Hi everyone. New here.

As stated, I have a 1968 Chrysler Newport Custom 2 door hard top, with the 383 engine.

I had the engine rebuilt by a local guy for my graduation (7 years ago) and am just getting back into doing some work on it.

I am not very car savvy, but this seems like a great place (and a great engine) to learn.

What I have done/had done with it:

-Engine rebuilt
-New pistons, as old ones were warped (or something)
-Edelbrock 850 cfm 4 barrel carb (too big, I know...it was on sale)
-Dual exhaust (no 'H' or 'X' pipe yet, not sure why)

I'm looking for a powerful cruiser, not a track-mobile.
I would like to know what kind of upgrades can/should be done, but please describe with a newbie level of detail/clarity.

Thanks, and I'm sure both you and I will have more questions, so let's get to it.

 

Well considering that the engine has already been freshened up, there is not much that you can do without "re-doing" some of the work... Depending on what you want to do with the car and how you are going to drive it dictates what you would need to do. Just a cruiser, leave it be, should run well enough as is, other than the carb being on the large size... ( 650-750cfm would suffice. The 383 is a big block with a sb personality. (Likes to rev etc) I am sure others will give suggestions....

 

You must understand that these are heavy cars, and are typically very high geared. 2.7X rear gear is not uncommon

So don't build the engine into a high RPM, pipey screamer unless you are prepared to go with some fairly low rear gear, and "kill" what mileage you have

WHAT is the Holley? (LIST no. should be right on the air horn after removing the air filter.) If it's a vacuum secondary, not quite so bad.

Recurving the distributor and making sure that it's in good shape -- or replacing it entirely might be an idea. IF you can stand the loss of mileage, but WANT more acceleration, you might check what rear gear is in the thing, and drop the rear gear some.

 

I'm going to need you to dumb-down your entire post into newbie-speak.

Haha. Thanks.

 

Here is what you need to do to wake up the 383 in your 68' Newport (ditch the 850cfm carb, it's too big for your stock 383).

>>650cfm carb would be a better size. I have a Edlebrock 650 AVS on my 383 and it works great. Also get a "carb spacer" to isolate your carb from heat or you'll risk getting vapor lock on really hot days.

>>440/383 magnum spec repro camshaft. This will make more power than the stock 2bbl camshaft.

>>Edelbrock 383 performer aluminum intake manifold, it works well with the magnum cam and 650 AVS carb.

>>Headers or Hi-po exhaust manifolds, 2.5" dual exhaust, Flowmaster 40 series mufflers.

Your done.

I threw in a few other speed "goodies" into my 383 when I had the top end rebuilt....but the general recipe should get you were you want to be. My 383 runs great, has nice top end (I recently out gunned a 396 69 RS Camaro on the turnpike). I kept the rear end gears so I could have nice top end without having the motor spin a 6 or 7 grand to do it. Although the 383 does not have as much stroke as the 440, being a big block motor it still has enough bottom end torque to push my big *** Newport coup away from a dead stop pretty well.

Hope this is helpful.