383 Stroker-Should it fit in my 82?

[joli]

I have an opportunity to buy a 383 stroker to replace my existing 350. I have an 82 with crossfire injection and my question is have any of you done this exchange and do you know whether or not when everything is all said and done whether it will fit under the hood without having to replace it (the hood) with one that will give me more height to accomodate the carburator and air fliter?

 

[Peer81]

Why not the 383 and put the TBI back on top?
If a 383 will fit depends on type intake and airfilter.

Greetings Peter

 

[Hib Halverson]

The OE 2xTBI is barely adequate for the 350 much less a 383.

As for the hood clearance issue, if you use a stock GM intake manifold or something like an Edelbrock Performer, you can get an air filter assy. and a 4-bbl carb to fit under the hood. If you go that route, make sure the camshaft in the 383 is selected for mid-range torque rather than top end power because that type of low-rise intake manifold tends restricts airflow at high rpm and the rpm at which the intake becomes a restriction will be lower as the engine displacement gets larger.

 

[joli]

Fantastic, thank you.
I'm looking to pick up a bit of performance and the TBI as you mention does not seem to fit the bill.

If you don't mind another question, in your opinion would I be better off to switch the intake manifold to accept a 4 BB using the 350 rather than to go with the 383? The 350 has 109,000 miles on it but it's been well maintained over the years with frequent oil changes, it does not burn oil however has a couple of leaks from leaky gaskets on the heads. I'm not looking to race or anything like that, but geeessss what a dog!

It just seems to me that the car should live up to its name as a Corvette and have some get up and go, as it is now it is just a big dogsled, my 2002 Accord can beat it!

Thanks again, and Happy New Year!

The OE 2xTBI is barely adequate for the 350 much less a 383.

As for the hood clearance issue, if you use a stock GM intake manifold or something like an Edelbrock Performer, you can get an air filter assy. and a 4-bbl carb to fit under the hood. If you go that route, make sure the camshaft in the 383 is selected for mid-range torque rather than top end power because that type of low-rise intake manifold tends restricts airflow at high rpm and the rpm at which the intake becomes a restriction will be lower as the engine displacement gets larger.

 

[joli]

thank you for the reply.

One of the reasons for the possible switch is to replace them and go with a carb. Everything I've read indicates that it will give me much better performance. As the car is now it is ok but I'd prefer a bit of get up and go.

Why not the 383 and put the TBI back on top?
If a 383 will fit depends on type intake and airfilter.

Greetings Peter

 

[terry82]

okay give us a hp number .you can get 400hp from a cross-fire .you can get 300 hp with new heads and cam and a new intakehttp://http://www.crossfireinjection.net/ have you thought about gears ?lots of options with the 350 you have .the 383 is a great up grade but money and gas economy have to figure in .tell us how much money you have and we can tell you how fast you can go.

 

[joli]

thanks for the reply...the 383 stroker itself is $1,000 and whatever it costs to have it put in and or modifications that will be needed, so if I had to take a wild guess $2,000 to $2,500, it has no carb. If I can make modifications to what I have and get 300 hp at a much cheaper cost I'd be thrilled, but I have no clue when it comes to things other than typical maintenance on an engine, so I would not know where to begin. My gas mileage driving around town right now as is I figure is around 8 to 10 mpg.

okay give us a hp number .you can get 400hp from a cross-fire .you can get 300 hp with new heads and cam and a new intakehttp://http://www.crossfireinjection.net/ have you thought about gears ?lots of options with the 350 you have .the 383 is a great up grade but money and gas economy have to figure in .tell us how much money you have and we can tell you how fast you can go.

 

[terry82]

the $1000 for a 383 is a steal ,but if you have to pay others to do the work ,its going to cost you .if it was me i would find a shop that can put in a set of 3.55 gears .that will start to make you happy .but i also would do a good tune up. your car should be getting better mpg.in town and highway driving i get 19- 24 mpg in my 82.what does your motor idle at ?i would bet that you have a vac leak .do your headlights go up and down good .most by this age need some work.http://http://www.crossfire.homeip.net/index.php?act=idxgood help and info here.

