I am thinking about building (or rebuilding) a new motor this winter to replace the worn out 283 that came with my Camaro. I want your suggestions on what to do. Here is what I am looking for. I want a nice daily driver. I do not need gobs of power but I do want it to be fun to drive around town. It needs to have good fuel economy and I also don't want to spend a fortune. It would also be nice if it isn't too hard to set up and work on. I am not really all that knowledgeable about motors so I am looking for guidance. How does the performance and fuel economy of a 283, 305 TPI, 327, 350 carbed, LT1, LS1 compare. I was thinking I don't really need the power of a 350 but if say a LS1 will provide more power with the same fuel economy as a 305 TPI that may be a better choice depending on cost. If you have a recommendation for me could you explain a little bit about why you recommend that particular setup and also give a ballpark or what it might cost to build. I am looking forward to being educated.

If you are looking to save money, I think the 283 rebuild would be the cheapest route. If you are wanting more power than what the 283 has then I would think the 350 should fit you expectations easily. There are thousands of ways to build the 350, there is an abundance of parts available to build whatever you want out of it, and the 350 is probably the easiest engine to find for your starting platform. They are everywhere and can be built for power or economy or a bit of both for $2000 or less depending on what you want and how much work you can do yourself.

I'm no expert... but I believe a fuel-injected engine will give you better MPG than a carb'ed engine, however, then you have the added expense of of new wiring for the computer controls.

Whats your budget?

For a budget 5k would be my maximum but I would really like to keep it under 3k. I know this probably rules out a LS1 swap unless I get some incredible deal somewhere.

A 350/330HP GM crate motor would be an excellent choice if you decide not to rebuild your 283.
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=NAL%2D12496968&autoview=sku

i Have wanted to build one of these for a while but I like to make all the power I can and dont think much about fuel economy. I think this would be a cool build for a Camaro especially. I used to build perfromance engines for a living for ten years and never got around to doing this but man it would be cool....

Get an 86-up 350 block with 1 pc seal. Then put a crank and rods in it from a 94-96 265 LT1 V8 from a Caprice Classic with 350 Flat top pistons. Balance the rotating assembly .

BAM..instant late model 302. You can actually use any standard 350 piston for this combo. Make sure the crank get balanced. You can throw a set of 350 L31 Vortec heads on it and if you get a block with provisions for a roller cam, you can go with a hydraulic roller. I like the fact thats its a 302 and going into a Camaro. It will also get great gas mileage especially if you use an efficient chamber head like the L31 Vortecs.

Cool factor....Yes
Power over your 283...yes
Unique....yes
Gas mileage ...yes
Cost effective...yes

So when do we start building it...I have everything to do one of these....hahahahaa

Robin,
Get your hands on a GM Performance Parts catalog and turn to the engine section. Plenty to choose from and many are turn-key...which sound like what you may be in need of. You can make comparisons on performance, economy and cost.

Happy motoring...

I dearly loved my old junk301 that I put in my early '66, '67 350SS/RS car and DD for quite a while!

W/ my M-20, 3.31's and say anywhere from 25.5" to 29.5" tall tires! I forget? Summer or winter sorta deal is all...

I'd just roll her gently outta the hole and when she reached about 3,000 rpm, I'd nail her and she turned from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde! I'd hold my foot in her until my points bounced up about 7,000 and 7,500 w/ new ones, then I'd grab another gear and repeat!

What a hoot!

Right, my 406 is a T monster, but it won't rpm like the old 301 did! It's now sitting on my engine stand and my air-head Nephew's 283 is in pieces on my lower shelf in the garage whispering 301, -- 301, to me!! And I'm gathering parts now!!

He, He, me and my new, unlit, BB 550hp/496 that's in my car now!!

pdq67

Why don't you go get a 5.3 out of a wrecked newer truck? You can pick up a low mileage one for about 1000 bucks and it will pull down 20+ mpg. There will be some added cost for all the conversion stuff, but I bet it could be done for under 2500. You would have all the benefits of the new LS motors without the cost. Plus they make a lot of hp.

I like the idea of the 5.3 swap, they are much more affordable than the ls1 and would probably give me the perfect blend of economy and performance. Is anyone familiar with this swap. What would be the bare minimum to make it work. I am a little scared by guys who have 12k into their LS1 swaps and this is essentially the same process as the LS1 swap.

