One of my friends neighbors offered me a 383 pretty cheap last night. I dont have all the specs for it but i know it is set up for a carb and has a victor Jr. intake, he said the motor originally came from a dually truck he said it has an rv cam. But he said if i try to convert it to tpi it will need different heads. So basically could this be true, would i be better off just using a big carb, if so would i lose a lot of low end torque? Maybe a newb post but i dont have much expierence with motor combos. Ill post more specs on the cam and heads ect when i get them.

 

Are you sure its a 383? What heads are on there now, as in the casting number? What the block casting #?

Of course you can always do a cam swap. Probably don't want the victor jr. intake either.

 

Vic Jr. intake plus RV cam ?? The intake probably isn't the best choice for low end torque. The heads sound like the might be vortec heads? Find out what heads they are first then go from there. If they are, you could just get a vortec tpi base. Again, too many what ifs. Find out what you can, but I would think your first move would to get a better cam before you drop it in your car.

 

Well he didnt build the motor a local shop did so he was kinda vague. But he does have a couple of high dollar motors in his cars, im gonna try to get some more info out of him ill post what i find. He did say it was out of an older truck and said there was a little money tied up in it he said it was a 383 but then said it was bored 60 over with a 400 crank. Wouldent that be a 388?

 

383 is just a generic term for a 4" bore block with a 3.75" stroke.

Don't pay too much for that engine, the block is all used up.

 

He said it was built then put in an s10 and ran for about 15,000 then he wrecked it.

 

Being in something as little as a S10, he probably beat the **** out of that motor.

Do a leakdown test before you buy it, or atleast a compression test.

 

I am not sure what you want the motor for exactly. But, if you want it for your car I would just use the engine that you have and stroke it. It's cheap enough anymore if you are just keeping it N/A. This way you will know what parts you actually have and it will all be new. Just my 2 cents

 

How much is he asking for it?

 

400.00 intake to oil pan