 

[joli]

I idle at 7,000 RPM's however it fluctuates and goes as high as 10, not too often but sometimes, I guess I can say that it is erratic, but more often than not once in warms up after about 10 minutes or so and it gets driven and is in gear it is at 7,000.

My headlights, especially the one on the drivers side is very sluggish going up and down, would that have an affect on the gas mileage because of the vacuum as you pointed out, and if so it may be a good idea to replace the vacuum hoses. I did have some idle issues a few months ago, where the idle was so high that when I put it in gear it clunked, I fixed that by replacing the EGR valve as well as the vacuum solenoid switch, which by the way cannot be bought for 82 so I tried one from a 92 corvette, it seemed to have made a huge difference but I'm still not where it should be in terms of idle, performance and mileage. I can't imagine getting the mileage you get, that would be a huge savings in gas!
In addition to that I had a vacuum hose that controlled the air, it feeeds through the firewall, it was broken at the firewall, I fixed it by adding splicer that is a smaller tube than what the hose is, it fixed the air but maybe it is constricting the vacuum as you pointed out.
When you say a set of 3.55 gears you're referring to the rear end???

Thanks so much for the information it is a tremendous help, I love this car it is so much fun to work on not to mention drive but at first it was a huge money pit just to get her to where she is today, I still have a way to go, but the drive as I mention frustrates the heck out of me and I just wish it lived up to its name.

the $1000 for a 383 is a steal ,but if you have to pay others to do the work ,its going to cost you .if it was me i would find a shop that can put in a set of 3.55 gears .that will start to make you happy .but i also would do a good tune up. your car should be getting better mpg.in town and highway driving i get 19- 24 mpg in my 82.what does your motor idle at ?i would bet that you have a vac leak .do your headlights go up and down good .most by this age need some work.http://http://www.crossfire.homeip.net/index.php?act=idxgood help and info here.

 

[terry82]

i think we found your gas mileage problem .if you are idleing at 7000 you have a problem[lol]i am shure that you are at 700 rpm.if you have a headlight that is a little slow than you have a small vac leak .but i would be willing to bet you have others .most cross-fires have a vac leak sooner or later .yes i was refering to your rear end gears .you have 2.87 gears now.the 3.55 will wake your car up from stop light to stop light .i would look at changing your o2 sensor .that may help you on your gas mpg,but i would also check the intake for vac leaks . have you checked into the cross-fire forum ?what you did with the vac leak thru the firewall should not have have cause any of your problems .it is for your heat and air controls .

 

[joli]

Great I'll check all of those out, you don't know how much I appreciate the advice, ...you're awesome, thank you

i think we found your gas mileage problem .if you are idleing at 7000 you have a problem[lol]i am shure that you are at 700 rpm.if you have a headlight that is a little slow than you have a small vac leak .but i would be willing to bet you have others .most cross-fires have a vac leak sooner or later .yes i was refering to your rear end gears .you have 2.87 gears now.the 3.55 will wake your car up from stop light to stop light .i would look at changing your o2 sensor .that may help you on your gas mpg,but i would also check the intake for vac leaks . have you checked into the cross-fire forum ?what you did with the vac leak thru the firewall should not have have cause any of your problems .it is for your heat and air controls .

 

[macx]

I understand your pain with not much under the loud pedal!

I've got an 81 with the anemic 190 hp L81.

Just FYI, if would go 383 you'd gain a lot of torque and the hp gain would depend on how radical you go with the cam. Even a moderate
cam on a 383 will get you close to or easily well over 400 hp, BUT you'd need a little more $ on heads, intake and exhaust to get effective power that's available with those extra cubes.

Here are some awesome 383 examples

http://ryanscarpage.50megs.com/combos2.html Look at combo 15. Awesome motor, but the AFR heads aren't cheap. And you can scroll forward and back to other pages, Look for combo's with Vortec heads, also pretty stout and using less expensive Vortec heads.

