What it took to rebuild our 283 Chevy small-block | Redline Explained - Hagerty Media

It was supposed to be an easy build, but the latest Redline Rebuild project provoked quite a few headaches along the way. You didn’t notice as you watched the time lapse? That was the goal, but now you can hear the backstory as Davin and Ben discuss what it took to get our Chevy small-block V-8 restored and running again. It wasn’t always easy, but we got it done and even learned a few things along the way. Nothing is ever straightforward when you’re rebuilding an engine, after all.

From the moment we began to disassemble this 283 small-block, we discovered it was ready for some tender loving care. Davin carefully extracted each piece of hardware and prepped all the key parts for a trip to the machine shop. That meant nearly an entire day of grinding on the engine block. Davin’s goal: to remove as much of the casting flash and texture as possible. His efforts made a big difference later when everything went to the paint booth.

The orange presented a unique problem: It didn’t seem to cover the block effectively. The paint wasn’t thin, but any lump or bump texture was unusually conspicuous—not an issue with any other colors the Redline Rebuild team has used. In this debrief session, Davin thinks a change to the primer or adding a base coat of paint before the final top coat would have solved this issue, but unfortunately we didn’t have the time mid-project.

Final assembly was a breeze … apart from the camshaft and timing-chain fiasco. Once the engine was together, the break-in process proved simple thanks to the hydraulic roller camshaft. Now, this engine is destined for a nice street-cruiser Chevelle.

The mill that is up next might not be so tame, however. If you want to see that and any other future projects, subscribe to the Hagerty YouTube channel.

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