Thread: 383 Help

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Hello All-

I am new to this forum and new to the hot rod arena, I have hopes to buy a 3rd Generation Camaro soon and would like to get started on the engine ASAP, now to start the engine questions:

Should I start with a complete 350 engine, since the heads, pistons, rings, rods, and cams etc. are going out the window.... or would a 350 block be a more logical choice?

In either case any recomendations about year models or other things I should know when choosing a donor engine?

Now to the fun part, can anyone give me a total combination of engine parts I will need to create a strong performing street engine? Lot's of torque (hence the 383) run on pump gas, and be reliable is it possible to build a 383 to these criteria and if so what combination of heads, cams, rods, pistons etc. would you recomend?

And if anyone has any links to articles or websites of 383 builds that would be helpful......

Again thanks in advance for answering my ultimatley dumb questions......

Josh

i have built two 383s. i used a eagle cast steel crank and eagle i beam rods with bused rod. 12.39 to 1 pistions a 306s comp cam team g intake,800 double pumper holley,dart iron eagle heads 215cc runners with 2.05/1.60 vavles. jegs has a good price on them they also have balance kit you are looking for. i drag race mine when i can it is 1980 camaro runs 12.56 at 109.50 in the 1/4 mile cant run it on pump gas but i do drive on street when i can it is alot of fun hope this helps you out if anymore help i will try to do what i can.

You also need to check out www.chevytalk.com and maybe the discussion board at Salley cheverolet for additional insight.

For streetable performance you are going to want the compresion ratio closer to a maximum of 10:1. Maybe 10.5:1. Otherwise you will find your engine requiring at least a mixture of race gas with every tank. Been there, done that and it is a royal pain. I ran a 350 in the 1980's up near 11:1 and had to index the spark plugs to keep the pinging in check. And you can get plenty of performance with lower compression ratios .............

Good Luck, Kitz

Well what I'm doing is a 383 LT1, but for the most part you could probably learn from my mistakes....

Start with a block only... You don't need the other parts anyway. In fact you will probably get a better deal on a 350 block with nothing in it. If you know what casting numbers you are looking for you might even be able to find a decent one at the local salvage yard.

I can get you some casting numbers to look for if you want.

If your looking for good combos for a 383 your almost certainly better off getting one through engine shop. They dynoed 100s of combinations and have the experience of know what works. They are in such mass production with so many companies competing that there pricing is almost what it cost to do it yourself. That mostly only holds true for the 383 though. Bigger
and more exotic combos cost a lot more.