Mystery Solved!!

[hotroddr]

The other day I tore off the heads of my 66 suburban to replace gaskets and check out the condition of the engine which I thought was a 327. I ran the numbers on the block and it turned out to be a 61-64 283 block, so I was a little disappointed, but it had domed pistons so I thought it couldnt be too bad. Then I measured the bore and it was 4.00"....hmmm.....After cleaning off the pistons The numbers on the top were L2209A....dz 302 pistons? Then after measuring how far down the pistons are in the cylinders It is confirmed...A 302 lives in the engine bay of my truck. coool.
Now I understand why the thing was finicky about gas and ignition timing, and why it lived when the gas got stuck and reved to 7000RPMs.

Its going back together with new vortec heads and an intake manifold which I have not found yet so let me know if you have one.
Here are a couple pictures of the outside.

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[Johnny Blaze]

You lucky SOB!

[Boyd]

Man, what a find! By the way, nice Burb. :cool: Those wheels look familiar, what did they come off of?

[dropit69]

dude that thing is badass...i likey.. :twothumbs

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Very cool truck! Even cooler with the 302, sweet find!

[69Nova]

Dude that thing rocks. And its even better with a 302:bananna2:

[hotroddr]

Im pretty stoked about this find. I traded a friend for my old motorcycle when I decided I was done with motorcycles. It ran horribly really when I first got it, burned lots of oil, had a hard time starting, pinged like crazy, and the fan clutch went out before I got 15 miles on it between San Diego and Phoenix. I knew the potential though, so I found a napa, fixed the fan and made it home pulling 19 mpg(better than my parents 02 suburban). I have been fixing things here and there and adding buying oil to add by the case till I recently decided to replace gaskets and fix the stupid problem.

I suspected gaskets because the valve covers for one, had 1/4" gaps in them and were leaking like crazy before I changed them.

I needed new wheels and my parents had just bought new wheels for their Z71 suburban so I stole their old ones and popped them on with spacers, and put some low profile corvette tires I had laying around on the front to clear the front wheel wells.
This thing was loved by someone for sure. It has a power bench seat, tilt steering, disc brakes in the front with dropped spindles, an adjustable proportioning valve, a 12 bolt limited slip with 3.73 gears and my favorite...a 302. Not everything was done right so I have been going through it and fixing the things done wrong, I still need to fix the seat belts that are threaded into sheet metal with no reinforcement washer or nut..YIKES!!! Good thing I didnt need them while I drove it.

So far I have added the wheels, tinted the windows so I can stand the phoenix summers(it helped sooo much), put sound deadener/insulation on the ceiling and floors, installed an HEI distributor, put in an electric fan, lowered the back a bunch, put in a 1 1/4" sway bar from a newer truck, and now im putting on new heads, intake manifold, and carburetor.

The wiring and seatbelts make me cringe...Pictures of this probably belong in the safety thread for what not to do. There is a wire that was hanging bare that shorted out, melted all the insulation off of and welded itself to the engine. And the seatbelt mounts as I stated, as well as a brake line that was run through the coil spring in the back. Im glad I know what to look for because that kind of stuff will get you killed.

[Steve Chryssos]

That's a friggin sweet truck. As for the 302, it probably belongs on ebay. For the money, you can build an entire engine. Something with more torque. Your truck will love you for it.

[bnickel]

it may not be an actual 302, you can make your own homemade 302 with a 327 block and a 283 crank, the other way around will make a 307

[ProdigyCustoms]

Yeah, something is not right here. A 283 block is not 4.00, nor will it bore that far. What is the casting number of the block?

[myclone]

it may not be an actual 302, you can make your own homemade 302 with a 327 block and a 283 crank, the other way around will make a 307

Id have to agree. The "poor mans" way of making a 302 using a small journal 327 block and a 283 crank was popular back in the day. Still a cool find IMO though since you dont see them every day.

Brake line through the coil spring? Yikes!!

[MarkM66]

Yeah, something is not right here. A 283 block is not 4.00, nor will it bore that far. What is the casting number of the block?

The early 283 blocks COULD be bored .125" over, to a 4.00" bore. Later ones could not. Vizards sbc book speaks of this, and give which years could be bored to 4.00".

This combo resulted in like 301.6 cubic inches.

