Thread: Newbie! with a 56 chevy wagon

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Hello! My father and I just bought a 56 chevy 210 wagon and are eagerly waiting for it to arrive. I am 23 and studying autobody at a technical school. We would like to keep it mostly stock but boost the horsepower from the stock 283 (yes I saw the other post on this topic, sorry if its gets a little redundant My goal is to get 1 horsepower per cubic inch...which leads to my first question- Is the 283 the same block as the 327, in other words, can I have the 283 bored out and run it as a 327, or is the stroke or anything else different? Question number 2- I was thinking about running an edelbrock performer alum. intake with matching cam, edel. 600 4 barrel, and long headers, stock heads. Would this make the power I'm after? We just want a good daily driver with a little kick in the pants, nothing fancy. I want to keep the heads and compression stock. I just got a 305 (for free) and I might run that until we get the 283 all set. The guy that gave me the 305 also tossed in an edelbrock torker II manifold but I think thats gonna be too wild for my application....? My friend just got a 52 two door sedan so I'll have many questions for him in the near future as well. I'll post pics tomorrow if anyone is interseted, but I gotta get some sleep. goin surfing in the morning you guys have a good weekend and keep drivin em

If the engine is really stock it's a 265 not a 283, the 283 wasn't available until '57. The 327 is 1/4 in longer stroke and 1/4 in bigger bore than a 283.

Originally posted by techinspector1
Yer losin' it , buddy.

I HATE it when that happens!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the info guys. The guy we bought it from said its a 283, I'll have to check the numbers when we get it to be sure. Yeah I know the 350 would pump some nice power out but I kinda like to keep things as original and nostolgic as possible. Its got a 3 speed on the floor, hopfully gonna put a 4 on the floor in it. Anyone know about putting an S-10 5-speed in a classic car? My father head something about that and I wanted to look into it. Man if I have a 283/283 fuel injected motor that would be SWEET...but I dont . I know they offered a factory dual quad setup back then, what did that put out, like 250 horse or so? And I remember seeing something about the 327 motor, they had a 327 horse, 300 horse......ok I forget. any of you guys remember the 327 options in the early 60's?
heres a pic

250 & 300 hp 327's were the most common. Also 340 with FI. But the pick of the litter is the L79 w/350 hp. This of course was in the days of gross hp rather than net, but the L79 had plenty to spare. '66-7 Novas with the L79 would often hand a big block Chevelle his hat.