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I was wondering if anyone knows the best way to pump a little more horses out of a 283? In all honesty I have never done any motor work to an engine I wouldnt know the first thing about doing this. I mean I can do the easy things like change gaskets and other things but I'm not really up to speed on picking out cams, pistons, and heads and such. Any help you guys could give me would be great. Hope to hear some suggestions from you guys.

Husker- do not be afraid. My luv truck is the first vehicle I ever laid my hands on. I though I would never work on a car. I now can pull my motor, break it down completely! hone it out, put it back together and have it timed within a few degrees when I start it. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO TAKE THE LEAP!

If i could make a suggestion. Either take your 283( or another donor block) and take it a part. have a buddy or somone put it back together with you. Hone it out and put on some new rings wile your in there. Get a hanes and read up on the critical areas of breakdown and build up- like not scratching the walls, proper bearing install direction, piston and rod direction. All this stuff is stamped and marked- so IT GOES RIGHT BACK TOGETHER!

do some research on how you want the motor to perform. Pick out a "power range" you want. 283's are higher reving motors, so you may do something with that. then get a cam, and buy all the other parts to match the cam. If you want a lump in your idle, it can be ground in if youd like. Again, all this stuff only goes in one way, do not be afraid. any hanes manual has more than enough info to get it back together right.

as you put it together, there are little tricks, and this site will be there to back you.

let us know........do it!

like 77ss said, just do it man.

when you tear down mark, lable, tag, EVERYTHING.

one little trick me and my buddie use is get a buncha ziplock bags. and as you tear down write on them what the parts are w/ a permant marker. this works real well for bolts.

most of the "special" tools you need you can rent. like ring compressors, torque wrenches. or find a good buddie that will lend them to ya

i ran a 283 on my desktop dyno and here is what i got.

283 bored .030,
stock ports and valves 1.94 int/1.50 exh
10:1 compression
600 cfm 4 bbl carb w/ single plane intake
small tube headers w/ mufflers
stock street cam,
intake- lift .390 duration 254...exhaust-lift .370 duration 256

267hp @ 5000
320tq @ 4000

_________________
I like my steak like I like my women, young, tender and bloody.

All I need is my weed, women, and wine. -Edge City Outlaws

As a matter of fact I do want that nice heavy lope but I wouldnt know where to begin to figure it out? If you might have any suggestions I am COMPLETELY open here ! I just kinda want it to sound scary I was actually thinking about using a noisy gear drive to scare people ! I had a buddy who had one on his truck and it scared the hell outta a few people. Well enough of that anyway If anyone knows of a decent cam with a good lope to it for a 283 let me know.

the lumpy idle has to do with your lobe center line. I dont understand this all that well but it has to do with (correct me if Im wrong) both intake and exhaust valve centers being closer together to the point that for a split second(or a few degrees) they are open at the same time. I believe that this makes the escaping exhaust gas momentum actually pull in some of the new air/fuel. You can imagine all the air and exhaust FLYING through these ports, its easy to see how the intake air/fuel can hitch a ride into the cylinder from this momentum, but it requires that both valves be open for a few degrees.

This is all fine and dandy until your at an idle. the momentum isnt there, so the whole vacuum thing is kinda out of whack. THUS, your lumpy idle.
Engines that are high rpm ( up to 7500-10,000) have really rough grinds to take advantage of the huge volume of air passing through and the ability to aid the cylinder intake with this exhaust vaccuumm.

Or its just a freakin Phenomenon.

Just remember, the idea is to get the most AIR/ FUEL into the cylinder as possible to create more ponies. buying a cam with this "lobe center" just takes advantage of one more way to get that precious commoditie into the firing chamber...........baby!



g

Where would be a good place to start? do you kow of any websites? or any particular cams that stand out in your mind as a good choice? Was justr wondering? I am sitting here at work and wondering if I might be able to contact one of these places that makes the cams and maybe they have a suggestion for me. Thanks again for your input.

here is my 2 cents. decide on a power range. I suggest 1500+. all the current 400+ hp packages (edelbrock, holly) are in this range. if you pick out this type of cam, buy the intake and carb to match. I would suggest the rpm airgap for an affordable, trick looking, match to this rpm range.

because you have a 283, smaller cubes with the same cam as I have would perform more radical in your motor. I would suggest calling jegs at 1 800 345 4545 then punch #2, then #2 again, and that will put u through to a tech. tell them you want a good cam for a 283 in the power range you want, and a slightly lumpy idle. ( if you go too lumpy, it just wont idle!) they will give you some ideas.

it would be wrong for me of anyone else to decide for you what cam to buy. somone did that for me with one of my earlier combos and I ended up buyuing everything again.

