Anyone raced with a 283?

55Chevy283

Active Member
I love the 409, and almost got my hands on one last year, but these great full size cars also came with the small 283. Does anyone have any experiance racing with 283 successfully? At least 12 second passes? If so, please share your combination, that is if you are not still depending on it in some secretive competitive class. I am building one for my 55 and would like to hear some successful combinations for this motor.

I plan to run high to mid 12s with mine. Thanks,

Henry

55 Chevy 4dr Bel Air
283 + .080 (never build this. Go .060 or .125 so good pistons are available)
10.0:1 with Iron Bowtie heads 2.02/1.60
097 Duntov cam (for the fun of it.)
M20 4 speed
40lb flywheel 4.56 gears
 

dq409

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Henry, I can`t give you engine specs but the mighty mouse is one hell of a racing engine !!!

You can get them to spin up to 12,000 rpm and fly like a cannon ball !!

Quick RPMs and a revving sound that is music to any gearheads ears!!

12 second 1/4`s should be no problem other then maybe streetability.

If you don`t get any answers here , which is highly unlikely, you will find a ton of info on the mouse out there in SBC land.

Good luck,dq
 

MRHP

 
Supporting Member 1
Wasn't there a fella with a 63 and a 283 that was fast on this board? Had some sort of copo? Maybe not.;)
 

Ronnie Russell

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
Henry, If you need a spare core, I have a complete (almost) 62 283 that is yours if you want it. Northeast Texas. MRHP , you are a bad, bad boy. :roll Why did you have to bring "him" back up? "him" was from Houston.
 

dq409

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Ronnie Russell said:
Henry, If you need a spare core, I have a complete (almost) 62 283 that is yours if you want it. Northeast Texas. MRHP , you are a bad, bad boy. :roll Why did you have to bring "him" back up? "him" was from Houston.


Funny thing,,, Tom ran into "him" on his trip !!!! heehee:D
 
Henry

You should be able to do 12's quite easily in your 55 with what you plan to do with your 283. An NHRA M or N Stocker can do this with a .399 stock lift cam and hydraulics with the original roch 4gc and power pack heads. A good 3 angle valve job with 115 lb valve springs should suffice. If you run a hydrualic cam, set valves at .0015 and you should have 6000 working rpm. Remember to use good screw-in
studs and good push rods. Keep small diameter primary headers. Gear deep and leave high.

Heavy Heavy
 

desapience

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
55Chevy283 said:
I love the 409, and almost got my hands on one last year, but these great full size cars also came with the small 283. Does anyone have any experiance racing with 283 successfully? At least 12 second passes? If so, please share your combination, that is if you are not still depending on it in some secretive competitive class. I am building one for my 55 and would like to hear some successful combinations for this motor.

I plan to run high to mid 12s with mine. Thanks,

Henry

55 Chevy 4dr Bel Air
283 + .080 (never build this. Go .060 or .125 so good pistons are available)
10.0:1 with Iron Bowtie heads 2.02/1.60
097 Duntov cam (for the fun of it.)
M20 4 speed
40lb flywheel 4.56 gears


I've got a 1956 numbers matching power-pack 265 in my 1931 Chevy Coupe (see my pic gallery)... complete with the orignal 4 bbl carb. I got it with the car, which I bought for my next hotrod project. It also has a borg-warner 4-speed, hurst shifter, with a custom made overdrive. the rear-end is also a 56 Chevy unit with 4.11 gears (open).

I was considering simply selling it off -- it runs very nicely and rather strong for a mini-mouse (205 h.p., stock). There's nothing wrong with it, just needs a freshing up rebuild. But, reading this thread, I got the urge to up the anty on this little powerhouse powerpack motor. But, in doing so, and while wanting to get the power up there to near 300 h.p. or so, I also would want to keep it completely streetable...

Thing is, the stock matching numbers power-packs are worth some good dollars, anyone need one or have some good idea combos to make this a mighty-mouse?

Denis
 

55Chevy283

Active Member
Here it is

Here is the combination as it will hit my car within the next week. I expect to leave at 6500 Rpm and shift at 7000. Based on my experience with a 350 and 327 with the same heads I expect E.T.s around 12.80. I will post actual data from San Antonio Raceway once the motor is broken in.