This one would make an awesome street combination with less expensive Vortec style heads and a moderate cam.
HT 383 Crate Engine Test - Tech Article - Chevy High Performance Magazine
HT 383 Small-Block Chevy Engine Buildup - Tech Article - Chevy High Performance Magazine


And again just FYI, here's my real tight budget setup that will end up with at or close to 325 hp peaking at a moderate 4500 to 5000 rpm (I don't want to destroy my shortblock and can't afford to do anything to it like changing pistons, and would like to avoid the work of R&R the engine & basically rebuilding it) and around 400 peak torque at between 3000 to 3500 rpm. And I need to retain decent gas mileage for trips I plan on taking when I retire.

Leaving the stock shortblock alone except for cam, there are a couple other major items that will increase power. Heads is 1 big one. Having done lots of research, I'm currently thinking of EQ Vortec heads which can be had with basic valve parts (comparable to oem Chevy Vortec heads) for about $650 a pair. EQ Cylinder Heads @ Rogers Performance
EQ heads reportedly have better exhaust flow, somewhat of a weakness on oem Chevy Vortecs, and have a sturdier design so they avoid the potential for exhaust valve seat cracking in the oem Vortecs. The Vortec is an excellent intake port and comb chamber design which makes good power with excellent low rpm torque for a good warmed up street engine, and those heads are known for a good
budget power upgrade.

A step up from there are the EQ heads with stainless valves and bronze valve guides and pc seals for about $875 from Shaver Specialty. Maybe a dab more power from a little better flow cuz of the SS valves.

Here's an engine build Popular HOt Rodding did with those heads on a 350 motor on a real budget. Bigger cam than I'd want to run on
the street mostly for mileage considerations, but lots of good info to think about.
Vortec Small Block 350 Chevy Engine Build - Popular Hot Rodding Magazine

The next step would be the excellent RHS or Dart Vortec iron heads for a dab over $1,000 which would probly give an easy extra 25hp or more over the EQ heads, depending on which ones you'd use and your cam. Everything needs to match regarding rpm range to get the most out of your parts, and you would overmatch the Performer intake if you go too big on heads and cam. Scroll down a ways to the Pro Torker section in the below link and read the info. Available at Summit Racing and other places. Good non-Vortecs can range from Edelbrock to the more expensive Trick Flow or AFR.
RHS - Cylinder Head Flowcharts

The EQ's will support over 400 hp with the correct supporting pieces, and give excellent low rpm torque because of small intake ports that maintain good flow velocity at low rpm, important to good gas mileage on the highway.

Carb style manifolds that fit under the stock hood are limited to the Performer type intakes that make excellent low and mid range power and are effective up to about 5500 rpm, plenty rpm for power but not so much you're going to hurt your stock engine. And those intakes are inexpensive, around a little over $100. There are several brands in that same style.

For cams, it's cheaper by far to stay hydraulic flat tappet than to convert our older blocks to retro roller cams, and in the milder lineup
of cam specs Comp Cam's Camquest dyno program doesn't show any advantage to roller cams, surprisingly. I will end up with either the
Comp XE249-H or SE256H-12 which are milder than I would have at first thought I'd use, which will result in the hp and torque figures, above. Other good ones for a little more power, alto at higher rpm torque and hp peaks but still very streetable, are the 262 or 268 cams in the same XE series.

I'm going to use a 2bbl 670cfm throttle body Holley Pro Jection efi setup I've already got, adding a closed loop kit to it so it runs at the
correct air fuel ratio automatically at steady engine speeds i.e. on the highway. It will support up to about 325 hp with increasing the pressure via adjusting the regulator up a little.

