Nostalgia Small Block (283)

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Mike P

Master Mechanic
Aug 7, 2009
446
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I’ve seen several engine builds/upgrades on the site since I joined. A lot of guys are using tried and true hotrod parts and several are using updated technology to build some pretty impressive engines.

Driven suggested that some of you might get a kick out of how we old guys used to build them back in the stone age. I’m starting to put together a pretty much mid 1960s era correct hot rod 283 and if there’s enough interest I’ll keep this thread going while I build it.

Basically over the years I ended up with a lot of odds and ends to the point where I could pretty much build the engine with what I had laying around. The parts stash included a virgin 1960 283, a spare standard block, extra standard steel crank, a set of .030 forged pistons (9-9 ¼ :1 compression with the heads I have), 3 pairs of Power Pack heads (60CC, 1.72/150), a Mallory dual point distributor and an Offenhauser Tri-Power.

I’m not really sure what we’ll do with this once it’s done; hunt for a car to put it in, sell it, or just keep it around until my grandson is old enough to build a car around it.

I’ve wanted to do this engine build for quite a while and now that my Grandson is 11 I figured it would be a good time for him to start getting his feet wet on engine building and learn that there’s nothing wrong with getting your hands dirty.

We’re starting with 170HP, 1960, 283 2 barrel I pulled out of its original home (a 1960 BelAir) about 25 years ago to make room for a 350. It was tired, but came into the shop under its own power so I just set it in a corner of the storage shed.


The first order of business was getting the engine off the storage stand and on to the engine stand so we could do the tear down. By the time that was done my Grandson Cade was handling the chain hoist like an old pro LOL.





Cade usually comes over on Sunday so we only have a few hours a week to work on this and getting the engine on the stand was pretty much the end of the first Sunday.

I do have a bit of a head start on the project. Over the holidays work at my friend’s machine shop was slow so it was a good time to get the heads done. Back in the 60s I probably would have spent some time at a local junk yard hunting up a set of the double hump 1.94/1.50 “fuelie” heads off a 327…. but this isn’t the 60’s so we re-worked a pair of 1965 Power Packs. We opened the heads up for new 1.94 intake valves, put in hardened exhaust seats and new exhaust valves, gave them new valve guides, milled off .015 and installed new Corvette spec valve springs. I had considered installing screw in studs, but with the cam lift and relatively light spring pressure they shouldn’t really be necessary. As there was some wear on the original rocker arm tips, they also got a new set of rockers.

The Offenhauser Tri-Power is appropriate for this build, as these were originally released in the late 1950s. I bought this one new about 30 years ago and this will be the 4th engine it’s been on (the previous engines were a 327, 350 and a 383). We still have to go thru and rebuild the carburetors but that will be a bit later.

Rather than use headers (which are pretty body specific), I broke out the checkbook and bought a set of the Dorman reproduction 62-64 Corvette exhaust manifolds with the 2 ½” outlets. Even back in the 60s there were not a lot of wrecked Corvettes sitting in junk yards, however these manifolds were readily available over the parts counter at the Chevy dealers and not an uncommon upgrade. I remember reading a test on these many years ago (possibly in Hot Rod magazine) and these actually flowed as well or in some cases better than many of the headers they were testing. At about $55 per side they are a reasonable alternative to used originals which bring about $200 a side. That being said, as I suspected they are made in China, the flanges look good on them, but the casting flash removal did leave a bit to be desired and I spent some time with a grinder cleaning them up before painting them with some VHT paint.



Overall that’s pretty much where we are right now on it.
 
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86 Grand prix

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Nov 13, 2012
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Watching X2
 

DRIVEN

Geezer
Apr 25, 2009
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I'm really excited about this thread. 283s are a fun and versatile engine, as you well know, and can be tailored for everything from a flatbed worktruck to a dedicated strip car. Cade is gonna have a blast with this and learn a lot. We all probably will too :D . You suggested those Dorman manifolds in my Reaper thread and I very well may use them. I'll need to wait until I get everything assembled first to see if they'll fit though.
When I read the thread linked to the other site I saw some discussion about cams. That reminded me of a 283 I helped a buddy with back when we were in school. He bought an engine for his '38 Chevy pickup from a wrecking yard that he was told was a 307. Turned out to be a truck 283. Being students, we didn't have much for a budget. Aside from cleaning it up and replacing seals/gaskets we didn't really do anything to freshen it up. I was working for my uncle's shop at the time and we had recently replaced a low hour freeze-cracked 350 in a little cabin cruiser. We swiped the cam and timing set from the core and put it in the 283. He came up with a Performer intake and a spreadbore Holley and HEI. That ended up being one of the best running SBCs I've ever encountered. The marine grind camshaft had incredible midrange and an intoxicating exhaust note. Never heard another smallblock (on land, anyway) that sounded quite like it.
 

Mike P

Master Mechanic
Aug 7, 2009
446
208
43
Arizona
Thanks guys. Driven, that marine cam sounds interesting (I suspect it was made to ring out as much mid range torque as they could get). I’ll probably write up what I’ve figured out on cams when I finally pull the trigger on one….I’m not 100% set on what I’ll order yet, but the Comp 270 is still the one that looks the best.

