How to cank out a good 283...

i have a 283 that i am re-building.. but i am also driving the truck at the same time.. and over-haulin a 350 to drop in it.. i just want to kow an easy way to get enough horses to get the job done..  

A 283 can crank out some decent power, if it is properly tuned. I have to ask though, what kind of 283 do you have? The  later years, towards the end of it's production, they had open chamber heads. These heads reduce compression. So you'll want to see if you can find a set of powerpack heads from an old Corvette 283, they had closed chamber heads for higher compression. Next you may want to go with a mild cam and intake, probably 2 1/2" dual exhaust and headers. Probably a 500 or 600 cfm 4 Barrel carb. You won't see 10 sec. in a qtr mile, but all SBC are worth building, especially the 283. That engine was rock solid. Until you specify what you want out of the engine, our hands are tied as far as a specific build.  
Guzzling gas and hauling ass, the true American way.

At work I just restored a 1960 corvette with a 283 in it and a powerglide. We had it bored .060 over and installed a set of flat tops in it. We used an Elgin cam 215 duration .440 inch lift and a set of roller tip rockers. We used the stock 4 bbl intake and carb to keep it original looking. The little engine went from ho-hum to ye-ha! I dont have and dyno numbers for you but I do know that little engine really scoots now!!!! Good luck!  

a while back there was an article about every possible configuration of sbc as far as pistons rods and crank possibilities for what would work and what wouldnt, the consensus was to deffinetly use vortec heads on the 283 to wake it up and have a small displacement screamer  

or you can bore it .125 over like i did. has 13:1 compression .560 lift cam set of old 291's hogged out 2.02 1.6's in it. last year before the heads got new valves <was 1.94 1.5 then but still ported> got 12.60's on street tires not to bad. this year going for 11.70's lots of other internal things were wrong last year this year is the year! but the answer is yes you can still make a 283 scream. i shift at 7500. and for the nay-sayers this motor has NEVER overheated. stays right at 180-190 all day long.....by the way im scooter and im the new guy  

Hey man, welcome to the forums.
Sorry to beat on the first post, but the original starter of the topic just wants the 283 to use while he builds a 350. So because it's a daily driver and a truck, work on torque stuff (not as big duration cam lol) and good luck, keep us posted!  
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Projects: '72 Challenger Rallye 340 (motor's seized, will be sticking in a 383 from a 300), my '04 Blazer 4x4 DD

Hey I'm new to! I dont get no love? Just kidding thanks for the your ideas. The 283 is a great moter that is rev happy from the start. I have one in my big ol' '65 impala thats rated at 180hp from the factory 2-barrel. If I where you I would just do a stock rebuild with maybe a valve job with a rejetted Q-jet,headers, and maybe one of those new comp thumper camshafts and a alumanum intake if you dont already have a four barrel on it.  

Seems that 283's are pretty sensitive to over camming.  I'm building one for my 1970 truck right now.  Been all over getting best advice and such.  One cam that seems to work well in a daily driver is the GM 929 that came in the 300HP/327.  It's mild enough to run smooth and build plenty of vacuum, but will scoot when asked.  I think it's around 198*/204* @ 0.050 and 112* lobe centers.  You can maybe get away with a bit more, but not if you are running a stock low stall converter.  If running a stick, maybe up to 210*  The lift can be controlled with rocker ratio depending on what heads you use.  I'm using 601 TBI head off a 305.  They are cheap and will bump the compression to 9.25 or better which is nice for the street and pump gas  They should handle lift to .475, but make sure. Stick in a vacuum HEI and recurve the advance to it's all in by 3000 and it should be fun for not too much dinero