Small Block & Big Block Chevy Specific - Supercharged 283 small block chevy

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 :jest:

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.!

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 shit load of boost. Now that would be bad ass.

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?

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

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!!! :judge:

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

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. :eek2:

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. :eek2:

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.

I dont know about the procharger, if i use twin turbos it will help fill the "massive void" that is my engine bay. The 8-71 blower on the other hand would fit just under the stock hood, but would leave the before mentioned "massive void" I dont think will use a procharger for my 66 chevy, for my GTO that is a different story, but I think im in between a 8-71 or a twin turbo setup. Man i dont know what to do, WHAT ABOUT BOTH? I have seen this on a couple of show car setups,would this work on the street? I will most likely use one or the other but I wonder if it is feasible for the street?

The "Power Pak" was exactly that. It was an over the Chevy dealer counter package containing cylinder heads and an intake manifold. It was not factory installed. They are some of the smallest runner volume cylinder heads chevrolet produced. Your truck no doubt came with a 283, but the heads were a later installed option.

The 283 is a small journal 2 bolt block 11/32" rod bolt engine. It has its limitations but could be closely compared to a 289/302 ford. Its basic contruction is not something that most would consider appropriate for forced induction. Forged pistons would be tough to come by. ARP does have the bolts for your rods.

A 302 conversion is the logical alternative. You may bore your 283 safely the .125" needed to make the 4" bore. Federal-Mogul has the standard bore 302 pistons that you would use. The crank and rods will work. This was a common mod in the 60's / early 70's. You would then use aftermarket heads for a 4"+ bore with a large enough chamber to utilize the blower, whatever you end up doing.

The 390 carburetor is a poor choice for a blower, the 450 tunnel ram carburetors would be better as they are set up for V-8 use. (not a v-6 or restricted oval track engine) The only big mod would be 50cc pumps on both as they don't use a secondary accellerator pump.

You can still tell everybody you have a 283, 301, 302 or 265 as far as that goes.

You will need to check your crank for a tapped snout as most 283's didn't come with a crank bolt installed.

I can tell you that the people I got the truck from (original owners son) didnt install those heads, they would have been installed by the dealer. The owners father needed a truck at the time and the only one he found that would work is this half ton, he wanted a 3/4 ton but couldnt find one quick enough, so thats why he bought this one with the power pack.

So if I go twin turbos does anybody have a suggestion on what type and how big of turbos to get? Dont really know much about the brands of turbos available, which 2 would best be suited to my application?

You're going to get in way over your head quickly putting twin turbos on the truck. The engine needs to be able to handle forced induction and abuse first. Look for a couple of SVO Mustang or Turbo Coupe Thunderbird turbos. Their engines are 140 cu in, about half of yours.

why would you want to go twin turbo when you want the truck to appear "old school". If it were me I would stick with the blower idea. That would give it the power you want and avoid running any time and money intesive mods.

Well the motor will be built to handle boost, and the occasional abuse that will inccur. I mean occasional as in NOT THAT OFTEN, I have 04 GTO that has 34600 miles on it and its been abused very very little, I plan on keeping this car forever and dont want to rag it out. The truck will be for occasional driving and a trip to the drag strip every now and again. I want some form of forced induction or dual quads, something to make this little 283 different from all the rest. Why not put turbos on this truck it wont be used for pulling, and it would help fill the engine bay, and make the motor more efficient. If I stick with the blower what kinda crank am I going to have to get to bolt it all together? I have heard of small block cranks with big block snouts on them to help the reliablity of the crank with a big blower pulling on the front of the crank. So what exactly do I need

Nobody has anymore input on this?

Nobody has anymore input on this?
i agree with you idea to stick to a small displacement engine. if you are really set on building a hp 283 ,if you look hard enough you will find a block.from what iv'e read custom pistons and cranks can be made at a reasonble price for sb's. when you figure out what you are going to build consult a competent engine builder and go from there. btw the first 2 cars i ever owned were 283's,i love em! yeah im old. still think you should go with a 302. in the late 60's bout the time of your truck, guys arround were grabing 327 blocks,sticking in 283 cranks ,and they ran real strong .good luck with your project! it would be awsome to build a chevy sb from the bottom up! :judge:

i agree with you idea to stick to a small displacement engine. if you are really set on building a hp 283 ,if you look hard enough you will find a block.from what iv'e read custom pistons and cranks can be made at a reasonble price for sb's. when you figure out what you are going to build consult a competent engine builder and go from there. btw the first 2 cars i ever owned were 283's,i love em! yeah im old. still think you should go with a 302. in the late 60's bout the time of your truck, guys arround were grabing 327 blocks,sticking in 283 cranks ,and they ran real strong .good luck with your project! it would be awsome to build a chevy sb from the bottom up! :judge:

A 327 block and 283 crank would be a 302. It was created for just the reason I mentioned above, it had a good 4" bore for good flowing heads with big valves and a rev happy 3" crank.

A 327 block and 283 crank would be a 302. It was created for just the reason I mentioned above, it had a good 4" bore for good flowing heads with big valves and a rev happy 3" crank.
yup big time hp at high rpm. ask Roger Penske. great motor!