If I was going to buy something in efi, it would be something like the FAST EZ efi which is a self tuning setup, or the newer Holley throttle body setup, both of which work with an unmodified Performer type intake and give plenty power with good mileage and are easy to install and tune. But they're not inexpensive. Holley is a little over $1000 and the FAST is over $2000. If you stay carb you'll get the same power but a little less driveability and less mileage, however lots cheaper. Great street carbs are the Edelbrock's which give good throttle response at low and moderate rpms along with good mileage. Altho Holley's in the 650 size are also good and easy to tune. Both those carbs are usually set up (jets etc) real close for a typical 350 size street motor right out of the box. Another excellent carb, altho a dab more expensive is the Holley style Demon carbs by Barry Grant http://www.barrygrant.com/demon/default.aspx?page=5

I think your money would be better spent doing something like the above rather than the 383 stroker - you could always go slightly larger heads and cam on your stock shortblock to get an easy 350 to 375 hp and still get a very streetable engine with good mileage. Using our stock shortblock and the low compression pistons, you're going to need to go to 91 octane to avoid detonation, BUT that will allow you to use more advanced timing and go to a higher 9-1 compression ratio which will give about enuf extra gas mileage to make up the cost.
You'd also have to use 91 to get cost effective benefits out of a 383.

Just FYI, also, I'm going to replace my 2.87 gears with 3.31's and swap my 3 speed auto out for a mildly built 200-4R and 2200 converter from Bowtie Overdrives for a reasonable cost. But you probly already have a 700-R4 with a low 1st gear and OD? If you add much power to your engine, you can shorten the life of that trans in stock form as there are some pretty well known weak points that can fail with very expensive consequences. Check out http://700r4.com/trans/ for a good inexpensive upgrade that fixes those problems.

Good luck!

 

[joli]

Man, that's a lot of options to consider, thanks so much, you've obviously done your homework on this. Those were very interesting articles, I can't imagine my car having that type of horsepower and torque...geeeeesss Louise, my wife would never get me out of the car! The various conversions that you refer to hear are pretty affordable when you stack it against the stroker and will get me to where I believe would make me very happy.

thank you guys for openingmy eyes a bit on this, appreciate it very much

I understand your pain with not much under the loud pedal!

I've got an 81 with the anemic 190 hp L81.

Just FYI, if would go 383 you'd gain a lot of torque and the hp gain would depend on how radical you go with the cam. Even a moderate
cam on a 383 will get you close to or easily well over 400 hp, BUT you'd need a little more $ on heads, intake and exhaust to get effective power that's available with those extra cubes.

Here are some awesome 383 examples

Ryan's Stroker Combo Page (9-16) Look at combo 15. Awesome motor, but the AFR heads aren't cheap. And you can scroll forward and back to other pages, Look for combo's with Vortec heads, also pretty stout and using less expensive Vortec heads.

This one would make an awesome street combination with less expensive Vortec style heads and a moderate cam.
HT 383 Crate Engine Test - Tech Article - Chevy High Performance Magazine
HT 383 Small-Block Chevy Engine Buildup - Tech Article - Chevy High Performance Magazine


And again just FYI, here's my real tight budget setup that will end up with at or close to 325 hp peaking at a moderate 4500 to 5000 rpm (I don't want to destroy my shortblock and can't afford to do anything to it like changing pistons, and would like to avoid the work of R&R the engine & basically rebuilding it) and around 400 peak torque at between 3000 to 3500 rpm. And I need to retain decent gas mileage for trips I plan on taking when I retire.

Leaving the stock shortblock alone except for cam, there are a couple other major items that will increase power. Heads is 1 big one. Having done lots of research, I'm currently thinking of EQ Vortec heads which can be had with basic valve parts (comparable to oem Chevy Vortec heads) for about $650 a pair. EQ Cylinder Heads @ Rogers Performance
EQ heads reportedly have better exhaust flow, somewhat of a weakness on oem Chevy Vortecs, and have a sturdier design so they avoid the potential for exhaust valve seat cracking in the oem Vortecs. The Vortec is an excellent intake port and comb chamber design which makes good power with excellent low rpm torque for a good warmed up street engine, and those heads are known for a good
budget power upgrade.

