Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Finally got to dumping the initial Prestone 50/50 coolant load on Saturday. :ito:

Nothing unusual to report, but I did put some Permatex around the outside of the base on the thermostat's swivel housing. It was giving me an irritating weep of coolant after driving for a bit and anytime we'd park on a slant with the nose down, a small trickle of juice would come out.

"O" rings are wonderful things - when they work, but this one (got the aluminum neck assembly from Summit, originally) never seemed quite right. I didn't want to over-torque the thing to the old 2-barrel cast iron manifold, so I never went hardcore with the Allen wrench, and put just a dab of blue silicone on the bolt treads - on the initial installation.

This weekend I put a liberal layer of #2 around the base's lip - without getting near the thermostat. We've driven the poop out of the truck this week, in fairly warm weather, all without a hitch.

Took five gallons of Prestone (forgot how much that new radiator actually took) to refill the coolant system - good thing it was on sale at WallyMart for $8.00 a jug.

Mac.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Thats gotta feel good.;)

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Thanks for the update Mac. I'm glad she is treating you right.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Hows the ol girl treating you Mac?

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

:ito: She's treating my boy perfectly - I only get to drive her to the Donut Derelicts every couple of weeks or so, as he uses it on his landscaping job nearly every day. He's driving bus part time for a local school district and using his little side business as fill-in.

Many folks out my way doing the same to help ends meet.

We've had a couple of very minor leaks here and there - but they were quite easily fixed and I think this little '283' rebuild is going to last a lot longer than my old bones.

My time has been taken up with my 65' Chevelle's maintenance, with some rather heavy oil leaks, P/S pump going away, swing-arm bushings squeaking like "Dueling Banjos" and old drum brakes getting ready to die. Motor's got 24,000 on it now (estimate - as odometer puked back in 2000), but still pulls like crazy.

I just hate having to use this car as a daily driver, but times being what they are - I just cruise along at 50 and pray nobody hits me.

Mac. :lol:

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Glad to hear your truck is doing its job!! I see a lot of them running around lately. I guess many people have figured out its still cheaper than a 20k new truck; provided you can put up with the little stuff.:lol:

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Glad to hear it Mac. You did a good job breathing some life into your ol pick-up.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Well, that's the thing. After all the bone-headed mistakes I made during the build (as basic as it is) and the $7,000 I spent on this ol' truck - the little things don't bother me at all!

We've got a little chalk board out in the garage for the 65' C-10 and the 65' Chevelle (both daily drivers) and we just put issues up on that, and come the next Saturday we hit them one at a time.

A year ago - these kind of things drove me up the wall, but now it's like water off a very old duck's back. Guess that's what comes with a bit of experience.

Hope that makes sense. :lol:

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Thanks, Jason - it'll never be a show rig, but that's okay - she's quickly paying her way back now. The only very minor glitch is you can't make corners too tight, because the front springs I bought are over two inches shorter and I'm running 235's (60's) T/A radials all the way around. Not a biggie - may go to 195's (60's) in the front for a bit more clearance.

Mac. :smoke:

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

:metal:

Going on eight months now after rebuilding the 283 and my boy's using the old C10 six days a week in his landscaping business - and now we've started hauling the boat to the ocean on Sundays. So far - everything's running great and I'm really glad I put the time and money into the old girl.

Thanks for all your help, guys.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Sorry about the 12 years.:waah: Good to see the trucks getttin it done.:metal: So your about ready for another project huh?;)

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Thats the proof of a job well done Mac. Glad your happy with it and enjoying it.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

:agree:

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

I have a bone-stock 327 on an engine dolly in the garage that's calling to me. ;)

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

If you decided to do another 283, I just pulled mine out, that has maybe 6000 miles on it in the last 11 years. Had a nice Isky cam. In the meantime, the next local So Cal meet we have, we will be looking for you and your truck.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Outstanding! :metal:

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Guess it's been a while, eh? :lol:

My C10 has been getting her butt worked off six days a week - with my boy's landscaping business, which is really kicking in now and the rig's been running like a champ!

The only thing I've done since the last post - many, many months ago - was changing out that silly smog valve "T' contraption I had running from the triangle air cleaner with two small (1/4" ID) rubber tubes. NFG and never created enough suction for the PCV.

Bought some brass plumbing pieces and made a little "tree" going into the intake manifold behind the 2-barrel, that originally operated just the power brake booster. New set-up is clean - no leaks - and the brakes are fine.

