383 big block builds, from mild to wild, I want to hear about them!!

I am interested in any story about 383 builds, from stock to "shadetree" performance builds (like my friend did in 1980, more to follow) to all out wringing the most power out of the factory 383 block possible.
Back in 1979/80 I hooked up my best friend with a local cruiser. Being a Mopar guy, of course I took note of this guy's 70, 383, Air Grabber, Pistol Grip 4 speed equipped Roadrunner. It sounded like a good running, stock Mopar big block should sound, appeared (and was) unmodified, and the factory F6 green metallic paint and black stripes with green bucket seats and console all looked good.
So they made a deal. My friend changed the factory 4bbl intake to an aluminum dual plane, headers, put a Holley 780? 4bbl carb on it, Direct--><--Connection Purple Stripe cam (I think it was the "street Hemi grind? around 284°/.488 lift) springs, lifters, Centerlines (I loved them) wide radial T/As and a 3.91 rear gear with the adjustable pinion snubber. He also played with a 4.3X gear in that 8¾ Sure Grip rear axle assembly.
It was a consistent, solid, reliable mid to high 13 second car on the street and strip, and he won more races than he lost.
Last note, and then any 383 stories can come a flyin'...
When we were watching him race someone, especially at night, we could always tell when he hit 2nd gear, even if he was too far away to hear, or if the other car was way louder. See, his turn signal detente was worn, and there was a little weight to that metal turn signal arm, and he power shifted so that was a pretty violent slam into 2nd gear, and the left hand turn signal always came on!!
The other thing is I took a ride a few times when he would stage it and get at it like a quarter mile race. 1st gear was extremely noisy, between the headers, carb gulping air through the Air Grabber, tires spinning but moving the car forward, a whole lot of physics lessons all happening at once! Once he hit 2nd, that was often the tell of the tape, and he would usually pull away from the car next to him by a significant margin.
Great car, great memories, and I believe a properly components matched to the natural strengths of the 383's engineering design setup is highly competitive to other "old school" engines of that era.
What are YOUR 383 stories??

My cousin bought a 70 barracuda gran coupe when we were in college. It had 100k on it and the guy who owned it since new was a chrysler mechanic. It was sublime green with a black top and I really didn't like the color at first. After a week I kinda liked it. Another week later I decided it was the coolest thing ever.
He put some headers on it and did a quick valve job on it. I took two carburetors and made one good one out of the parts.
The car came with 50 series bias ply tires.
We found if you laid a patch and backed up on it you could nearly pull the front tires.
I think it had 3:55 gears in it and it could get to 100 mph in a heartbeat on the highway.

One night we were at a party and he was challenged to a race by a guy with a brand new 1985 iroc for $20. The guy lost his money on two more runs down the block.
It wasn't even close in 100 feet the cuda had 2 car lengths. The guy with the gold chains was pretty embarrassed. That was a really fun car.

Don Frelier said:

he was challenged to a race by a guy with a brand new 1985 iroc for $20. The guy lost his money on two more runs down the block.
It wasn't even close in 100 feet the cuda had 2 car lengths. The guy with the gold chains was pretty embarrassed.

Click to expand...

Good story...
Even if that IROC Z 'marrow had the TOP engine option for 1985, well...
Hot Rod magazine put the IROC-Z with the LB9 TPI to the test for their February 1985 issue. The IROC-Z sprinted from 0 to 60 in 7.0 seconds and ran the quarter mile in 15.0 seconds at 92 mph.

Why are there so many good stories about 383's? Because you flog the hell out them hoping for a melt down and an excuse to upgrade to a RB!

The one in my wagon was obtained in a trade and its in it's third engine bay (that I know of). It's .060 over 1966 block with 11:1 Jahns pistons and Erson hyd cam .465 / 310. Heads are 906 with a mild clean up, Holley Street Dominator intake, and Carter 750 carb. My best guess is that it was built in the 80's. It still has a cable choked carb on it. I'm only into it for the cost of gaskets, bearings, and paint, so it can be flogged without fear.

I've hurt it a few times, but I can't seem to kill it outright. We're both getting a little tired, leaky, and noisy, but I'm starting to think the thing might out outlast me.

This is gonna be a hold the cards close to the chest deal..

Watching this thread and you give me hope for my ‘68 383 build someday to come! Some of the bling already bought for it! Edelbrock Performer manfold and Edelbrock Performer 4 barrel carburetor.

Nice to see some enthusiasm towards the 383! I always see it being treated like a red headed step child , I never understood why. They were the bread and butter for many a Mopars, reliable, easy to deal with and affordable. While the RB is bigger and better to an extent not everyone can play with them or wants to.. I’m curious to hear about what folks have done to make them run... after all it powered many of road runners right to the car of the year award in 69!

They respond to all the usual hot rod stuff just like anything else.
Good heads, good induction, headers, cam, compression, quench....... they like it all.
This one got all that...... went in a 70 Challenger street car, ran on pump gas:

Thanks for all the replies!
Thanks @PRHeads for the dyno sheet.
Looks like a nicely balanced combo of torque and horsepower, and I love the 7k RPMs. Would it be accurate to say a properly built 383 "likes" RPMs to make power? What I mean by that is, is the bore to stroke ratio a fundamentally good ratio to inherently make power up high and handle the piston speed? What I mean by that, for example, is although my 440 is larger displacement than my wife's Pontiac 421 (now 428 @ a .035 overbore) the Pontiac's bore to stroke ratio actually makes for an engine design that has a higher piston speed at any RPM, thus it isn't a "naturally" high winding motor.

this is back in oct 73 at the first gas crunch looking at trading times add for 68 roadrunner looked ok he wanted 550 for it 383 tf 323 rear so i got it. the first thing was take off the ratty exhaust on it hooker headers and a 2 1\2 system w\ corvair turbo muffers then a holley 780 w\alum intake got a new set of 915 heads with 188 exhaust valves the cam was already in the motor i think he said it was a 480 crower hyd i got the good mopar oil pump with the deep rotor package street hemi tc went thru the trans w\ all hemi stuff the i put a 489 gear w\ sure grip ss springs & shocks had 8 1\2" m&h racemaster on it this was my everyday go to work car i had to put street tires on it in the winter but it ran a best of 13.22@104 with 90000 miles on the motor at motor city dragway 1976 i think i sent a pic of this car to you bio i still have it now a 440

One thing that needs to be considered on an all-out 7000+ 383 bracket motor... full floating pins. Theres a reason all Hemis & 340's got them..