Me thinks your goal of running in the 8 with a 383 in your car are unobtainable
All kidding aside, that car is heavy and those motors are limited on how much cheap power you can make with them, been there done that(multiple times)
Can you find a usable 440 crankshaft? If so I would use it by turning down the mains to 383 size and have a set of pistons made for using the stock 440 rods in your 383 , you will have to do some work, grinding the edges, on the crankshaft counterweights to clear the main webbing but increasing the stroke to 3.750 in a low deck is a really good way to help on the low end torque.
Being in Sweden has to limit your ability and choices on parts for this project so I can feel your pain and frustrations
good luck
Listen to this guy! Put a crank in it and enjoy the low end that it will provide! I have a 470" low deck with a mild solid roller cam. Idles nicely at 900 rpm, looks like a 383, rpms like a chain saw and pulls like a freight train!!
I've been thinking of how I should put it to make you understand of how I see it.
If you'd had a chance to log the throttle position for a season on a street driven car (such as a 71 'Bee) I'd swear you never go WOT more than a few percent. Probably very very few.
The idle portion would be quite a big number, depending on the traffic situation at your location of course.
If I make a wild guess of the throttle opening you actually DRIVE your car I'd say it's mostly between idle and half throttle. At least that's how I drive my cars. Using a set of 275 BFG takes only a few minutes of pedaling! LOL
The engine I'm planning to build is for a driver.
Looking at dyno numbers are always fun, but I don't know anyone who puts his street car in gear, floors it from 2,500-3,000 and wait 'til the power ends. Well, if he goes to the track, but that's a completely different story.
A dyno can't give the information of how the engine works in a street car. How responsive it is, and what will happen if you give 3/4 throttle at 2,000 rpm's. A chassis dyno can do it better, but not fully.
I want my street driven 383 to be long lasting, ready for long trips on winding sideways or a trip to the town to lay out some smokescreens and no unburned fuel wiping off the oil film from the cylinder walls.
I want it to be snappy and happy, have muscle car characteristics with a bit lumpy idle and grunt from bottom so I don't have to wait for it to happen.
If it wouldn't have been a matching car I would have used the 67 440 I have sitting, or maybe built a 400 stroker. It would have made it easier to achieve my goals, but that's not an option now.
If I had too much money or lived in the US I would have considered building a stroker out of the matching block, but that's too risky with today's situation. Shipping overseas sucks these days...
As said before, a 383 is not the best start - but now it has to be a 383, and I will try to make the best of it.
I'm gonna try to use the parts I have and do it all by myself at home. Do it and build it someway I stated from the start. Be painstaking with the details, jetting and timing.
What I'm asking for is cam input from people who built something similar. Anyone?
