Hi everybody, here is my current situation,

I recently replaced my 318 2bbl motor and transmission in my 1970 Dodge D100 pickup with a 1966 383/727 out of a 1966 newport. The motor is original and has very low miles, checked the bearings and they all looked brand new. My friend that's an engine machinist even saw them and the rest of the inside of the motor and recommended to not rebuild it, essentially being a waste of money to do so since it looked great. I installed it and it runs great, no smoke or anything. My problem seems to be that it just does not have any power. I feel my 318 2bbl had more power than this engine. The only modifications from stock are I am running Chrysler electronic ignition with an orange box, and a Weiand Part #8007 dual plane 4bbl manifold. I am running an almost brand new Edelbrock 1406 600 cfm electric choke carb. I have the timing dialed in at 8 degrees initial, any more than that and it will ping under WOT. It just seem to be a real dog of an engine and I am wondering if there is anything I can do short of putting a 440 in it to get the power I was expecting out of a big block. I have had stock 383 even 361 engines that had more power than this. Any help or ideas is greatly apreciated. Thank you.

I'd think you'd want at least 12* initial and 36* total. Disconect the vac advance and add some timing. Your distrib is probably advancing the timing way up. I bet it runs much better.

Does the distributor in that conversion kit have the adjustable mechanical advance ? If so you need to take advance out of the distributor .

A 66 383 2bbl was maybe 280 HP when new , probably a little less , so I don't know what you were expecting ...

Slap in some way richer metering rods from a strip kit #1487 (takes several minutes) & if that wakes it up then dial in the carb EDIT might need heavier springs/more initial

That carb is junk OOTB, calibrated way lean. Look up the specs for the manual choke version and start there.

bone stock 383s were no powerhouses. compression low enough you could probably run them on water is the biggest thing that hurt them.

get a good tune on it and it'll wake up considerably, but it's not going to be a race motor.

Stock cam?

Oil consumption??

The reason I ask is if there's high oil consumption it will make that motor detonate at high rpm.

The stock cam, and valvesprings, is a huge limiter to rpms and top end power.

I'd doublecheck that total timing and then consider a cam/valvespring swap.

The carb tuning suggestion is a great low-buck idea to try right away. It could help with the detonation, maybe.