[hotroddr]

The casting number on the block is 3789935, I have not found a build date yet, but according to those numbers thats a 283 built from 61-64. The pistons measure 4" in diameter and have domes L2209A as well as STD written on them. The farthest up piston is about 1/4" from the deck, and the farthest down piston is 2 3/4 into the cylinder so logically the farthest down the piston could go is another 1/4" making it a 3" stroke. It is not the famed DZ 302 but its basically the same thing in a round about way which makes it more fun to run anyway. Anyone see any flaws in my logic or numbers here?

[MarkM66]

1/4" below deck @ tdc? WOW!

Just playing around 4.00 bore, 3.00 stroke. Not sure on cc of you heads, but with a 64cc chamber, 0.25" in the hole, 0.045" head gasket, and +15cc piston dome, you're right around 6.63:1 compression. You could run that thing on water, lol.

[hotroddr]

haha...no the farthest up piston as the engine sits now without rotating it is 1/4 down, its not at tdc.

[hotroddr]

Rather than starting a new thread I decided to bring one back from the dead. I have started the restoration on the burban that is at the top of the page. I somehow ended up with metal shavings in the oil and a lot of clattering so the engine is now out of it waiting to see if its worth rebuilding for something else. I am going to put in the 350 from my other car. In anticipating my upcoming marriage and I have decided to sell the burban, but it only makes sense to build it to what it should be before I sell it in order to get more $. I have the engine out and am starting to get ready to repaint it now. I will try to update with the work as it progresses. Hopefully this will help me keep motivated to bust this thing out quickly. ok...on to the pictures.
Before
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After
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I have found cancer and am now beginning reconstructive surgery.
another before
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after
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Here are a few problem areas that are going to be worked on shortly.
front drivers fender
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how not to use bondo!(rear driver corner)
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front passengers fender
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As you can see I have my work cut out for me but thats ok, its good to refine the skills a little. The 70s moulding is gone as are the emblems. I am replacing all the rusted metal and killing all that is salvageable with a rust converter. Keep pestering me for updates if you are interested, or tell me to shut up if you are not.

[Stangonline.com]

It looks like she has a few secrets under the paint. You might onsider media blasting to find all of her "treasures" :)

[hotroddr]

I got some more work done on the burb today. Tore off the fenders and started hammering out the bondoed dents. I also learned that Shrinking metal is kind of fun. I dont know if there is a better way but I hammered/dollied till the fender was as smooth as I could get it, then in the areas that seemed stretched I heated it red with a torch so that the metal would mound up in about a quarter sized circle. Then I hammered/dollied it flat and quenched it with water. Sound right to you all? Worked pretty good if I must say so myself. On to the pictures.
night pictures are so flattering arent they?
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oooo...metal
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[hotroddr]

The work continues. Here are a few pictures of the progress on the drivers side fender. I neutralized the rust that was on the inner support and replaced some of the metal in it, then I tacked on the patch panel and finally stitched it together. Bodywork continues on the rest of the truck.
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The lower area behind the wheelwell here was rusted out so I replaced the metal and smoothed it over with a skim coat of body filler.
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[hotroddr]

Last post on this build thread was 2006. Finally I am getting back to work on this project. I went through several ideas and made some slight progress on the suburban, got married at the end of 2006, moved 3 times, and now am about to refresh the 302 and throw it back in the suburban. Photos and more info to follow.

[T_Raven]

That's a sweet suburban

[hotroddr]

Here is the latest resting place for the suburban, and a picture of the reason there was a knock in the engine. Apparently the pistons were working on self clearancing themselves on the Vortec heads, oops! Lesson learned, check all clearances before bolting heads on and starting the engine. It appears that the metal debris in the oil were probably from starting the engine without priming the oil pump after it sat a while. The crank looks great, but the bearings are a little worn. The bores measure out great so I guess I lucked out there

I'm planning on throwing a new set of bearings in, clearancing the piston domes and going for it. Since I will be running about 11:1 compression, I will smooth all sharp edges on the pistons and in the combustion chambers, and will run the biggest cam the heads will support. I realize a tiny small block with short stroke and a large cam with an automatic transmission with a stock torque converter in a heavy vehicle will most likely be a dog, but the budget on this one is zero. I'm hoping it will get decent gas mileage and run for a few years without burning to much oil so I can finally drive this thing. 7 years is way too long to have a project sit!