A step up from there are the EQ heads with stainless valves and bronze valve guides and pc seals for about $875 from Shaver Specialty. Maybe a dab more power from a little better flow cuz of the SS valves.

Here's an engine build Popular HOt Rodding did with those heads on a 350 motor on a real budget. Bigger cam than I'd want to run on
the street mostly for mileage considerations, but lots of good info to think about.
Vortec Small Block 350 Chevy Engine Build - Popular Hot Rodding Magazine

The next step would be the excellent RHS or Dart Vortec iron heads for a dab over $1,000 which would probly give an easy extra 25hp or more over the EQ heads, depending on which ones you'd use and your cam. Everything needs to match regarding rpm range to get the most out of your parts, and you would overmatch the Performer intake if you go too big on heads and cam. Scroll down a ways to the Pro Torker section in the below link and read the info. Available at Summit Racing and other places. Good non-Vortecs can range from Edelbrock to the more expensive Trick Flow or AFR.
RHS - Cylinder Head Flowcharts

The EQ's will support over 400 hp with the correct supporting pieces, and give excellent low rpm torque because of small intake ports that maintain good flow velocity at low rpm, important to good gas mileage on the highway.

Carb style manifolds that fit under the stock hood are limited to the Performer type intakes that make excellent low and mid range power and are effective up to about 5500 rpm, plenty rpm for power but not so much you're going to hurt your stock engine. And those intakes are inexpensive, around a little over $100. There are several brands in that same style.

For cams, it's cheaper by far to stay hydraulic flat tappet than to convert our older blocks to retro roller cams, and in the milder lineup
of cam specs Comp Cam's Camquest dyno program doesn't show any advantage to roller cams, surprisingly. I will end up with either the
Comp XE249-H or SE256H-12 which are milder than I would have at first thought I'd use, which will result in the hp and torque figures, above. Other good ones for a little more power, alto at higher rpm torque and hp peaks but still very streetable, are the 262 or 268 cams in the same XE series.

I'm going to use a 2bbl 670cfm throttle body Holley Pro Jection efi setup I've already got, adding a closed loop kit to it so it runs at the
correct air fuel ratio automatically at steady engine speeds i.e. on the highway. It will support up to about 325 hp with increasing the pressure via adjusting the regulator up a little.

If I was going to buy something in efi, it would be something like the FAST EZ efi which is a self tuning setup, or the newer Holley throttle body setup, both of which work with an unmodified Performer type intake and give plenty power with good mileage and are easy to install and tune. But they're not inexpensive. Holley is a little over $1000 and the FAST is over $2000. If you stay carb you'll get the same power but a little less driveability and less mileage, however lots cheaper. Great street carbs are the Edelbrock's which give good throttle response at low and moderate rpms along with good mileage. Altho Holley's in the 650 size are also good and easy to tune. Both those carbs are usually set up (jets etc) real close for a typical 350 size street motor right out of the box. Another excellent carb, altho a dab more expensive is the Holley style Demon carbs by Barry Grant Demon Selection Guide

I think your money would be better spent doing something like the above rather than the 383 stroker - you could always go slightly larger heads and cam on your stock shortblock to get an easy 350 to 375 hp and still get a very streetable engine with good mileage. Using our stock shortblock and the low compression pistons, you're going to need to go to 91 octane to avoid detonation, BUT that will allow you to use more advanced timing and go to a higher 9-1 compression ratio which will give about enuf extra gas mileage to make up the cost.
You'd also have to use 91 to get cost effective benefits out of a 383.

Just FYI, also, I'm going to replace my 2.87 gears with 3.31's and swap my 3 speed auto out for a mildly built 200-4R and 2200 converter from Bowtie Overdrives for a reasonable cost. But you probly already have a 700-R4 with a low 1st gear and OD? If you add much power to your engine, you can shorten the life of that trans in stock form as there are some pretty well known weak points that can fail with very expensive consequences. Check out Bowtie Overdrives for a good inexpensive upgrade that fixes those problems.

Good luck!

