The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop How to build a 283???

I have recently aquired a 1957 283ci motor. I have decided to put it in my '61. The motor needs to be rebuilt. I am thinking about boring it over a little bit (.30 or .60), putting in a different cam, carb, intake, and all of that. I am sure tat some of you have built one of these before.

I really want the motor to be reliable and tough, but I would also like to be able to pull some revs out of it.

How should I build it!!??

Kyle

I would take it to a machine shop and say; " rebuild it", LOL.

First thing you need to do is to evaluate it. Will it run? Do a compression check to see if there's anything obvious that may condemn the engine. If you still want it rebuild, you disassemble it, have it "tanked" and magnafluxed (checked for cracks). If it passes all of that the you can decide how extreme you want to go. H.P. cost money, how far you want to go is up to your wallet,
Scott

yeah... i would find a good engine builder with a standing reputation in competitive motor sports (drag racing, etc) and tell them what you want. Biggest thing is going to be cam choice, high volume oil pump (a must for higher RPMs), and there are some other details i cannot recall at the moment.. A good engine builder is your most likely your best bet.

you can also call around to companys like or example Edelbrock who build engine packages, tell them what you want, and they will tell you what to buy from them and the exact results you will get from that combination of parts.

The 283 is a great engine, but the costs will exceed a 350 build. The parts availability for a 350 are also much more numerous giving you a lot more options.
The '57 doesn't have side motor mounts and are valuable to the right people. Find the casting numbers and the engine stampings and find out what kind of car/truck the 283 came out of. The right block might be worth the cost of a rebuild.
I wouldn't think that a high volume pump is needed with a 283. If you are looking to make some horse power and torque out of it, you are better off building a 350.
For the 283 you might want to consider making a nice driver out of it with a 700R4 trany behind it, a "small" 4 barrel, and an RV cam.

The 57 engine won't bolt into the 61 chassis unless you fabricate different motor mounts, and even then, it won't work well. If the engine has not been rebored yet, it's worth enough to a restorer to finance the purchase of a more suitable engine for your project. 57 was the first year of production for the 283, so if you've got a virgin block, you've got a collector's item. One of the chronic problems with the 283's from the late 50's was low oil pressure due to cam bearing wear, even on engines that got a ring and rod bearing job, so a high-volume oil pump is an absolute necessity on all of them that I build.

If you want a small-displacement engine, consider using a mid-80's 305. They're plentiful, and cheap, and with just a little tweaking they will outperform the 283, and get as good, or better fuel mileage. For more performance, use a warmed-over 350.
Jerry

I know Hotrod Lincoln has been around the block a few times, but for what you seem to be building, I will disagree with the need of a high volume vs std volume oil pump on a basic 283, although, I still find his advice to be sound.
Because of oil pooling and because of poor oil return in the valve cover area, a non vented valve cover will be prone to oil leaks. Many engine overhauls are not going to include oil relief passages to be reworked unless you specify it, and pay extra for it. I would assume that new cam bearings and cam would be fit in a rebuilt engine also.
For the novice engine builder, and in terms of most V8 Chevrolets, the oiling passages are designed well enough that with 30 psi after the filter there will be no problems getting sufficient oil to all parts of the engine. No engine component requires more then about 30 psi of oil pressure to survive at any rpm.
Too much oil is power robbing and just overheating the oil.

Got to agree on the 350s or 305s. I have had experience with both of them.350s can be bought very reasonable and are a good performing engine. I had a 1984 305 high performance engine in a 1956 sedan that was a real screamer.You can buy a new 350 crate engine for much less than building up that 283.Just my 2 cts.

Now I am a trained diagnostician for engine control systems (modern day EFI) and Automatic transmissions (which isnt hard to learn) but sure not engines. There are more than enough guys in most every shop who know their way around an engine all too well to make it worth being a specialty for me.. But I have to say, I have seen most high rpm failures in home built engines is exactly that. Not enough pressure to the rearmost Lifters. Now I wont say that I know the 283 through and through so maybe this engine is a different story.

and Builder, maybe i am wrong but it seems like your talking about high pressure pumps. I am talking about a High Volume, Standard Pressure Pump.

I am speaking of HPSP. But in either case....

If you DO get more volume, where is it more likely to pool? IF it does pool in the valve cover area, and it does become flooded, where is it going to go in a non breather valve cover? The weakest point I would say. That to me would be the valve cover gasket.

High Volume, Standard pressure.....It would seem to me that you can only push so much oil through a passage at a given pressure, so why more volume at standard pressure? To give the pressure relief valve more of a workout? You can't push more volume without more pressure in the same passage.

You also rementioned "High RPM". Yes, a 283 will wind up really nice and they are sturdy and probably able to withstand more than substantial abuse. But if you are purposefully going to build a high RPM engine, I would think a larger journal would be a much better application, as well as better breathing valve covers, and oil return mods, windage trays, roller cams, etc.

In the end I'm sure that probably in "most" applications it may make no difference whether you place a std or high volume pump. I guess the discussions haven't convinced me of the neccessity of it yet. To me most failure come from over abuse and poor maintenance. Maybe just worn out or the fact that it was home built.

I have credentials for engine building too. I would still look to reference like David Vizard for finality in my questions. I've also read enough of Hotrod Lincoln's posts to listen to him. That doesn't mean I can be stubborn though.