Mac. :chevy:

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Glad to read that your 283 is getting a workout. LOL
Are you going to the Brothers Truck Show?
Also check out the SoCal Checking in post under the California section.
You might find a few neighbors.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Glad to see a post from ya Mac. ;) Glad things are working out well with the truck.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

:smoke:

Rear end is making noise on tight turn corners. Put a post in the Engine & Drive-line Section to try and get some information. It's more annoying than anything. Doubt if it's really tearing anything up in the Posi.

Mac.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

I would add GM posi additive. Only one that works as far as Ive heard.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Good to see ya still kickin. miss ya:lol: . When's the next build?

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

:metal: Yep - everybody says that.

Unfortunately, from what I've heard - it's not compatible with that Valvoline synthetic that's in the pumpkin presently. Friday the truck's going to H.B.Trans and they'll flush it out - put the normal hypoid in and, of course, the GM posi additive.

You know I can't just have a simple fix and there has to be much blood-letting, teeth gnashing and screaming tears before everything settles back down anyway.

:lol:

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Well - I've got the 327 on an engine dolly - buried in the back of my garage that's been calling to me. I picked it up - complete - for a hundred bucks, some time back from a guy at the shop. It might be an anchor or - with any luck - something to throw a great deal of money at, again.

We'll see this winter.

Mac. :chevy:

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

;) All is right with the world again and "The Tan's" back on the road.

That additive is the s*%t!

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Congrats Mac...

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

:waah: I'm back - sort of - been sick for a bit.

Truck is doing fine and now that the weather is warming up my son and I are starting to go fishing, towing my boat - sometimes on the freeway - like this last Saturday.

60 mph is fairly easy, although I've got a minor problem of a slight pre-det knock, despite running premium and '104' additive, just in case (remember my paranoid nature).

The pinging only happens going up grades - so I'm hoping it's a timing thing.

Any advice you guys can give will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Mac.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

It is probably timing. What is it set at initial? It should be somewhere between 4 and 10 degrees. Need to check a book if you have one. 8 is a good place to start. Basically if you are going up hills the vacuum advance is supposed to allow you to keep a constant speed without the pinging. As you accelerate vacuum drops retarding the timing as you climb the grade. If the vacuum advance is working you have too much advance. You can check the vacuum advance by using a vacuum pump on the advance mechanism and seeing if it moves with the distributor cap off.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Yeah - that's what I thought. The distributor is a GM HEI unit and the rebuilt engine has about 3.500 miles. Runs fine on the street unless it's towing the boat and pushed hard - then it starts to protest a bit. Will the timing change mess with the starting? Fires instantly now.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

No it should not hurt it. Modern TBI engines are set at zero and start instantly too. As long as you are not retarded you should be fine. I would back the timing off a couple degrees at a time and see when the pinging stops. If that does not help, put it back to where it was and check your vacuum advance.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

:lol: Oh never assume I can't be retarded. Just read this thread.

I'll back her down a couple of degrees and test drive the ole girl around until it sounds good - recording the setting changes. Then I''ll do the vacuum advance check if that doesn't work.

This isn't a game stopper - just annoying.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Nice to see ya posting. Let us know if the timing fixes your problem.
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Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

it could be a game stopper if not fixed. Preignition can do serious damage to an engine. You don't want to mess it up with those few miles on it.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

I was wearing my Jack's shirt the other day and thought agout you and wondered how your ole truck was holding up. Good to see it's still kicking.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Glad to hear from you kid - yeah "The Tan" is still going to work every day.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Let a buddy of mine have the truck for a couple of hours on Saturday morning. He put a set of platinum plugs in the '283' and moved the timing back a bit.

That was it. It runs like a bat out of h*%@ now.

Haven't hooked the boat and trailer up to it, but there's a steep grade near my place - that sets up on a bluff and I went up that sucker five times - flat out - without a single ping.

Later on - i washed the truck and took her out on the 405 for a blast and got her up to about 75 without a sweat - but then the front end started to shake just a bit - so I backed out of it. As we never tow above 65 - because of the law - that front end work can come later.

Thanks for the great advise guys - another small block saved from a dummy.

Mac :metal:

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Well Hell, this was a great read. Thanks for the novel Mac, I'm looking forward to the sequel. :)

I've got a 63 Burb coming, it has a 283 in it. I was thinking of putting a 327 or a 350 in it but now I don't know. Guess I'll drive it some 1st.

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

:metal: FOUR YEAR ANNIVERSARY FOR THE '283'

Hope you're all well.

Mac:chevy:

Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Congrats!!! I'm good. Glad to hear from ya.
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Re: The 283 Rebuild Begins
 

Nice!!:metal: