Hi Richard,
 > I know the 283 was a cheater, take down the skirt of a
 > 327 piston and
 > you had a bonus piston that slipped right in. I don't
 > think the made a
 > piston FOR a 4 inch bore short stroke SBC until they
 > burped up the chevy
 > 302 in ..  damn.
They may not have made a FACTORY piston for it till then, but there were a 
lot of aftermarket ones already. Before Chevy called a 283 with a four inch 
bore a 302, the dragracers had already done it and were calling it a 301. 
Pistons were available from Venolia and TRW among others. I seem to recall 
Ansen (the old "mag" wheel people) even getting into the act before they sold 
thier tooling/stock to Arieas. 301's were real popular in the L.A. area at 
Lions Dragstrip (may its soul rest in peace) which was not a NHRA track. They 
had a couple of Dragster and I recall Altered classes which had a 305 top 
limit for displacement. If Sam Thompsen is still popping in here he may be 
able to shed a little more light on this.
 > Was it '67? or was it '68?
I recall '68 as being the first year the public could get a Z-28 (the only 
factory Chev to offer the 302). But I was not into "door-slammers" back then. 
I was into A/Fuel dragsters, crewing for the people across the street from 
me, and not being old enough to have my own car. I do recall that they did 
try a factory 302 crank in a 350 block but could not seem to get the H.P. 
which they blamed on the larger bearing size.
 >  Bloody numbers.. they all just run together in yer
 > head after awhile eh?  :>
Yup, they seem to after a while.
      Gerry
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