First off let me say I own a 66 short wheel base chevy pickup with a Power pack 283 and a granny 4 on the floor. I am currently doing a restoration of sorts on it and I have this idea in my head about the motor and was wondering what you guys think. I am wanting to find another 283 block and put a forged crank, rods, & pistons in it. Top it with Trick Flows new aluminum heads for the small bore small block, and either a 6-71 or 8-71 blower making a small amount of boost with dual holley 390cfm carbs on top. Basically the blower would be for looks but would add a little bit of power to the mix or I have an Offenhauser dual quad intake I can run using the same carbs. I am undecided on the blower and was wondering what ya'll think. I know it would cost the same to build a 350 or a big inch small block but I DONT WANT A 350 I WANT A 283 I want something that few people have so please dont suggest I should get a 350 or such, I just want to know what do ya'll think I should do to make the 283 more efficent or more powerful. I plan on running a Muncie 4 speed behind it. I am going for an old school look on the truck and will continue to run the original 16 inch 6 lug steel rims, bench seat and such and I figured I would build the 283 to look old school. I want it to sound mean and have enough power to keep up with todays sports cars on the street and drag strip. So what do ya'll think? Am I insane for wanting a 8-71 blown 283 or is it feasible? Any suggestions on what I could do to make it better?

One other question is the Power Pack 283 rare at all? Has anyone ever heard of this combination before? I know the truck came with this motor because I bought it from the original owner and they wouldnt put a different motor in (they are still using tractors from the 70's on there farm). It has a rochester 4-jet carb (4-jet not quadra jet), power pack heads, 9.5 compression ratio. The motor is listed in the owners manual so that also tells me its stock. I have searched for the 3 years I have owned this truck and have found nothing on the internet, so any help is appreciated.
THNX
Randie M

 

Sounds like a neat project! Don't mind those who say "Build a 350". 283's were damn good motors back in the day and for a small bore sbc they are still great. The blower combo sounds feasible with the right setup, quench, compression, cam etc. Ii'm not a blower guru so I'm sure others will chime in on that aspect.

As for the Power Pack combo being rare? They were a somewhat popular back in the day and up until about 8 years ago those 283 power pack heads were still bringing in good money. Though now a days people use those heads for door stops unless they are doing a resto. That carb is it a factory Holley? GM used holleys on many of their hi-po factory engines around that time all the way up until the mid 70's.

If you are using a different block etc for this engine then I would keep that power pack engine complete and hold on to it. They are becoming increasingly harder to find complete since people had a tendency to wind them buggers up to 7k on a regular basis and after awhile bad things happened lol

 

Thats why I want to find another block. No the carb is a factory Rochester 4-jet! Even says Rochester on the side, I talked to a guy about 2 years ago who said he bought a couple of those at a juck yard just to put on a shelf and look at. I have asked several people at swap meets, car shows etc... but none of them have ever heard of a 66 swb truck with a Power Pack 283 and a granny 4 speed from the factory. So the motor and the tranny are getting packed away in plastic bags and stored in boxes.

 

just a suggestion.why not build a sweet 302,all forged,with power adder or 2 4bll cross ram. awsome motors.!

 

Ya i thought about that one to and I would love to build a 302 but for a 67 to 69 Z28 Camaro. Something like a tribute to Smokey Yunick's Z28 Camaro that Vic Edelbrock now owns and races. I have thought about building a 302 with 195 AFR heads and extremely light weight Schubeck valve train. That motor would spin to infinite and beyond but I want a motor that when you open up the hood and somebody says "Damn thats an awesome small block. What is that a 350?" I can say no thats an original 283 that i modified and watch as they say "dont B.S. me" or there jaw drops. Granted it wont be the "ORIGINAL" 283 block but my truck did come with a 283 so close enough. I think a 302 would have the same effect, but I really want something that nobody else has done. I mean do you now anyone who has modified a 283 like what I want to do and then drive it on the street? Gobs of power is not my concern, just to have a classic truck, that has an old school look and uses some old school technology mixed in with some new and can handle itself on the street and an occasional run at the drag strip will be enough for me. If I want my speed kicks I got my 04 GOAT for that.

Peace
Randie

 

My best friend back in high school built a 283 for his 77' Camaro that was pretty sweet. It had ported camel humps, 11:1cr, single plane intake, radical cam and a very nice bottom end. It would spin to the heavens with ease. No one ever believed him it was a 283.

 

I would stroke it and go with some sort of turbo setup. Just build that thing to handle a **** load of boost. Now that would be bad ***.

 

I hadnt really thought abuout turbos! Hum??? That might be possible. But I dont want to stroke it, 283 is the way for me. Put a 3.73 air locker in the rear with a wide ratio muncie, Hum that might work. Fuel injection and The before mentioned Schubeck light weight valve train, that motor would spin like there is no tommorow. It would be interesting if I could get some Titanium connecting rods, i wonder if the LS7 rods would work? I dont think they would but Im not for sure. Man this little motor might be a screamer. I wonder what a T-56 would do behind a 283?