302 sounds good, but isnt there 2 different cranks in some 327's. didnt the first ones have small crank journals and the later ones have larger crank journals?

Are you reading the prior posts? Your 283 may be safely bored .125" to make it a 4" bore. Your 283 and early 327's are small journal. You would have a 302 like they built in 67-early'68. All small journal blocks are 2 bolt.

Boring Out A 283 Isnt An Option, I Have Been Told By Several Machine Shops That A 283 Wont Accept A 4.00 Inch Bore.

Boring Out A 283 Isnt An Option, I Have Been Told By Several Machine Shops That A 283 Wont Accept A 4.00 Inch Bore.


I doubt you have.

If you really have then go to real machine shop that has someone there over the age of 45 and has been a machinist for 20 years or so.


I'm done here. You should buy a book or two on the SBC to give you ideas.

I doubt you have.

If you really have then go to real machine shop that has someone there over the age of 45 and has been a machinist for 20 years or so.


I'm done here. You should buy a book or two on the SBC to give you ideas.

No actually I have, and the shops I have been to have been around for awhile, one is 50 years and the other is 30 years, so I trust them. Both men I talked to are in the late 50's and have been doing machine work for there entire careers, and both men have stated that the cylinder walls become to thin when bored out that far. I have found a 327 out of a 65 chevy truck, if it is not seized i will buy it. A 302 sounds like a good option, What type of heads should I run to see the most benefits of a blower? AFR, Edelbrock, World Products, Which one?


Not to piss you off dude, but I have several books on small blocks and all of them talk about building motors 350 ci or bigger. I want a small motor, I really would like to build a 283, but a 302 is the motor most of the guys here have told me to build. This is the reason I posted here to get everyones opinion on what to do and/or how to do it. You dont have to get defensive, I was just letting you know that I am not going to bore out a 283 to 4.00 inch, I just dont believe it would be a safe and reliable combo. Thats my opinion and you might be right it might be safe/reliable to do it, Im just saying I wont do it.

No actually I have, and the shops I have been to have been around for awhile, one is 50 years and the other is 30 years, so I trust them. Both men I talked to are in the late 50's and have been doing machine work for there entire careers, and both men have stated that the cylinder walls become to thin when bored out that far. I have found a 327 out of a 65 chevy truck, if it is not seized i will buy it. A 302 sounds like a good option, What type of heads should I run to see the most benefits of a blower? AFR, Edelbrock, World Products, Which one?


Not to piss you off dude, but I have several books on small blocks and all of them talk about building motors 350 ci or bigger. I want a small motor, I really would like to build a 283, but a 302 is the motor most of the guys here have told me to build. This is the reason I posted here to get everyones opinion on what to do and/or how to do it. You dont have to get defensive, I was just letting you know that I am not going to bore out a 283 to 4.00 inch, I just dont believe it would be a safe and reliable combo. Thats my opinion and you might be right it might be safe/reliable to do it, Im just saying I wont do it.
if you have found a 327 that is a good start

yeah i just dont know what it is worth. All I want is the block but the guy wants to sell the whole thing. How much should I offer?

if you have found a 327 that is a good start
i may get flamed here, don,t wan't to tick anybody off. iam just quessing that a 283 block should be easy to find. i don't know what the spec's are in 2006, all i know is that in the years that your truck was young for a sb,these where your options. not from the factory,but common for the day. common engine changes.283+30= 302 327 327+30 = 331. and then bb's.

I just had an idea, what if I could get a hold of a Rochester Fuel Injection intake. You know the ones that were used on early 60's corvettes. The fuelie 283 and 327 motors.

Anyone?

Anyone?

What are you waiting on? You dont need us to tell you what to do. Make up your mind and do it? :engarde:

I just had an idea, what if I could get a hold of a Rochester Fuel Injection intake. You know the ones that were used on early 60's corvettes. The fuelie 283 and 327 motors.
that would be way cool. trouble is they are way hard to tune.secondly im sure they must be very exspensive,if you can find one,get it, but get all the info and parts availabity beforehand. corvette guys stick together,get my drift. actually that could have been a feasable swap for your truck in it's day. i worked in an auto wreckers in the late 60's.if i could have bought the engine out every muscle car that came in i'd be rich. go with with the 302 crossram. gm makes a cam [solid lifter] for the 302. almost put this one in my 71 z few years ago,it's called a service cam. for my money for cly heads i'go dart. don't have em but i want to buy a set. if you put toghether a decent 302 like i said they will be so very astonded if some sob wants to pop your hood and see whats in there he3 fall over. peace greg

i never thought of a cross ram intake, i think i would like the way that would look.

What are you waiting on? You dont need us to tell you what to do. Make up your mind and do it? :engarde:

im not asking you to tell me what to do, im simply asking people what they think about my ideas, and to give me a few ideas. I want to thank everyone who has given me ideas, Im only 21 and if I want to do something that has an old school look, who better to ask then some people who are older than me and were around during the 60's and early 70's.