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These Chevy 383's seem to be all the rage now, and apparently they run like the cat's meow. Why is it that the Dodge/Chrysler/Plymouth 383 was always considered a dog? Classic
The old Mopar 383 wasn't such a bad deal. But remember it was usually offered only in Lo Po tune. It was always a cast piston, hyd. cam, iron intake, small carb kind of deal. Even the Magnum versions. I've owned them.
Plus it is just about as heavy as a 440 etc.
Actually, it's not such a bad motor. Large bore, very short stroke etc. It could be made into a pretty hot little deal, but if you're going to all the trouble you might as well do a 440 which most folks do. With a cam, intake and headers, I had one running mid-high 12's in a '68 Roadrunner with a 4 speed and 3.91 gears on real street tires.
Most 383 Chevys are built in a performance mode. Good aluminum or at least very high flowing iron aftermarket heads, strong aggressive cams, great flowing intakes etc. They are just usually built to make power.
The other advantage is the 383 Chevy is much lighter.
A "pedestrian" 383 built the same way those Mopars were done, also will struggle to break 300 hp.
It's kind of an apples to oranges comparison even if they are the same cubes.
I owned a 71 Satelight Sebring with a 383 magnum and it was a real tire smoker. I think that it was rated as 350 hp. It was a classic big bore short stroke with high compression. My 78 pace car was a dog in comparison rated at 200 something hp.