Quote:
Originally posted by techinspector1
You can, but the cylinder wall of the smaller bore will shroud the intake valve and disrupt the mixture kernel as it tries to maneuver around the valve/cylinder wall and the mixture velocity will decrease going from the relatively small 283 intake port passages into the larger head ports, so cylinder filling may fall short of your expectations. Changing to an aftemarket intake may make matters worse. Now, you've increased the head port volume AND the intake runner volume, so you'll have to buzz the little motor tighter to generate a good negative pressure in the heads and manifold to facilitate cylinder filling. To make any horsepower out of it, you're going to need to change the cam and carb to ones that makes power at higher rpm's, so now you've given up bottom end power and vacuum in favor of mid-range and top end and it's no longer any fun to drive on the street. Of course, you'll need headers to complement all the rest of these changes and that dictates a new exhaust system.
If all this sounds like a nightmare, that was my intention. I've been there and done that one too many times over my 45 years of hot rodding. Rather than
spending in excess of $2,000 and still having a P.O.S., I'll offer two alternatives.
1. If you can live without the additional power, take your heads to a good head shop and have hard seats installed along with a good 3-angle valve job.
2. If you want hard seats AND more power, yank the little 283, wrap it in plastic and store it in the corner of the garage so that whoever buys the car from you down the road can return it to original if they want to. Spend $500 for a used, good running stock 350 and bolt it in. I'd be looking for a late 70's, early 80's unit. Do a compression test on it before handing over the green. A motor with 130-140 psi on all cylinders will make as much or more power than the modified 283 and it will do it down low in the rpm range where the car will still be a pleasure to drive. If you want a little more poop, add a mild cam and headers.
Like I said, been there, done that many times.
Note to another board member:
O.K. Scooter, your turn to bust my chops :LOL:
:LOL: