Thread: 283 or 327 c.i.d

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Bob and Mike!
So the engine is probably a 1966 283 c.i.d power pack truck engine?

Why I want to know it so baddly is because I want to rebuild the engine to my '34 Fordor and we have so strickt rules here in Finland on how much bigger engine can replace the factory engine. 283 is ok for 34 Ford!

Do you guys have suggestion on what should I do for the engine just to get it running great with maybe some extra hp. (I know, just painting it isn't enouf!)
What camshaft do you prefer for it?
Or should I buy the original Camshaft.
I don't know so much about calculations

Jani

Just a few quick questions (part of what I said in an earlier post):

1. How do you plan on driving the car? Do you want a nice crusier,(i.e. around town, and occasional longer trips) or a street monster to terrorize the town and blast down the highway?

2. How important is gas milage?

3. How good is the local gas (octane rating), and is it leaded or unleaded?

4. Approximatly how heavy will the car be?

5. What type of transmission do you plan on running?

6. What ratio rear end are you planning on using and how tall of tire?

1) Nice cruiser and reliable. On summers I would like to visit to the Street Rod Nationals around the Europe.

2) Very important! 1 Liter Gas cost here about 1 Euro (=about 3,8$/gallon?)
But hey, you cannot build a Street Rod without a V8

3) 95 octane unleaded (Yes, maybe I need the rims between the heads and valves!)

4)I don't know? (1934 Ford Fordor Sedan)

5) TH700-R4 from '89 Pontiac GTA

6) The chassis is almost ready and the parts are mainly from '89 Camaro:
- Rear end with drum brakes and coil overs, no differential lock(haven't measured the ratio)
- Front, dropped 34 Ford I-beam, with disk brakes and 4-links.

I also have a 305 TPI engine from '86 Camaro with Edelbrock MPFI but that's another story.

I just want to build a reliable 283 small block.

janiluo,

I think that the '34 Fordor would have weighed about 2,600 lbs in its original configuration.

By the way, I had good luck with a 283 in a '56 Chevy back in the early 1970's using over the counter Corvette pistons, generic headers, a good dual point ignition, aluminum intake with a 500 cfm carb. The car ran smooth and dependable, and would push the 3,500 lb car pretty good.

Dan J

This is how I would build it, but other people may have differnt sugestions, so weigh what you think will work best for you.

1. Start with a good general rebuild. Bore the block only as large as necessary to clean up the clyinders, and deck the block only if necessary. Try to get pistons that will give you a compression ratio in the 9.5 to 1 area (if some of the places you go do not offer 95 Octane gas, consider going to 9 to 1 compression ratio.) When you order pistons make sure you take into account the head combustion chamber volume to make sure you end up with the required compression ratio. Cast pistons should be fine, and hypereutectic would be a good upgrade. Forged pistons would not really be required for this motor. The majority of the 283s I have come across have had steel crankshafts, have yours checked and turned as necessary. (If you have a cast crankshaft, don't worry, it will be more than strong enough for your application). Have the rods checked and resized as necessary. A new set of rod bolts is not a bad investment, but I don't think you necessarly need to spend the extra money for the ARP high stregnth bolts. It would also be a good idea to have the rotating assembly balanced. Put in new cam bearings and freeze plugs and put in a high volume oil pump.

2. On the heads, have hardened exhaust seats put in, you will also likely need new valve guides. Have a good valve job done and install a new set of valve springs. I have good luck with umbrella valve seals, but a lot of people like PC seals. Deck the heads only as much as necessary (keep in mind if the heads and/or block are decked this will increase your compression ratio). You might want to do a little port matching on the intake and exhaust runners, but don't go overboard. I'm assuming that your heads have 1.72/1.50 valves, You might want to look around and upgrade these to later 1.94/1.50 heads. (If you change heads keep in mind the combustion chamber size, as it will affect your compression ratio.) If you use post 1969 heads you will also get the accessory bolt holes in the ends which means you can use the latter more common brackets.

3. I would use a cam that is in the .400-.420 lift, 260-280 degree duration area. (I personally prefer a cam with split lift/duration, i.e. a little higher lift and duration on the exhaust side). I have also found that they seem to run a little better with about 4 degrees advance (check with the cam maker as many grind the 4 degrees into the cam). A double roller timing chain is also a good investment for the price.

4. As far as exhaust I read some tests years ago, and the rams horn manifolds flowed as well as headers until about 4000 rpm. Headers would still not be a bad idea, but I would keep the primary tube size at 1 1/2" and no bigger than 1 5/8" max. If you can find tri-Y headers even better.

5. It's wide open as far as induction. A good aftermarket dual plane intake and 4 BBL in the 500-600 CFM range is about the cheapest most common way to go. For nostalgia, a Dual quad (with 500 CFM AFBs) or Tri Power Set up looks really neat and can be dialed in to get pretty decent milage (if you go this route, make sure the manifold is a dual plane design). If cost is not an object, you might look into somthing like Holleys Pro-Jection set up. I've never used one, but I understand from a preformance/power standpoint they are a good way to go.

6. For realibility and availability, an old GM HEI is really a good ignition setup (unfortunatly, they will not fit with most multicarb set ups.)

7. The 700-R4 is a good choice for the tranny, and I would recommend somthing in the 3.00-3.25 range if it's going to see a lot of highway miles and around a 3.50 ratio if it's going to spend most of it's time around town.

Hope this helps, and I suspect your will be getting more sugestions.

Thank's Mike!
You really understood what I'm looking for. I dont have so much experience about compression ratios or cam lifts and degrees.
I usyally mix up the words Cam and Crankshaft because of the Finnish translation the crankshaft is 'Kampiakseli' where 'Kampi" means a Cam and 'Akseli' means a shaft (Sorry Bob!)

Now I know what to ask!

One thing more, I've heard that it is not good to use a high volume oil pump in the just rebuild engine!
Does anybody have opinion about that?

Thanks,
Jani

I've never had any problems with the high volume pumps, however I have had some problems running High Pressure pumps. One of the bad reps the High Volume pumps have had comes from an engine not having sufficient drainback capability at high RPM, in other words all the oil is pumped to the top of the engine and can't drain back fast enough to keep the level above the oil pickup. This should not be a problem with the RPM range and usage you are planning for your car.

According to the book I have the 282 only came in '62 and earlier models of the Corvette.

Originally posted by Ingham
According to the book I have the 282 only came in '62 and earlier models of the Corvette.

61 and earlier . 62 models only came with 327s
250--300--340--360 horsepower

The last year for a 283 was 67. It was replaced by the 307 in 68