I finally got my truck running, For those of you that don't know the original rims don't fit over the disc brake upgrade kit that I bought so I had to find new ones. Problem now is that the truck doesn't have much power. This is my second C-10 first was a 66 that ended up wrapped around a Telephone pole, It had a 350 w/ automatic Trans, The 65 I'm working on now has a 283 with a 3 speed standard trans. When I got it the timing etc was way off which I thought was odd, because judging from the trucks condition and all of the paperwork.the guy was very meticulous with it before he passed away. I reset the timing and dwell to the factory specs, and no more flames out of the tailpipes, but the truck doesn't have much getup, It is very loud however it looks to me like the dual exhausts were attached to stock headers and the mufflers don't seem to muffle much loads of bap bap bap not much vroom vroom. where should i start to get the 140hp advertised on the air cleaner, or more? thanks in advance
283 MOTORS fixed the propor way can have lots of horsepower,look back in time to the year 1957 the fuelinjected 283 of 1957 that motor had 283hp....they were only in the vetts and a few 57 chevy cars.
Being that you are the 283 man I was hoping you'd chime in on this; I figured should be getting more from this motor, I know 283's are powerful, but I'm not sure where to start, I just know the truck doesn't sound or feel right, and I'm not sure why. My gut feeling is that there is and exhaust problem so I'm thinking about changing the headers. Thanks
Yuu might try setting you timming on before the 8 TDC it could be 180 off if you have the points in you distrubtor check that make sure they not just a little burned up the will run really rough with being a little burned up,I invested in a book called "How to rebuild your Small-Block Chevy- HP BOOKS ITS worth every penny you pay for it ,I got mine about 6years ago its like a chevy bible...
Take off the valve covers. It will give you a good idea what the rest of the motor looks like. Use a compression tester to see if there are no leaks. You might need just a basic tune up. Also while the engine is running pour a cap full of ATF down the carb. It smokes like hell but helps to get junk off the valves.
Timing way off and no power usually means timing chain kaput. Pull you distributer cap and have a helper move the balancer or flywheel back and forth. It shouldn't move much till the rotor moves. A uniformly low compression reading is another clue.
