Mild 383 buildup suggestions wanted...

[plum500]

I've got a '71 500 (383 2bbl auto) that I am working on. I'm stuck in the "well, while I've got this apart, might as well..." mode, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Early in the season when I thought I might actually get it on the road with a whole wack of other things done to it, I had resigned to leaving the engine in - and as is, and *maybe* getting to some bolt on stuff in the driveway once the rest was back together and she was driveable. Well. I haven't had the time to work on it as much as I thought this summer so here I sit thinking I'm 99.9 percent sure I'm gonna yank the engine.

Very least to get the bay done, things all cleaned up, minor stuff replaced. I figured while it was out, I could also do those minor bolt ons etc (carb, intake, headers, and I've got some wrinkle finish valve covers and a nice new oil pan to pop on). Freeze plugs (well, one anyway) also need to be replaced.

I'm a newbie to all this (though somewhat "inclined" and always spent time watching/listening to my dad), however, when it comes to inner workings of this engine and what choices should be made... completely green.

My thinking is that I don't want to put the engine back in, only to haul it out again next summer/fall (and still be in the same boat).

The engine has 90k on it, but starts in a flash on the first crank and runs really strong and steady (and zero smoke). (2bbl) Honestly, I'm not sure if anything has been done to it before in it's lifetime but it is most certainly still a 2bbl

My question for anyone who has some time to drop me some advice is what should I do with it, if anything at all. Leave it completely as is - leave well enough alone, haul it and then haul again maybe in a few years?

Seems while I have it out I should be considering going a bit further with it. (cam/rockers/complete rebuild etc). Keep in mind a I'm not looking for anything too crazy, but would like to spruce it up a bit. Of course, budget always a problem -- and resources in my area can often pose a bit of an issue.

May have put the cart before the horse, but my immediate/obvious attention was the carb -- and I picked up a (new) Holley 670 Street Avenger after looking at probable numbers etc. And, because it was cheap and available, I picked up a (virtually new cond.) Performer 383 intake (dp) to go with it. It seems the opinion on that choice might not be so good, but I could always switch to something else. I've got some time before next season to collect some more parts slowly. I also have new exhaust stuff ready (Magnaflow mufflers flow through) ready for this to dump out to.

(my suspension has also been completely overhauled, all new shocks, bushings, leafs, Hotchkis bars front and back, and nothing too fancy but all new front disc components are sitting in my basement ready to go on -- and tires will be 255/50/17 directional all around)

Anyhow, any suggestions on what route I should take would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Fred.

[aifilaw]

I honestly love these questions, but no one ever takes the time to put in the most important facts...
how much do you have to spend now and later
what is the end result as far as power and performance and what type of driving do you want to do (bear in mind, no matter what you get, you will always and soon thereafter, want more)

[plum500]

OK, well the performance is a bit of a gray area -- but I thought pretty I much defined a range (as far as power) by what I have described I have currently, and what most would consider a *mild* build up - from what I've read and/or seen. Also, considering some new purchases I've already made. That's also why I mentioned all the suspension/wheel combo stuff figured that would indicate a direction if not simply what I have in place to handle whatever I do to the engine.

I know I'm going to want more down the road. Intention is to keep this car and tinker with it. I'm just wondering what my best starting point is.

Budget is somewhat flexible and I really am not restricting myself too much other than by asking for suggestions of what you think would be a good start. And I'm not really looking for specific numbers -- just looking for some ideas on what I can do/or should do. I mean I have a basic idea what various components and services cost

As far as driving -- It's a sunny day car for working on and cruising in -- pure hobby.

All this assuming everything in the block is in fine shape and/or any problems that must be taken care of upon any further inspection, are taken care of.

Eg: I would rather not go as far as to change the heads at this point.

I guess my initial questions are:

1) should I even touch it now, or leave well enough alone til I know more, or *need* to tear it down
2) would it be OK for me to bolt on the 4bbl carb and intake (with linkage change etc) and not do anything else internal
3) would there be any point in popping a set of headers on now if I leave it, as it runs strong (with the exception of adding the 4bbl and intake)
4) if I do rebuild, what are some key upgrades I might want to consider -- pistons, what would be a step up from the stock 383 cam? should I change the rockers/springs/etc too? any point in changing just the rockers and increase the ratio a bit?

