Nostalgia Small Block (283)
- Thread starter Mike P
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“……Update?......”
Actually yes. I picked up the block, pistons and rods from the machine shop yesterday (I’ve had the crank back a couple of months now). I told my friend I wasn’t in a big rush for it which was a good thing as just after I dropped it off he got slammed with a bunch of work.
The block was cleaned, line honed, square decked, bored .030 over and new cam bearings installed. The crank was turned .010 and the rods were resized and new ARP rod bolts installed.
Cade has moved a bit farther away so instead of coming over every Sunday, we’re now doing an every other Sunday thing and with the drive time his visits here are a little shorter. As this is mostly just to show Cade how an engine goes together, I’ll probably start doing some stuff during the weeks when he’s not here…..like checking ring gap, bearing clearance, and installing say 6 of the pistons/rods and leaving 2 for him to do.
Anyway, I got the block painted and ran a tap down most of the bolt holes….left a few for Cade to do.
On a side note I came across a deal I couldn’t pass up a couple of weeks ago. I got a line on a real nice Borg Warner Super T10 out of an 80s F Body. It came with bellhousing, shifter, flywheel, and new clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing. It’s a wide ratio with a 3.42 low gear which would be ideal for this little 283 in something light with say a 3.0 rear gear. The wide ratio’s aren’t the strongest transmissions out there but it should be more than enough for the 283.
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Actually yes. I picked up the block, pistons and rods from the machine shop yesterday (I’ve had the crank back a couple of months now). I told my friend I wasn’t in a big rush for it which was a good thing as just after I dropped it off he got slammed with a bunch of work.
The block was cleaned, line honed, square decked, bored .030 over and new cam bearings installed. The crank was turned .010 and the rods were resized and new ARP rod bolts installed.
Cade has moved a bit farther away so instead of coming over every Sunday, we’re now doing an every other Sunday thing and with the drive time his visits here are a little shorter. As this is mostly just to show Cade how an engine goes together, I’ll probably start doing some stuff during the weeks when he’s not here…..like checking ring gap, bearing clearance, and installing say 6 of the pistons/rods and leaving 2 for him to do.
Anyway, I got the block painted and ran a tap down most of the bolt holes….left a few for Cade to do.
On a side note I came across a deal I couldn’t pass up a couple of weeks ago. I got a line on a real nice Borg Warner Super T10 out of an 80s F Body. It came with bellhousing, shifter, flywheel, and new clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing. It’s a wide ratio with a 3.42 low gear which would be ideal for this little 283 in something light with say a 3.0 rear gear. The wide ratio’s aren’t the strongest transmissions out there but it should be more than enough for the 283.
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That transmission should be a great match. I ran a Saginaw with similar low gearing between a 283 and an 8" with 2.79 gearing in my '35 pickup. It was a fun combo that got over 20mpg on the highway.
Due to Cade's move, your new strategy of doing most of the work and leaving some for him makes perfect sense. Probably will help him stay interested too. Glad to see the forward momentum just the same.
Due to Cade's move, your new strategy of doing most of the work and leaving some for him makes perfect sense. Probably will help him stay interested too. Glad to see the forward momentum just the same.
Well Monday was a Monday. I had some time so I decided to get some of the pistons in (I had planned on doing 6 and leaving 2 for Cade and I to do Sunday). I got one bank done and decided I’d check deck height…..WTH ……the pistons were so far down the bore it would echoed if you talked around it. Pull out the depth gauge and they are .145 down in the hole. Running the numbers real quick showed I’d have a compression ratio a bit below 7:1.
I picked up the pistons over 20 years ago and they have been sitting on the shelf ever since. They only had a couple of hundred miles on them and had come out of a 283 that the block had cracked on (the guy didn’t get anti-freeze in it before a cold snap). I never thought to check/compare the pin height on them.
Anyway a look thru the parts catalog and I’ve got a new set of pistons coming with .106 more pin height on the way. Now that I have the deck height figures, I’m debating taking a bit more off the block to tighten up the quench a little more (on paper it comes out to .054 right now).
On a side note the pin diameter and height are a match a 307 small block, but I’ve never heard of anybody making forged piston (let alone there being a demand for) for a 307……who knows, maybe these were marketed as blower/turbo charger pistons?????
Anyway now that they are pressed back off they will probably go back on the shelf (properly marked) for another 20 years……the grandkids can worry about what to do with them after the estate sale
I picked up the pistons over 20 years ago and they have been sitting on the shelf ever since. They only had a couple of hundred miles on them and had come out of a 283 that the block had cracked on (the guy didn’t get anti-freeze in it before a cold snap). I never thought to check/compare the pin height on them.
Anyway a look thru the parts catalog and I’ve got a new set of pistons coming with .106 more pin height on the way. Now that I have the deck height figures, I’m debating taking a bit more off the block to tighten up the quench a little more (on paper it comes out to .054 right now).
On a side note the pin diameter and height are a match a 307 small block, but I’ve never heard of anybody making forged piston (let alone there being a demand for) for a 307……who knows, maybe these were marketed as blower/turbo charger pistons?????
Anyway now that they are pressed back off they will probably go back on the shelf (properly marked) for another 20 years……the grandkids can worry about what to do with them after the estate sale
The new pistons came in last Thursday so I was able to get them pressed on and six installed before Cade came over today. The new pistons were .005 taller than advertised and running the numbers with the new pistons compression comes out to just a bit over 8.75:1 which I’m happy with.
