Welcome to CHR!

Sounds like you’re getting around to a project that’s been “dormant” for a while. Lots of us here have worked through finances, kids, kid’s college (all finance related), etc. while wanting to get to our hot rods so you’ll fit right in.

The carb and intake combination you have should be just fine for your 283. We used to run the Edelbrock Torker and 650-750 CFM carbs on these little motors with a little bigger cam, some tuning, and headers and they ran pretty good. That big ol’ puff of white smoke could just be a lot of un-burned gas or it could be something serious. In that this one has sat for a while, you may want to back up a bit and take things in order. My recommendations:

As mentioned – run a compression test. Take all the plugs out and start with #1 cylinder and write the results down as you go. Be sure to pull the coil wire to eliminate the possibility of a nasty shock while performing the compression test. Squirt a couple shots of 30 weight oil in each cylinder before you crank the engine (this will make a mess – might want to put rags in strategic spots). Look for compression in the 145-160 range. The numbers should also be within 10 PSI of each other. You will need to retest any cylinder with a low reading. Low compression could be caused by a number of things: Valves too tight, bad head gasket, bad rings, cracked or burned piston, cracked head or block (hope not). Once you get the results, post them and we can advise.

Valves have also been mentioned – adjust them. I’m assuming hydraulic lifters and I like to start at ½ to ¾ turn from zero lash – no tighter.

Drain the fuel tank completely and put five gallons of premium fuel in the tank. Disconnect the fuel inlet at the carb and pump about a pint of gas through (with the coil wire disconnected - careful here - even bad gas burns!). Change the fuel filter.

Let’s assume the compression is good – next step, put in a new set of plugs and unless the plug wires were a premium 7/8mm silicone set, change them too.

Now – start er up and check the timing. Initial on a 283 should be about 8 degrees (with the vacuum advance disconnected and plugged). In that you’ve done recent work, we’ll assume the timing chain is good and the distributer is in the correct spot (it has started and run).

Once the engine is running spray carburetor cleaner around the base of the carburetor and along the edges of the intake manifold. Any (and I mean ANY) change in the RPM indicates a leak and that’s a problem. If you find such, I would pull the manifold and get new gaskets. I like black silicone at the ends and use Permatex to coat both sides of the gaskets for the heads.

Work on the above and you’ll probably have a sweet running little motor. Keep us posted and we can certainly offer up lot’s more “advice”.

Regards and Good Luck,
Glenn