 

back in the day i built a turbo 305 with a holset 62mm turbo
with an intercooler built from 2 supra cores,with cast iron heads
and rams horns sbc exhaust manifolds flipped facing forward,iwas still in hi school and i did the fabrication of the turbo system at my uncles shop,
and he helped me rebuild the engine with stuff from summit,
this was back when the ls1 was fairly new and the lt1 were the cars on the
street. the turbo was putting out about 10-15 psi and felt alot quicker in the night time and cold days this was thru a modified dp 650 carb. it never got dynoed or anything like that,put if i estimate it had to be putting out about or close to 400 rwhp, i can tell you it felt a lot more powerful than a full bolt on ls1 car.
man i took out a lot if not all the fox bodies i went up in the street races and any lt1 cars i went up against,
even the older guys than me did not want to race me anymore
this was my first blow-thru car it was a 88 iroc z with a t5 tranny
i was a neighbor hood terror for a while with that car
the race i remeber the most was when i ran a first gen camaro from this older dude who had a built 400 with and aluminum heads.
he was badmouthing me and my car and how i couldnt beat his car with my junkyard setup.
well itold my uncle what this guy had said to me and and he told me to run him. my uncle modified the turbo and put a leak in the actuator and bent the fins on the turbo i was runnun and then i saw about 18-19 psi on the gage i had.
i ran that dude the following weekend at the local street gtg
and him and his buddies were laughin at my car and stuff.
i ran 2 other dudes that day and i wooped them both bad like 10 plus cars bad
one car was a bolt on lt1 car, the other was a cam and headers fox body
he goes to do a killer burn out because he was going to teach me a lesson
or so he said and we lined them up and i was ready to win or lose but i had to run him now.
we both took off and i put like 3 cars on him and i he caught me to my rear
and i just kept shifting hard, not powershifting, but correct and not trying to miss any shifts.
i pulled on him again and took him out about 2 cars length at the end
he could not believe i took him out like that and he was pissed on i took him out and stayed in front of him the whole way, he was pissed and the local guys and his buddies were in shock.
he got pissed off and said that there was no way that was 305 ,that it had to be a 350 0r a 383 engine.
i told him it was a diesel turbo intercooled engine and he was in shock and just left in acloud of smoke.
last i heard he had put a bbc with n20 and was a local 1/8 mile racer.
it was my first real race.
sorry bout the long post but this thread brought up old sbc memories
peace

 

Well a turbo in my 66 chevy truck wouldnt be a problem, I have plenty of room for about 4 of them, the engine compartment is f*cking huge!!!

 

nobody has any input on this subject?

 

Anyone?

 

I agree with this guy, the 302 and 283 share the same 3" stroke but the 302 has the 4" bore to unshroud the valves and use bigger valves with more curtain area.

 

"Ya i thought about that one to and I would love to build a 302 but for a 67 to 69 Z28 Camaro. Something like a tribute to Smokey Yunick's Z28 Camaro that Vic Edelbrock now owns and races. I have thought about building a 302 with 195 AFR heads and extremely light weight Schubeck valve train. That motor would spin to infinite and beyond but I want a motor that when you open up the hood and somebody says "Damn thats an awesome small block. What is that a 350?" I can say no thats an original 283 that i modified and watch as they say "dont B.S. me" or there jaw drops. Granted it wont be the "ORIGINAL" 283 block but my truck did come with a 283 so close enough. I think a 302 would have the same effect, but I really want something that nobody else has done. I mean do you know anyone who has modified a 283 like what I want to do and then drive it on the street? Gobs of power is not my concern, just to have a classic truck, that has an old school look and uses some old school technology mixed in with some new and can handle itself on the street and an occasional run at the drag strip will be enough for me. If I want my speed kicks I got my 04 GOAT for that."

I hate to repeat myself but yes i agree a 302 would make more power but I still want a 283, power is not my ultimate goal , looks under the hood is. Some people like myself like to have something different, something very few people have. granted a 302 is not that common but i like the 283. so anybody have any ideas that could make my idea better. i really like the twin turbo idea, and over building for a 283 would allow me to put a larger motor in, in the future and have a set of turbos ready for it

 

The blower should take care of any shrouding problems with the small bore. You could run a 8-71 that was underdriven a whole bunch to run on the street, set it up for something like 8 lbs of boost. A couple of good info sites:

www.dyersblowers.com
www.blowerdriveservice.com
http://www.holley.com/7185.asp

 

Stay with the old school! You could put a 400 small block in your truck but it would not be what you really want. Do what you want!!!

 

So Should I Stay With The Turbo Idea Or Go With The 8-71 Blower.

 

The turbo would be cool, Kenny Duttweiler has a 287 CID turbo SBC making 1400hp or so on race gas. It turns up to 9500 though.

 

WELL IM GOING TO BE USING 93 OCTANE SO LETS DROP THE BOOST A LITTLE BIT AND REFIGURE THOSE NUMBERS

 

I love the build my brother is doing a 283 for 63 nova ss, anyway let me make a suggestion, go with a intercooled procharger, more power, fits under the hood, longer life out of the motor, and way diferent.let me know what you think.