Thread: Chevy 283 all messed up.....Need advice

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Originally Posted by boarders123

but today I started it up and out of nowhere it backfired louder than a shotgun out of the exhaust and sputtered out and died even faster than before under load but what worries me most is that out of the right side exhaust (it has dual exhaust no y pipe) there is white billowing exhaust fumes.
Thanks again for the help..

Billowing white smoke is usually a sign of a bad head gasket. Read the plugs and also check the radiator and verify it is full and maybe do a pressure test on the cooling system with the spark plugs out. If you can't build pressure check the cylinders on the side making smoke. Hope it helps.

That carb is an Edelbrock 600, as you have found out, and while it is maybe just a tad big for a 283 it should still be fine. Edelbrocks are designed to be fairly user friendly, and are jetted on the economy side somewhat. Great street carbs. A 500 cfm would have been just about a perfect match, but you are still in the ballpark............we all overcarb a little......I have two 600 Edelbrocks on my 331 Ford, and they run good.

The nice thing about a project like you are doing is that it is a hobby motor, and while you want to get it running, it isn't like you need to get it done right today so you can go to work driving it tomorrow. That takes some of the heat off of you and will let you take your time to figure these problems out.

I would do a compression test and leak down test to get some baseline of how the cylinders are holding pressure. I should have mentioned that earlier. Just keep playing with it, you'll get it.

Don