You guys are right, I’m enjoying this build especially because Cade is a part of it. (Bear with me I’m about to play proud granddad). Cade is my oldest Grandson (he has a younger sister and brother) and has been following me out to the shop since he was about 5. He likes to work with his hands which is something I encourage. A few years ago I started him off with a cheap set of metric and SAE combination wrenches and a plastic tool box just to see how well he took care of them (he still has them all and even the holders they came with). So for birthdays and Christmas he would get a few more tools.

By Christmas a year ago he had outgrown the plastic tool box so I refurbished this old bottom box I’d found with some new paint and aluminum diamond plate and bought the top box for him.



When you see a picture of Cade with a wrench in his hand 99% of the time it’s going to be HIS wrench LOL. At the end of the day everything he’s had out goes back in its proper place before he closes the box up (something he does without any coaxing from me).

 

1evilregal

Comic Book Super Hero
Apr 23, 2009
3,056
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:popcorn:
great to see the young interested in the hobby!
 

Mike P

Master Mechanic
Aug 7, 2009
446
208
43
Arizona
We made some progress over the last couple of weeks. Last Sunday I dug out a starter and generator to rebuild. I’ve found that if we do some of the smaller projects that we can completely finish in a short period of time it helps Cade feel like he has accomplished something and keeps his interest up. I decided on using a generator for now for a couple of reasons. I have several generators lying around from doing alternator conversions and for now, it’s only real function will be as a tensioner for the fan belt (when the engine goes in a car I’ll probably change over to an alternator). I also figured I’d start Cade off with the basics on how a generator works and then build on that later when we do an alternator.


Both the starter and generator were bench tested and actually worked worked so this was basically a tear down, inspect bushings and brushes, clean, paint, lube and reassemble. Yes I purposely picked the nastiest looking starter I had…..remember this is partially about Cade getting his hands dirty LOL. Other than finding a loose bushing in the starter, there were no surprises when we tore them down.




During the week I got the stuff cleaned up, painted and ready for today.









On the engine itself we got as far as getting one head off last weekend and Cade got to see me screw up. I was using the impact wrench to pull head bolts and rather than grab the impact socket I used a regular chrome socket ……yeah, it split. I got to explain to why we use impact sockets.

When we got the head off, we found the bore is still standard and surprisingly had very little ridge. I also found out that instead of a soft plug or pipe plug in the oil galley at the top of the deck, the older 283s used a solid plug about a ½” long.



We initially drilled and tapped the plug for a ¼ X 20 bolt and tried the slide hammer on it…..it didn’t budge. The next trick was to redrill and tap the plug for a 3/8” bolt. I put an oversized nut over the plug and then screwing down a nut to pull the plug out (something like pulling a rocker stud) which worked well.





Today we got the other head off all the head bolts came out nicely except one. It was the only one that was rusty (I’m guessing that maybe it somehow got put in without sealer?) and yeah, it snapped off.



I suppose next Sunday I’ll show Cade how to remove a broken bolt. LOL.

We also got the pan off, but ran out of time before we could get a main cap and rod cap off to see if the crank is still standard. One thing I found that kind of surprised me was that the engine doesn’t have a harmonic balancer, just a hub with a tin shield riveted to it (it sure looked like a balancer until you saw the back side). I do have a good balancer on the shelf that will probably go on it when it goes back together.



So that’s where we are at the end of the day.
 

Mike P

Master Mechanic
Aug 7, 2009
446
208
43
Arizona
It’s been kind of slow going as Cade only can come over on Sundays but the block is finally stripped and about ready to go to the machine shop. We got all the freeze and soft plugs out including the galley plug at the top of the oil filter boss and the “hidden” one under the rear main cap.

I showed him how to use a ridge ream to de-ridge the tops of the cylinders and then number the rods and main caps (both with a set of number stamps and a center punch). Cade also gave me a hand with the press pushing out the piston pins to dissemble the rods from the pistons.

The broken head bolt turned out to be a bit more problematic than I thought it was going to be. I started out by showing Cade my favorite trick of welding a nut onto the nub that was sticking up above the block.







Most times the broken bolt will come out pretty easily that way….this wasn’t one of those times. The first time all it did was break off a little more of the bolt. It did the same with the second nut I welded on. Then Cade got to see me drill a hole thru the broken bolt and try an easy-out. When it didn’t come out after a couple of tugs on the wrench (I didn’t want to show Cade how to break an easy-out off in the bolt) it was on to plan “C”. I used my smallest tip in the torch and heated the bolt from the inside putting the flame thru the hole I drilled. After the heat, what was left of the bolt came out using the easy-out. In the end Cade got to see a couple of different techniques so it was worth the aggravation……I even managed to refrain from teaching him any new words.



There are a few minor differences between this early 283 and later first gen small blocks; the solid plug in the driver’s side cylinder deck, the soft plug in the oil filter boss, the crankshaft not being drilled and tapped for a balancer bolt and the starter mounting boss only being drilled for the straight across starter nose which limits the flywheel/flexplate to the large 168 tooth style.

We took some time and tapped the hole in the deck and the one in the oil filter boss (along with the 3 behind the cam gear) for pipe plugs, and drilled and tapped the crank snout for a balancer bolt and drilled the starter boss for the staggered pattern starter that is needed in case we want to go to the 153 tooth flywheel.

So we’re finally ready to send the block to the machine shop and the crank to the grinders.

 
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