Technical Anybody ever put a small block Chevy in a 63 Buick Riviera.

As a guy who has spent a lot of money buying big block Buick parts (which are MUCH more expensive than SBC), I understand the desire to go to a more mainstream engine. However, a good running Buick of almost any variety is so much cooler and way more interesting than a comparable SBC. I cringe every time I see a Buick muscle car with a SBC, I just laugh and assume they don't like torque.

 

Doubt it. The Buick Dynaflow was never a performance trans, and any well built TH350 is going to be better.

 

Performance?
Rivs are cruisers.
Drop em in the dirt and cruise
No performance needed

 

Earlier this year I drove that 65 GS I had. I couldn't possibly disagree more. That experience will last in my memory til my last day. I'm smiling again just thinking about it as I type this.

 

Low and slow
You guys can pass me all ya want

 

But even at low and slow a better trans is never a bad thing. That goes for almost anything on a car for me. I'd rather have stronger, even if it's not needed, as it just means it lasts longer in easy use.

 

Just don’t be in the fast lane with your left turn signal on for miles on end.

 

upgrade!

 

I promised to share a few pics of my low buck wildcat build I did maybe 12 or so years ago...The day I saved it from being parted out and crushed.

The engine was a 86 up small block tree fiddy with the pass side dipstick, so my Nova pan would not fit. I welded the Nova sump to the late model pan and used the center sump oil pump
I made adapter mounts using stock Buick motor mounts, frame was not cut or altered, so going back to a Nailhead would be still a bolt in deal.

Transmission mount fit perfectly since the car came with an SP400, technically a TH400 with a switch pitch converter
angleage adjusted
I think I had to buy a smaller in diameter yoke for the Chevy th400, the buick had a bigger yoke, but with the same spline count.
remember, this was a NO-budget project, I used what I had. Not a lot af attention to details. The Car has been sold and fully restored since then and is back on the road with a nailhead now
A few months before I sold it. That was a great cruiser, but the stock 350 out of a 1990 G20 was a little lame, good on gas, but performance wise nothing to write home about.

 

I’d drive it

 

Nice job man

 

When my dad bought a 61 Pontiac Bonneville, my mom was pissed, cause she liked the Buicks we'd had up until then. Why? Cause she said she couldn't feel anything with the Buicks, but the Pontiac "jerked".
As a little kid, I can vouch for the fact the Bonneville jerked. Especially when Mom wasn't in the car.. My dad loved that car, until he blew a hole in a piston one day. I was impressed.
I had a 58 Buick Super for a while. Strong 364, with a shit Dynaflow. Step down on it, and engine RPM didn't match forward speed. That trans sucked. It was working like it was supposed to work. Yeah, Mom liked Dynaflows, nobody else in my family did.

 

Mom was the smart one. Did you EVER run one against the Pontiac? 1/4 or 1/2 mile?

Ben

 

Nope, I was too young to reach the pedals

 

A complete Firebird chassis? That must have been tough.

 

Not sure how much cutting was done to make it fit (I was 16 and couldn't even begin to comprehend the amount of work it must have taken, he was dad's age. I did install my first dropped axle then and was pretty happy with that) but I do remember that he widened the bed a little. Most couldn't see the difference until they read the tailgate which read FOORD. I also remember he use to love taking the truck to the Pontiac dealership to have something looked at with the Firebird chassis, not my kind of humor but he seemed to get a kick out of it.
It was the early 70s, lots of questionable stuff done back then. Just as now I guess.

 

Id look for a 200 R4 out of a turbo Buick or the equivalent olds and have it rebuilt . that will give a nice non computer-controlled OD that is turbo 350 length .

Thats the plan for my Model A PU . 3:30 gears and lower will be fine with a OD and have some benefit . Thats about what it in my mustang GT and I like the fact it has OD for on the freeway

As far as the SBC in this Id keep the original if it can be overhauled or rebuilt under say $2000 . these days a original engine in it is a plus. Im a SBC fan but it keep it original engine and if I was doing a non LS swap on it of something else it would be a BBC like 496 ont a 454 block or something that made a lot more than what it had .
something that give a real gain .

 

I had a set of 455 Buick heads rebuilt last winter. It was $1,700 Canadian, and that didn't include any gaskets or other miscellaneous stuff. The days of rebuilding an oddball engine for under $2K are long gone.

 

GM F-bodies (Camaros and Firebirds) have a bolt on front subframe that ends just behind the firewall. That subframe bolts to the remainder of the body which is essentially unibody construction – there is no rear frame, just reinforcing channels that are welded to the floor. Could the chassis have come from a Tempest/GTO or a full-sized Pontiac?

 

hahaha, I'm a dope.

My dad use to have this little sign over the workbench when I was a kid, said something like...Make sure brain is engaged before putting mouth in gear.

Guess I wasn't fully engaged.

Of course I know how the subframe is set up on those cars, I was just thinking Firebird for some reason. Probably a GTO.

Thanks for setting me straight.

 

What! The VEGA/PINTO/MONZA! These were Milestones of the Industry. COME ON MAN! YOU KNOW THE THING...................................!

 

good on you purists, really. but let's be honest, that ain't for every body. that modern 60's stuff isn't modern anymore.

i say jerk the nail and use it in an actual hot rod. and put a stick behind it. don't get me wrong, i love nailheads more than any other vintage engine. in fact when i ever get around to building my riviera again, i'll be running a 425 with a centrifugal blower backed by a switch pitch 400. but for customers who can't work on their own stuff on the side of the road when it breaks, or DIYers who are serious about putting miles on something from the 60's with a hood, go ahead and put an actual reliable engine in it. something that you can get parts for anywhere. and frankly, even the old standby 350 is getting less ubiquitous. there are newer, better motors out there that i won't name for obvious reasons, but you know what i'm talking about. they make gobs of torque, too. i've seen too many people get sticker shock when they realize what it costs to rebuild some of these 60's engines...IF you can even find all of the parts anymore. rotted out aluminum front cover that serves as the timing cover, water pump housing, distributor housing, fuel pump mount AND oil pump? (brilliant work, caddy engineers!) good luck finding a good replacement that you can afford. with the changes in the labor market and cost of manufacturing in the last few years, odds are getting worse that you will have repro parts available in the future. if it's low volume and it isn't on the shelf now, good luck.

unless it's rare in some way, fuck it. Do Whatever. It. Takes. to keep it on the road. be a hot rodder, cut that sumbish up. just don't open the hood.

the only redeeming quality of a dynaflow was that you could get a 30 second constant rap out of the glasspacks as you roll from zero to 70.