My cam is XTREME ENERGY by COMP CAMS. i am very happy with it!

with that power range, you can figure on a 750 cfm carb+-, and a better that stock intake, like the rpm airgap which has great reviews.

if you think you will always look to improve your v8, always push the high end when buying parts. here is what i mean. if a 283 calls for a 650 cfm to a 750 cfm carb, buy the 750. If it calls for a PERFORMER intake or RPM - go with the rpm. if you buy new heads, get the 64 cc chamber over the 72cc....etc. if you get the v8 bug long term, these parts will still work good with a bigger small block.

Keep asking a ton of questions to anyone that has an OPINION, because overall, all this is only somones opinion. along the way youll realize how all these parts work, and through all the chit chat you can form your own opinion.

lastly, i tore my first small block apart a couple years ago and had a buddy help that had never done it before. dont be afraid. It went back together fine! if you jack something up, its how you learn! but you wont!

dave

LOL! Could have fooled me. You pretty much nailed it.

Man My head hurts now !!!! Well I think I will give them a call real quick and see what they can suggest. I really appreciate the help so far any more input is always welcome from anyone.

if your not sure on any of your purchases, post your delema or question, and youll get enough feed back to make up your own mind. also, buying mail order is cool because you get technical advice right as you order. they will tell you if your purchase is out of whack.


Hey Husker, im excited for ya! sweeet. keep in mind that if you get bored with your 283- that thing can be bored and stroked out to a 383. That basically goes like this-

parts off

hand to machine shop with some cash(undisclosed amount)

install new bottom end

parts on.

hang on!

I think you will be stoked with the 283.

keep us posted!

g

I wasn't aware that you could stroke a 283 out to 383 ...thought u had to start with a 350..hmmm..or i just don't know what i'm talking about

(77ss here on another computer)

you get a longer stroke crank, and bore it out. the bore is a 350 bore, and it is a sb 400 crank. there a some issues with block clearance, areas that need to be ground down to clear that longer stroke. and you need shorter connecting rods.

I'm probably going to do it this summer sometime(late summer)

I believe all 283's have small journal mains so a 400 crank would not fit. I also think that to stroke it you would use a small journal 327 or 307 and would end up with a 302 cid. Again this is something im not certain of and would recommend contacting a machine shop. Also the 283's bore is 3 7/8. Good luck, Bryan

if you get a lumpy cam your also gonna need a loose converter especially with a 283. as far as putting a 400 crank in a 283 i dont believe it would be worth the cost and i think it would weaken the crank to much.i think it would have to have like .300 thousands cut off the main journal. and you would have to do alot of grinding to fit the crank in the block around the oil pan rails and bottoms of cylinders. if you look at the cyl in the bottom of most 283s they are completely round.whereas 350s and 400s they have notches in them thats for clearance for the rod journals as well as the counter weights. later terry

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don`t have the luv no more but I still like em.72 el camino,
00 & 06 silverado one 4x4, turboed vw sandrail,99 banshee, 06 raptor 700, 02 polaris trailblazer.

Well I guess the 283 is going to have to wait. Unfortunately I am being deployed going to the middle east, In about a month. I have to the V-8 conversion on hold I am not certain when I will be back. Unless someone wants to volunteer and do it for me !!! But seriously this puts a BIG damper on things cause I havent gotten all the other things I need to do the "Beer budget" swap I mean I got the engine so I have to put the hunt off for a while which really sucks cause I'm going to be gone for anywhere from 6 months to a year. Just figured I give my last update for this post !

uhhh, yeah, what they said.

well husker...that sucks good luck...and maybe ill see ya there... wouldnt THAT be some funny shit..2 LUVtruck.com guys, from oppisite ends of the country...get deployed and meet up in iraq

_________________
I like my steak like I like my women, young, tender and bloody.

All I need is my weed, women, and wine. -Edge City Outlaws

hmmm....first ever international LUV meet...w/o the trucks though .
Maybe you'll see one of those newer luvs over there Either way good luck to everyone who has to go over there.

Husker sorry to hear you are being deployed. I will miss your posts. In my mind you are a hero, and when this is over I will once again be waiting to here how the 283 install will be going. Please be carefull, and return home safe and sound. Thanks to all you guys in the military, I admire all of you so much.

Thanks Rick I'm hoping that my deployment is only going to be a 6 month run but It's sounding like it might be more like 12 months !! Dammit It's gonna kill me not to be able to work on my truck!! Anyway I just want to thank you for your guys support everyone here on the site.