I'm afraid my 350 tpi is on its last leg (low oil pressure, burns oil, gas in oil, etc.) and I'm looking to upgrade.

I may have a deal on a whole car and was curious of a few things. First off, is there any way to tell without if it is a 383 without having them present receipts for machining or parts etc? Second, will pretty much any small block chevy bolt up to a 700r4? Third, if I end up rebuilding one myself, is any thing in the stock top end any good to use with a 383 block(intake, heads, cam) and if so would I even need to burn a new chip if they can all be reused? If not, how hard is to burn a chip for the mods myself or what's a reasonable deal to have a full computer tune done for me by a shop? Thanks.

 

A 383 is essentially a 350 block with a 400 crank. The only way that i know of to tell would be to measure the piston stroke through the spark plug hole. It isnt very scientific or accurate, but short of pulling the head, it's the only way I know.
All small block GM engines will bolt up to a 700R4, except the LS-1's. (They will bolt up too, but there are a few things that wont line up.)

As far as top end, some people will tell you the TPI setup wont flow enough to feed a 383, and some will tell you it's fine. I would port the upper plenum, get slp runners and siamese them, and have the base ported.
Tuning can be expensive. Whatever you do, make sure the shop has access to a dyno for tuning.

 

So the heads and cam would work ok then, but its the intake that would suck? What if I switched out the tpi for a Holley Stealth Ram instead of doing all that porting? Between having 30#injectors, an afpr, and 255lph pump I know I will get enough fuel. Thanks alot for your help, I appreciate it.

 

That would save a lot of work on the intake but the heads would be a major restriction. They would work but just limit the power output a good bit until you could either get them ported and worked over for higher valve lift, or replaced with better heads.

 

Yeah I kinda figured as much. It doesn't look like the 383 build is going to happen anyways. Got a good deal on another motor. Thanks.