Buick 350 motor work with JTR mounts?

[gvincent]

Is the Buick 350 with the distributor up front like a Ford worrth looking into?

Will it mount in with the JTR SBC mounts? Could a T56 or T5 be made to wrk with it?

It definately would be different...

here is one I was thinking of looking at:

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/pts/269830622.html

Thanks,

Greg

[A. G. Olphart]

Is the Buick 350 with the distributor up front like a Ford worrth looking into?

Will it mount in with the JTR SBC mounts? Could a T56 or T5 be made to wrk with it?

It definately would be different...

here is one I was thinking of looking at:

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/pts/269830622.html

Thanks,

Greg

 

Just looking at that ad, I'd run the other direction... a spun main means machine work on the block and a new or reground crank. The pictures show rust on the outside to about the crankshaft midline-- Rust inside as well? Although the pictures show a fully dressed engine, text says all he is selling you is the blown up short block. All engines were once newly machined, most ran well... current condition is the key, and that one looks OLD.

 

If you want the distributor in front, have you considered Ford or Chrysler small blocks? (My impression is that Ford is the better fit for a Z). What of the recent SBC's with the weird ignitions?

 

 

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[Guest Mike]

Yeah... get a 351W and stroke it!!!

[Magnum380Z]

The Buick engine is different,but they have not built a v-8 since about 1980, they started running Olds Engines in BOPs in regals,cutlass,grandprixs etc..... The Buick engine is a great engine but part$ might be an issue on another note Big Block Chryslers have the Dist. in the front..Small blocks in the back.

[gvincent]

OK, thanks for the education, I was curious not so much this particular motor but the Buick or Olds engines.

I guess I will continue my search for the Small block Chevy.

I'm just getting a little frustrated with the lack of decent engine options in the New England rustbelt area for reasonable prices so thought I would open my eyes and search a little wider

The SBC still seems to be the easiest route. Patience and search search I guess.

Thanks again

Greg

[twoeightythreez]

Is the Buick 350 with the distributor up front like a Ford worrth looking into?

Will it mount in with the JTR SBC mounts? Could a T56 or T5 be made to wrk with it?

It definately would be different...

It wouldn't directly mount to the JTR SBC mounts, they're in different places. You could use them, you would just have to fabricate set-back plates.

The T-5 should have bellhousings available for B-o-p style, 1998 and above V-6 camaro/firebird had the 3800 series (buick) v-6, and the 5-speed behind them was a w/c t-5.

T56 you would have to get a BOP to Chevy adaptor plate.

As far as the engines themselves...

They had a 3.800 bore and a 3.750 stroke to come to about 347cid.

The heads were ahead of thier time, with heart-shaped combustion chambers and large valves with splayed spark plugs, a little porting here and you have some excellent-flowing heads. (modern heads are still superior but for 60's technology these were pretty kewl)

The oiling systems need to be upgraded for any kind of performance use, they were marginal when new and the gears rode directly in the aluminum timing cover, this is probably why he spun a main, these engines had HUGE main and rod bearings (the rod bearings are the size of sbc MAIN bearings) and huge cam bearings that loved oil...worn oil pumps were common in those engines and the only true fix is to get a new timing cover. The reason they had this was because Buick was on a quest to make thier engine as light as possible, and the wide mains "girdled" the thin main cradles these engines had.

This is one of the lightest iron v-8's you'll ever see...long block is under 500lb

They also had non-adjustable shaft-rocker valvetrain, and the lifters are fed thru the front cam bearing.

The pre-73 motors had weak rod bolts that were only good to about 6000rpm.

(though the rods themselves were forged)

The cranks on these things were monstrous, due to the huge main journals, as long as it wasn't run a long time with a spun bearing it's probably straight.

All the problem areas on these engines can be fixed, and you end up with a light, strong, torquey motor, the problem is all the aftermarket is thru niche vendors so you'll be spending some money.

If you want to go buick get a 455, these are the lightest domestic big-blocks ever built (with aluminum heads and intake these are lighter than a small block chevy, even stock all-iron these were only around 600lb) and properly built make hp/tq on par with the chev. They had the biggest bore and shortest stroke of any big block,(I believe it was 4.350 bore x 3.90 stroke) and a great rod/stroke ratio.

Just a little fyi if you want something different.

I don't think the buick build would cost significantly more than say a chrysler big-block, but that's just me.

For some buick info google up poston performance and ta performance, two vendors that deal in Buicks

Good luck!

[A. G. Olphart]

Magnum, Ya caught me... I've owned both small and big Mopars (we still have one of each), but was thinking of the distributor placement on my wife's wagon. Oops... Its a big block.

 

 

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