Probably asking a lot and I know I'm not requesting specific #'s, but on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being an extreme upgrade, looking for a 3 or 4 right now. Mostly interesting in the "doing" aspect of all this so I can do it myself, slowly, but learn by doing.

[aifilaw]

well, you have the carb and a performer intake, its not like its hard to throw them on, looking back for myself, and forward for you...
I would put on the intake and carb, easy swap, will take you a couple hours and get you comfortable with with you are doing.
Buy yourself a vacuum gauge ($10), a dial-in timing light ($30) and do some tuning, read everything you can on how to tune a holley...there's some good write-ups out there, but honestly I just went to the holley site, downloaded their technical specifications and application instructions and figured it out.
Once you learn how to tune a holley (and believe me you will spend some money on new jets, cams, et cetera) you will be a great deal ahead of where you will be later when you add power and can't figure out where it went because you don't know how to tune a carb. With a stock cam in there and a new holley on top you shouldn't be able to screw it up, learn to read plugs, and how to tune it....
Then I'd move on to some headers, cheap, slightly more difficult to install...
from there its about time for a complete engine teardown, spend some money on the basics (stroker kit, forged internals, alum heads, matching cam) then you'll have more power than you know what to do with and a great building block that will destroy your transmission and rear end so you can start figuring out other important things

yes, slapping on the 4BBL carb and intake is a great step and you needn't change anythign else, honestly you will gain maybe 10 HP, and lose gas mileage horribly until its tuned right, and even then some..
save the headers until after you do the intake, one thing at a time, gives you a chance to soak up information and figure out what your doing, the carb will need to be retuned when headers are added.
if you go down to the shortblock.... replace it all, figure out if your going stroker (I suggest a 3.75" crank on a 383, makes it a 426 before some slight boring for cleanup and the block is bulletproof) or not, make it strong, stronger than it needs to be, cast pistons... hyperheuratic... all crap asking to break, especially if you want more power out of them. doing a cam swap should happen after headers, its an easy change, but I'd get the experience of the intake/carb/carb tuning/headers install done before you pull off the timing cover and swap the cam, timing chain, springs, and lifters that's required for a cam swap. changing rockers, is pointless until you upgrade the heads, either through porting or otherwise, its just not worth the money on a stock head.

[SeattleCharger]

dual exhaust at least, if you don't want headers.   stroking it is going to cost a lot, and aluminum heads, and then 2K into the trans and 2K for the rear end so it doesn't all break, 
  it runs perfect now,   90K miles,   unless you want to spend a lot,  I would do the carb and headers,  like he said, get it running well, 
     see how you like that,  then pull the motor after that and do the bay, and at that time if you want more, change the cam, leave the trans and rear end alone, leave the heads and pistons alone, you might like it like that,  read threads on the site about building engines, strokers, aluminum heads, cams, etc., there is a lot of endless info on here from guys like aifilaw,

   aifilaw, can't you just change the rocker ratio from 1.5 to 1.6 and fool the engine into thinking it has a bigger cam?  you could do this without pulling the engine, at the time you do headers, ?   would this work? 

   I would do the stroker and all that if my motor was already in need of a rebuild and I was starting from scratch, but even then I would prob. just do aluminum heads, cam, and piston,  stay under the 500 hp mark so I didn't have to put the 4K more and time and trouble into trans, and rear end, unless I win the lotto,      then again, maybe the trans and rear end would be ok with less dough into them than that with a stroker and no drag racing, I don't know,     I have learned a lot reading this site, but still havent' done it yet myself,  a beast of a car loses some driveability though, might need ear plugs, tuning a lot, things break, but I guess its fun to stomp on the gas with 600 hp, I don't know, lots of choices

[plum500]

Thanks very much guys -- that was exactly the type of coaching and discussion I was looking for in getting started.

Been trying to take in as much as possible from build discussions on here for sure. Probably should have phrased my question "where should I start" instead of even mentioning the word build

[aifilaw]

   aifilaw, can't you just change the rocker ratio from 1.5 to 1.6 and fool the engine into thinking it has a bigger cam?  you could do this without pulling the engine, at the time you do headers, ?   would this work? 

certainly, but those stock casting heads are going to actually hurt your performance if the true lift at the valve is greater than probably 0.54"
and if you have a small enough cam to where it is a 0.484,0.484 and adding 1.6 (not guna do the math right now) will get you 0.5, then the amount of hp gain you will get from that will be maybe 5 hp at most... not worth it until you upgrade the heads somehow