A 350/330HP GM crate motor would be an excellent choice if you decide not to rebuild your 283.
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=NAL%2D12496968&autoview=sku

X2...with 5K to spend you can go bigger than this if you want. I put a 350/330hp crate in mine with a tremec and it will absolutely move. Oddly enough I had a 283 in mine when I started my frame off,sold it to a guy in Florida,kind of wish I hadn,t now!

I also went with the 330hp motor but I got the motor without all the accessories to save some money.
http://www.crateenginedepot.com/store/350-Crate-Engine-330-HPBase-HO-with-Iron-Vortec-Heads-12486041-P18C53.aspx

Very happy with this motor for the price.

Car Craft did an article on this motor. Here is part two, cant find the first article.
http://www.carcraft.com/projectbuild/116_0403_350_ho_crate_engine_hydraulic_roller_cam_ package_install/index.html
"Last month, we introduced you to the GM Performance Parts 350 H.O. crate engine. We began testing using the Deluxe model that comes completely outfitted with a water pump, HEI distributor, spark plugs, and a 600-cfm vacuum secondary carburetor. In search of more power, we added Hedman headers, an Edelbrock Performer RPM Air Gap dual-plane intake, and a 750-cfm Holley double-pumper carburetor.
Those simple bolt-on changes pumped the 350 up from its stock power rating of 330 hp and 380 lb-ft of torque to a stout 377 hp and 415 lb-ft of torque. While we were impressed with the small-block's significant gains, we felt that a cam change would be worth even more. That's what we're going to dive into this month."

please dont put an ls1 in, they dont belong in old pony/muscle cars :sad:

Even a Target Master 350 (if they even still make). You could reuse a lot of parts/brakets.

http://paceperformance.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=224002 <--$1739

10067353 - 5.7L- (LS9-L) & (LM1-6) 1971-1985 GM Cars & Trucks (Up To 7,200 GVW) With Chevy 350 V8 - Also known As The "Universal 350"
Pace Price $1,739.95

Camaro's Performers magazine is doing a 5.3l swap into a '68 Camaro. That will be detailed soon in the mag. On the LS1.com forum they discuss that stuff all the time. As tempting as those swaps are, if the 283 is the original motor, I'd keep it and use the $3k on it. Done right it would really sing. I recently started researching the 283 and a lot of people have said it was, if not their favorite motor, certainly at the top of their list. One 283 guy said he likes running q-jets and done right of course he said the performance and mileage is good. If it was mine I might efi it to get additional power out of it plus the added driveability.

An aside note, while researching the 283 I found a thread on another forum with people claiming the 283's didn't come factory in '67 Camaros despite what other people on the forum that actually owned or own '67 283 Camaros are stating.

Nice bit of 283 history in this article.

http://www.67z28.com/history.htm

Skip, I've read that article before and looked at it again.. doesn't it say they decided to go with a 302 and NOT go with the 283? At first the 283 was being considered because Chevy had made them before, but not in the Camaro. (?)

Skip, I've read that article before and looked at it again.. doesn't it say they decided to go with a 302 and NOT go with the 283?

Absolutely.

I provided the link because it was favorable to the 283's performance.:thumbsup:

"One of his first passengers in the as-yet-unnamed Z-28 was Chevrolet's new general manager, Elliott M. (Pete) Estes. The ride didn't come until just before noon. After some full-throttle acceleration runs and a few dives through a slalom course, Piggins let Estes take the wheel.
"Estes was quite impressed with the performance of this 283-engined vehicle," recalls Piggins..."

ok. thanks. what I wouldn't give to have been in some of those meetings in '66/'67.

Agreed.

I like that it didn't take months and months of debates to do the 302. It was good for Chevy of course that Estes was an engineer and not a bean counter.

To the OP, do you know if your 283 is the original motor?

Skip: I just came on to ask that also about the motor, if it's original. Ed Bertrum on the other thread states there close to 200 of these cars exported. I'd like to have a '67 to complete my First Gen collection. would really like to have a rare one like this, myself.

Mark,

I think I saw that figure also on a different forum, not CRG. What's odd is that the guys that say they own them or used to own them all live in the States and never mentioned anything about the car possibly being imported back into the U.S. Of course all kinds of scenarios could have happened. I've run across '67 Camaros with 283's in them a lot more then 100 cars would warrant. And I wasn't even trying at that time to research 283 cars.

apparently, the 283 was a good motor. so it makes sense many of them would wind up being put in Camaros as replacements. and now, 41 years later, many people think they came with the car they now own? of course, there's lots of guys that will tell you it's original motor even knowing it's not. we all know how that goes.

Agreed.

As always, show me the documentation.

the 290hp/350 crate is an excellent choice as well.....