Thanks for the kind words. I used to be the kid running the drill motor turning the oil pump mounted in the 5-gallon pail of oil while my father and his partner looked at the underside of a bunch of 283's with the oil pans removed that had come back to the shop after in-the-frame rebuilds, something that we did a lot of on flathead Fords and Stovebolt 6-cylinders in the mid-50's and before. We found out that was not a good idea on small block V-8's because by the time the engine was ready for rings and rod bearings, there was also enough cam and main bearing wear that the standard oil pump could not keep up with the demand for oil at a hot idle. The idiot light was on a 7-lb. switch, and it would flicker at a stoplight, particularly on a car with an automatic transmission. A pump with slightly larger gears, pumping just a bit more oil would have fixed the problem, but those were not available at the time.

Oil pressure is controlled by two things- - - -speed and volume of the pump, and the pressure relief valve. I could flow 100 gallons per minute of oil, at 30 psi, if I had a big enough relief valve to dump the excess oil back into the pan after the lifters, bearings, and all the other pressure-lubricated parts were supplied. Bearing clearance and wear determines how much volume of oil the engine needs for lubrication. If I'm supplying exactly the volume of oil necessary for lubrication, and no more, the oil pressure will be ZERO PSI. Every time one drop of oil enters a bearing, a drop leaks out. The fact an engine has any oil presure at all indicates it's getting more flow from the pump than it needs to lube the engine. Having 30 PSI or more is just overkill, to make sure nothing gets starved for oil at the end of the circuit, or when things heat up and the oil thins and clearances increase.

The 283's and their 4-inch bore big brothers, the 301's that we built in the early 1960's ran 8,000 RPM consistently, with no issues other than the occasional scattered engine from abuse on the dirt track. The smaller the connecting rod journal, the faster it can rev without damage. The lower peripheral velocity on the surface of the small journal develops less surface friction. The current NASCAR 350's use Honda-sized rod journals, smaller than a 283, and they wind them over 9,000 RPM!
Jerry

On the 283 I built for my 59 I put on 305 heads because of the valve seats. People say that the valve seats burn out on the old heads with todays gas.

its all dependent on if the motor was built to run on lead gas or not. if it was then you must use a lead substitute additive or have new valve seats installed in the heads, or like he did, swap heads

I have already thought about going the 350 way....yawn...everybody has one. I want the 283 because its old school cool. I have been examining running a turbo system with the motor...looks interesting. High revs are what I am after and I want to have a unique motor when I am done.

I know Minnesota is many miles away, but I have a STRONG running 283 engine I pulled from a parts truck. My guess is that you could re-paint it and drop it in. If you were interested in another option that would be cheaper than re-builting yours.

CB - thanks for the offer! if you were a little closer I would be very interested. the motor that i have has some sentimental value as well...can't wait toget itback on the road!

Well, if you really want to be different you should drop a 352 Packard in there. I'm certain you'll be the only truck at the show with one.

I agree with Hotrod Lincoln, some one restoring a 57 Chevy is looking for that block. Any thing you do to that 283 to make power will make more in a 350. 350s may be boring but everyone uses them because they work. You could always dress a 350 to look like a 283 and tell people its a 283, most people can't tell the diffrence. Just my .02

Sean

Yeah,350 yawn.Why do you suppose so many people use them??? The 283 was a good engine in its day,but those days are over.A freind of mine had a 1957 Chevy convertible with a tired 283 in it. He had the engine rebuilt from the bottom up and the cost was a way up there. He could have bought two new crate 350s for what he had in that 283.And to top it off my 55 pickup with a 350 would outrun his car any day of the week.You can yawn all you want when you see a 350,but just remember they are fairly cheap to buy,parts are plentiful,and they perform pretty darn good.

Forgive me if I repeat anything others have said, but I don't want to read through two pages of posts.

Although a 283 has the same talent as a 302 for rpm capability, and should be able to spin 8000 rpm without any mechanical modifications, such a configuration would probably run poorly in a truck, just because having to cam something for 8000 rpm with solid lifters would mean having no torque below 4000 rpm, where most of your driving is done. Or all of your driving, most likely.

So best to build the 283 on the torquey side. Get a nice hydraulic cam that builds decent torque, and maybe plan for a 6000 rpm redline. Any higher than that, and you probably wouldn't like it. I'd go with a cam that is no bigger than 220 degrees @ 0.050" lift on the intake. I'd get a dual pattern cam with more duration on the exhaust because V8 conversions are notorious for having to have iron exhaust manifolds because the engine bay is so dang narrow.

Finally, definitely plan on a taller rear end ratio. I've got a 4.56 in my truck, and I don't need to launch like a funny car. I know it sounds like fun, but it's not really, in fact it's unstreetable like that. Zip, zip, zip, and you're still topped out at only 70 mph. Plus you shift as soon as you get into gear. Oh sure, Porsche Cayennes have nothing on me, but I'd gladly trade some of that gear ratio for slower acceleration that just feels healthy, instead of always trying to jump out of its skin.

And a note on the 283. I built one up just like I suggested above, and sold it to a friend who replaced the wheezy 140 hp 305 in his '82 Trans Am. He gets rubber in the first 3 gears effortlessly, it LOVES to rev, and puts down an easy 20 mpg on a carb.

283 is a great motor, dude. I wish I didn't sell it. It runs so good, I wish I still had it.

The only difference between a 283 and a 302 is 1/8" less bore, and if you have an early 283, you are safe boring it out an eighth of an inch to make a 302. Get some good heads on that, and you can definitely run with 350's!!!