Thread: 283 Build

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My Grandson Cade hasn’t had a chance to use his tools much lately so I guess it’s time for another project. He just turned 11 and I figure he’s old enough now to give me a hand building an engine.

We’re going to start with a 170 HP 1960 283 2 BBL that I pulled from a Bel Air 25 years ago. The engine was tired but drove in under its own power and as far as I can tell nobody’s ever been into it so it should all be standard. It’s kind of a time capsule with all its original fasteners, brackets, hardware, tin, plug wire shields etc.



The plan is to build a pretty much early 60s era correct 283 hot rod motor. I’m not real sure what I’ll do with the engine when it’s done ; either look for a body (thinking along the lines of a first generation Chevy II, or maybe a 49-54 Chevy 2 door), sell it (there are already a couple of people who have shown some interest) or just keep it around until Cade is old enough to build a car around it.

I decided we’d build this one because I have too many parts laying around for it not to. Over the years I ended up with a set of .030 forged flat top pistons, 3 pairs of Power Pack Heads, a spare standard block and standard steel crank. I also have the Offenhauser Tri Power and Mallory dual-point that I used to run on my 58 Chevy.

My buddy’s machine shop was slow over the holidays so I got a start on the engine by having the heads done. The best pair of heads were 1965 Power Pack castings. They got cleaned up, hardened seats, guides, upgraded to 1.94 intake valves, stock Corvette springs and milled .015. With the pistons I have it should put us around a 9-9 ¼ :1 compression ratio. I considered adding screw-in studs but figured with the cam lift and spring pressure I’ll probably be running it wouldn’t really be necessary.



I think I’ve got everything sorted out except the cam, and there are couple of different ones I’ve been kind of kicking around.



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