 

[macx]

One thing I forgot to mention is that an intake that will fit under the stock hood, such as the baseline Performer, won't do justice to a 383 either.

You'd pretty near need an open plenum single plane and a 750 carb to feed the 383, and a single plane badly hurts low end torque esp with a carb so you'd need to make any 383 capable of more rpm to get to the power band of a single plane, something you probly wouldn't want to do because a high rpm engine loses lots of it's driveability and daily street driving fun factor, is costly to build, and usually gets horrible gas mileage.

Efi on a single plane fixes or at least softens most of the low rpm torque loss but it's still there to a degree, and any good efi system is at least several times the cost of a good carb. By far the best intake for a 383 is a Performer RPM (or Air Gap but only if you're in a warm climate) which is too tall to fit under the hood. I don't know personally if a drop base air cleaner makes it possible or not, might be something to look into.

If I've learned anything over the years and "enhancing" quite a number of cars is to do your homework and research before you pick up a wrench. You can spend a ton on mismatched parts and still have a slug. A well matched moderate or even mild combo will be quite a bit less expensive, more streetable and fun to drive daily, get much better gas mileage, and often be as fast if not faster. I just wish I'd of had all this online info available to me back in the 60's and 70's - even without all of today's technology, I could have saved myself a bundle and avoided multiple mistakes. That was the only way I had to learn back then. Younger guys often think of me as being obsessive with my research but I've found it always pays off. And it's fun, and I learn a lot.

Yes, power is a great deal of fun! I'm just glad I grew up in the day of the classic muscle cars. Though actually kind of tame by what's possible with today's electronic engine control & efi, cylinder head design, and cam technology, they were still a blast to drive, and of course every one I had was hopped up to some degree. Two of my favorites I just kill myself for letting go were a 67 Camaro SS with the 375 hp 396, and worst of all a 66 426 street hemi which I bought off the showroom for $3600! Altho an aerodynamic brick, before I hopped it up even it would pull 7200 rpm in 4th gear with 3.54 gears and 29" dia tires - with a razor sharp tune job. Ah, the good old days.

 

[joli]

Started tracing the vacuum lines yesterday and found one right on the manifold, fixed it but there must be others as it had no affect on the idle whatsoever, still at 700 to 1000.
thanks to all of the great information you all provided I decided not to go with the stroker but rather to go with a new cam, heads, and possibly convert over to a 4 barrel rather than the TBI system, also the rear end gears. I'm looking into whether or not there would be a trade off on the other end, i.e. highway, I'm sure there is some to a degree but hopefully it is not too much, it all sounds like it would do the trick for me andf give the vette a bit of umphhh, which would be fantastic.

I grew up in the days of the muscle cars too and remember doing stupid things, albeit not stupid in my mind back then, but all in all great fun and lots of memories.

You're absolutely right about the cars today, I think you have to be a computer guru rather than a mechanic to work on todays cars, man they are so technical it isn't even funny. I remember a tune up was change plugs, rotor, maybe a distributor cap, new points, set the points and timing, today why hey not even close. When we bought my wifes can, a cavalier the first time I opened up the hood and said where the hell are the spark plugs? LOL, and they don't need to be changed until the car hits 100,000 or right before the tranny goes on it.

thanks guys, totally appreciative of the feedback and advice.

One thing I forgot to mention is that an intake that will fit under the stock hood, such as the baseline Performer, won't do justice to a 383 either.

You'd pretty near need an open plenum single plane and a 750 carb to feed the 383, and a single plane badly hurts low end torque esp with a carb so you'd need to make any 383 capable of more rpm to get to the power band of a single plane, something you probly wouldn't want to do because a high rpm engine loses lots of it's driveability and daily street driving fun factor, is costly to build, and usually gets horrible gas mileage.

Efi on a single plane fixes or at least softens most of the low rpm torque loss but it's still there to a degree, and any good efi system is at least several times the cost of a good carb. By far the best intake for a 383 is a Performer RPM (or Air Gap but only if you're in a warm climate) which is too tall to fit under the hood. I don't know personally if a drop base air cleaner makes it possible or not, might be something to look into.

