a harmonic balancer, just a hub with a tin shield riveted to it (it sure looked like a balancer until you saw the back side). I do have a good balancer on the shelf that will probably go on it when it goes back together.



So that’s where we are at the end of the day.


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Great memories being built here!

Originally Posted by Mike P

I do have a good balancer on the shelf that will probably go on it when it goes back together.



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Good progress and Cade is getting a good variety of lessons.

You'll probably need to drill and tap that crank snout too.

At about Cade's age I started in the "race shop" at home.....after my first 3 years out there I was an expert with a putty knife, the parts washing tank, and of course the broom and dust pan!!!!! I also learned that mowing the lawn was the first thing to be done prior to a race weekend!!!!!

You're right about drilling the crank snout Bob. That's getting done if for no other reason than to be able to use the balancer installer rather than having to drive it on with a hammer and block of wood.

"...... I was an expert with a putty knife, the parts washing tank, and of course the broom and dust pan....."

I hear you Dave, me too (and things were generally never clean enough the first time )

Cade has been lucky so far as he's a bit small yet to turn him loose with most of the power stuff, but he's getting there. A lot of it is easier for me to just take stuff over to my buddies machine shop and run it thru the parts washer and blast cabinet. His times coming though


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that is odd, 283's did have dampners you musta got an oddball. on the little ridge these little 283's are tough old birds very good blocks take alot of abuse for alot of years and keep on ticking. glad you and the kid are having a ball. he will cherish these memories later in life. on the headbolt thats the nuts! but itll come out.

the dampner portion had probably been pulled off with a 3 jaw puller a long time ago trying to remove the hub---they fit awful tight on those early chevs

".......that is odd, 283's did have dampners you musta got an oddball......."

".....the dampner portion had probably been pulled off with a 3 jaw puller a long time ago trying to remove the hub....."

I don't know, either one of you might be right. I did some reading yesterday and it seems some of the early 283s did have just a hub. My first thought was like Jerry said, but I can;t really see any evidence that there was ever any more than what is there. but it's hard to tell. I am going to go ahead and clean this up where I can see a little more and I'll post some pictures.


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I don't think you will like a cam as big as the 270 Magnum in a 283, especially if you choose an automatic transmission. I ran that cam in a 350 and liked it but I don't believe you will find it street friendly in a 283 with an automatic transmission. You could probably get away with it if you run a manual transmission, but it is still bigger than I would want . . . but to each his own.

You could very well be right Lynn. Right now I’m pretty much going by the dyno results I posted earlier. I’m really holding off on ordering a cam until I get the short block put together and can figure out what my actual static compression ratio is going to be and then figure out some dynamic compression numbers.

I’m building this engine knowing it will either need a stick or a stall converter. If I keep the engine and put it in something it’s going to be 3000 pounds or under.

As far as transmissions and gearing I’m really leaning toward a T5 or the Chevy version of the new process 833 overdrive 4 speed. In the case of the 833 it uses a 3.09 fist gear and as a recall the WC T5s is around 2.95. Rear gear ratio will be around 3.73-4.10.

My 57 Plymouth is kind of the same situation, the cam I’m running in that really knocks out bottom end torque, but with the 3.09 low gear in the transmission and 4.10s in the rear end, around town street manners are really pretty good…..and the OD lets me run the highways with no problems.


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Damper Doctor application list.....
Damper Doctor Online: Chevrolet & GMC


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Afternoon at the junk yard.

Well, I shoveled 3 feet of sunshine out of the driveway today and decided to make a trip to the local mom and pop junk yard. It was a little warm with the windows down so up they went and the AC went on………………….sorry guys, but I’ve resisted bragging all winter. Not to worry, the last time we had a winter like this and everybody was thinking it was over we got slammed and I suspect it will happen again this year (it’s only the middle of Feb).

It’s been a little slow on the 283 the last couple of Sundays, and I just wanted to get away from the house for a while. I thought I’d go see if there were any bodies out there that might be a good home for engine in case I decide to keep it. There were no Chevy IIs, or 49-54 Chevy 2 doors but probably 6 or 8 Vegas, I also came across a couple of Opel GT bodies ( I though about those but figured I really didn’t want to build a tube chassis to hold everything together). There was a Datsun 240Z that I may go back out and look at a little closer…….I just don’t know about getting this fat old body in and out of one of those darn things.

There’s plenty of time yet to decide, but I keep looking at the little 87 Ram 50 I have stashed out in the shed. The body’s straight and has presentable paint and interior. It should be light enough and already has 3.91 gears in it. So Who knows.



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