I left the last 2 pistons to do today with Cade and we checked ring gap and bearing clearance, installed the rings and got the last 2 holes filled. I was a little amused at Cades reaction when he found out that you had to get your hands oily and greasy lubing the cylinder walls, pistons and putting assembly lube on the bearings.
I showed him how to torque the bearings in steps using both the click-over torque wrench and the old beam wrench. I even turned him loose to check over the rod bolts one last time with the click-over. He tried to check the mains but as expected he’s got to add a little more muscle for that.
After a lot of looking I finally settled on a cam. I picked one of the Summit house brand split lift/duration ones with .421/.444 lift and 278/288 duration. The 305 guys seem to have good luck with it so I figured I’d give it a shot. The numbers are based on the stock 1.5 rockers I’ll be using and I figure if I want to try more cam I can always switch the rockers out for 1.6 units.
The Cam and the lifters should be here Tuesday so with any luck Cade and I might be able to pretty much button this up the next time he comes over.
I left the last 2 pistons to do today with Cade and we checked ring gap and bearing clearance, installed the rings and got the last 2 holes filled. I was a little amused at Cades reaction when he found out that you had to get your hands oily and greasy lubing the cylinder walls, pistons and putting assembly lube on the bearings.
I showed him how to torque the bearings in steps using both the click-over torque wrench and the old beam wrench. I even turned him loose to check over the rod bolts one last time with the click-over. He tried to check the mains but as expected he’s got to add a little more muscle for that.
After a lot of looking I finally settled on a cam. I picked one of the Summit house brand split lift/duration ones with .421/.444 lift and 278/288 duration. The 305 guys seem to have good luck with it so I figured I’d give it a shot. The numbers are based on the stock 1.5 rockers I’ll be using and I figure if I want to try more cam I can always switch the rockers out for 1.6 units.
The Cam and the lifters should be here Tuesday so with any luck Cade and I might be able to pretty much button this up the next time he comes over.
Cade’s seen me install cylinder heads before so I didn’t figure it was a big deal to go ahead and get those put on while he wasn’t around. I also went ahead and installed the valve train on all but one cylinder to speed things up a bit today.
I want to break the engine in on the test stand and for Cade to hear it run. The HEMI for the 37 Dodge is currently on my old run stand and since one of the storage stands I had built to store the HEMIs on is now spare, I decided to turn it into another run stand. The extensions for the radiator can be unbolted so it can be turned back into a storage stand again if I want.
I went ahead and got the long block on the stand before Cade got here today. It’s actually a better height for Cade to work on but it’s hell on my back. Fortunately sitting on the old milk crate makes it a good height for me to supervise from so I guess it’s wasn’t too bad after all. Anyway this is where we started today.
It was mostly getting the rest of the valve train in and adjusted, and finishing up installing the rest of the parts. Cade got to adjust the last valves, put the balancer on, (he surprised me a bit and was able to muscle it almost all the way on) and use a line wrench to get the fuel lines on…..I suspect there will be a set of his own line wrenches in his Christmas stocking this year.
By the time we quit for today this is where we were at. I walked him thru what I’ll have to do to prime it before start up. Over the next couple of weeks before he comes over again, I’ll get the gauges in the engine stand prime it and break the cam in and re-torque the heads.
With luck I’ll have a video of him running it in a couple of weeks.
I want to break the engine in on the test stand and for Cade to hear it run. The HEMI for the 37 Dodge is currently on my old run stand and since one of the storage stands I had built to store the HEMIs on is now spare, I decided to turn it into another run stand. The extensions for the radiator can be unbolted so it can be turned back into a storage stand again if I want.
I went ahead and got the long block on the stand before Cade got here today. It’s actually a better height for Cade to work on but it’s hell on my back. Fortunately sitting on the old milk crate makes it a good height for me to supervise from so I guess it’s wasn’t too bad after all. Anyway this is where we started today.
It was mostly getting the rest of the valve train in and adjusted, and finishing up installing the rest of the parts. Cade got to adjust the last valves, put the balancer on, (he surprised me a bit and was able to muscle it almost all the way on) and use a line wrench to get the fuel lines on…..I suspect there will be a set of his own line wrenches in his Christmas stocking this year.
By the time we quit for today this is where we were at. I walked him thru what I’ll have to do to prime it before start up. Over the next couple of weeks before he comes over again, I’ll get the gauges in the engine stand prime it and break the cam in and re-torque the heads.
With luck I’ll have a video of him running it in a couple of weeks.
Yeah, I'm pretty happy with it. I spent some time on it last week and got it wired up, did the cam break-in and re-torqued the heads (steel shim gaskets), then spent a little time dialing in the timing and mixture. With any luck I'll get a video of Cade running it and posted this coming Sunday.
Well this should about close the thread out. Cade got here early this morning and came straight out to the shop. The engine was all ready for him when he got here.
I walked Cade thru how to start and shut down the engine stand then asked him if he’d like to hear it run. He was a bit nervous, but did good (I had put a throttle stop on it just in case he got a little over exuberant). He was pretty impressed and happy (and admittedly so was I). Anyway here’s the video of it running.
http://youtu.be/K2a8j3GsYNY
All in all a pretty good day.
.
I walked Cade thru how to start and shut down the engine stand then asked him if he’d like to hear it run. He was a bit nervous, but did good (I had put a throttle stop on it just in case he got a little over exuberant). He was pretty impressed and happy (and admittedly so was I). Anyway here’s the video of it running.
http://youtu.be/K2a8j3GsYNY
All in all a pretty good day.
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