If I've learned anything over the years and "enhancing" quite a number of cars is to do your homework and research before you pick up a wrench. You can spend a ton on mismatched parts and still have a slug. A well matched moderate or even mild combo will be quite a bit less expensive, more streetable and fun to drive daily, get much better gas mileage, and often be as fast if not faster. I just wish I'd of had all this online info available to me back in the 60's and 70's - even without all of today's technology, I could have saved myself a bundle and avoided multiple mistakes. That was the only way I had to learn back then. Younger guys often think of me as being obsessive with my research but I've found it always pays off. And it's fun, and I learn a lot.

Yes, power is a great deal of fun! I'm just glad I grew up in the day of the classic muscle cars. Though actually kind of tame by what's possible with today's electronic engine control & efi, cylinder head design, and cam technology, they were still a blast to drive, and of course every one I had was hopped up to some degree. Two of my favorites I just kill myself for letting go were a 67 Camaro SS with the 375 hp 396, and worst of all a 66 426 street hemi which I bought off the showroom for $3600! Altho an aerodynamic brick, before I hopped it up even it would pull 7200 rpm in 4th gear with 3.54 gears and 29" dia tires - with a razor sharp tune job. Ah, the good old days.

 

[80convertible]

I may have found a great deal on a 383 as well and giving it some thought. I've already rebuilt the top half of my tired old 350 with vortec heads, edelbrock vortec intake and a carter 625 cfm carb. My gas mileage is horrible, so I just picked up a mustang T5 tranny with overdrive yesterday to install in the vette. Can't wait to have a 5th gear for driving down the highway.

As for the 383, at the price you said you can get it for, $1,000, is possibly less than what it would cost to rebuild your 350 should it need it. I'm considering adding the Fast EFI or a TPI system off a C4 vette. The TPI systems are not expensive and there are quite a few guys running them... even on 383 engines. Not going to rev above 5500 without some mods but who cares. I'm not into big horsepower numbers but as they say... no replacement for displacement.

Jim

 

[joli]

That's what I've been told. The 350 has 109,000 miles on it and I would not be surprised if it needed new rings, valves, etc...If I'm going to have new heads put in, camshaft, etc...I might be better off with the 383, but from what's been written here it can only go in with a stock intake and that may not be the best thing to do.

I'm really starting to dislike the ECM/TBI system on the car. I've just replaced the cooling sensor, the MAP sensor, fixed a vacuum leak on the intake manifold and the darn thing still idles high. I'm assuming that I still have a vacuum leak on one of the lines so I'm going to have to pull every line off inspect it and see where I end up when I'm done.

Good luck with the 383 sounds good.

I may have found a great deal on a 383 as well and giving it some thought. I've already rebuilt the top half of my tired old 350 with vortec heads, edelbrock vortec intake and a carter 625 cfm carb. My gas mileage is horrible, so I just picked up a mustang T5 tranny with overdrive yesterday to install in the vette. Can't wait to have a 5th gear for driving down the highway.

As for the 383, at the price you said you can get it for, $1,000, is possibly less than what it would cost to rebuild your 350 should it need it. I'm considering adding the Fast EFI or a TPI system off a C4 vette. The TPI systems are not expensive and there are quite a few guys running them... even on 383 engines. Not going to rev above 5500 without some mods but who cares. I'm not into big horsepower numbers but as they say... no replacement for displacement.

Jim

 

[idvette]

Don't get hung up on having to use the stock manifold on a 383, there are good options out there. I have an Offenhauser single plane on mine, and originally ran it with the stock q-jet and an adapter plate, which didn't fit under the hood. After running it with no hood for 2 years, I upgraded the carb to an Edelbrock Thunder Series AVS 800 cfm with no adapter plate and the hood JUST clears my air cleaner. Much better carb for the engine too, the rebuilt stocker couldn't hold a candle to the AVS.