283 + .080
stock replacement flat tops 4 valve reliefs; Fly-cut for valve clearance
Steal crank and scat forged I Beam Cap screw rods (race balanced)
2.02/1.60 unported Iron Bowtie heads angle milled to 57cc to yield 10.0:1
Lunati cam 20109 (Duntov 097) 228/230 .395/400 110 lsa
Crankcase will vent from road draft hole into headers
42.5 lb steel Flywheel proberobly an old Hays though cant verify brand
Edelbrock C3B intake with open spacer and 600 vacuum Holley
(have 650 Mighty Deamon for strip use, though holley vacuum secondary works about as well)
MSD ignition stock 55 Chevy Distributor with Crane XRi hall effects switch electronic converison
1 5/8 Hooker full length headers true duals with flowmasters.
Muncie 4 speed (I just built this 4 speed myself and works perfectly!)
9 inch Ford with 4.56 gears though I have some 5.14s but dont like to drive on them (I used with a tremec 5 speed and cruised like 3.50s when in 5th.)
Mickey Tompson ET Streets 26 X 10.5 X15
 

Ronnie Russell

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
55chevy, You may want to re-think the road draft tube into headers. I had thought of doing the same thing, but a recent magazine dyno test has changed my mind. It was found that there is only 1 1/2 h.g. of vacuum at the header bung of the race motor they used for test. Far less than what I would have thought. The conclusion was that , an evacuation system on a car with mufflers would actually prevent ventillation, because of the back pressure of mufflers. Open headers, yes. Mufflers, no. Therefore , I will use simple valve cover breathers in conjunction with road draft tube and intake man. oil filler tube breather. Maybe it would be good to ask around and get more opinions.
 

dq409

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Dump the road traft tube idea and plumb it to a PCV system same as we use on the "W" blocks,,,dq
 

models916

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 7
just vent it

Breathers in the valve covers, Vent tube in the road draft opening running to a vented catch can or dry sump catch can. If you are racing, you don't want any oil vapor or fumes in the combustion chamber as it causes detonation in high compression engines. Skip the PCV on the track. Do what you want on the street. Low tension rings and a vacuum pump is the way to make HP without stress on parts.
 

55Chevy283

Active Member
Update

Guys the 283 combo fell short of my 12 second goal by a mile. It actually ran 14.00 and was very easy to drive. I believe the problem is that the cam and heads are not a good match as I have made many high 12 second passes with a 327 and 350 with these heads and my generic "30/30" copy from PAW. The car was not all that torquey for a short solid cam and performed much like the old .390/.410 hydraulic cam that came in just about everything. I think I would recomend either this or a slightly larger hydraulic cam to anyone over the 097 based on my experience for its low speed torque, though the older heads may have better low lift flow compatibility with the 097.

I was not happy with this combo, and already swapped in my "30/30" cam this week and the top end feels much much faster but its a dog with my street gears (3.70) and I will put the 4.56 pumkin back in for next week. I will race my friends new Vette this coming Friday and I will post results soon after.

Denis, building up the 56 Chevy motor, 300 hp and 14.00 should be easy as I have just proven. I know that my 2.02 heads were not necisary to run this number, and the car may have run better with my 1.94 cammel humps. 4.56 gears seemed a bit much try some 4.11s. Try the stock .390/.410 hydraulic first as it might already do enough for you and extreme streetability. It was just $25 at Advance Auto Parts last time I checked, and can be looked up as the 300hp 327 cam. (Yes I know it came in everything else too. Chuckle) For more performanceI would suggest a cam something between 208 and 218 dur with an lsa between 106 and 110 and the most lift you can get for this dur. Use some 461 or 462 castings and mill to the max or try some 601 heads easily available and cheap and run them as is. Just upgrade to better springs get the compression up to at least 9.5 to 1 is proberably a must and headers required try 1 and 5/8 hookers. tailpipes are very easy with these! Strait no bends 2 1/2"pipe to offset inlet/center outlet flowmasters and flowmaster tailpipe kit available at summit. The summit Chambered mufflers in the same combination will do just as well, and they cost just $30 ea. I know the diameter sounds big, but trust me its not bad. They put this size on new mustangs with similar sized engines with good results. I just made a 120 mile round trip to Fredriksburg with 17.5 mpg in my 55 packed full of friends with the 283 and torquless .030/.030 cam and 2.02 heads with 3.70 gears and wished it had 4.11s on hills though. The 1.94 cammal humps are great street heads and I have run 13.40 on them in a 350 with a 218 @.050 .450 lift hydraulic shifting at 6000. Very nice street manners too. You may want to wait for the results of my grudge match Fri before taking my advice, that is I wouldnt blame you at all!


Well, have fun! It's all about the fun.

Henry

55 Chevy
283 4 speed
4.56 gears
 
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