My buddy picked up his first old car and now he's starting to tear in to it. The guy he got it from told him it was a buick engine but I think he's full of shit. It looks like a 350 so now that we're getting ready to go through it we need to know what exactly it is. It's supposed to be a 78 buick motor, the only numbers my friend could find were 550355. I appreciate any help I can get. Thank you.
Buick offered five V-8 engines in 1978. Two of them were Chevrolet engines (305 with 3.74 bore and 3.48 stroke and 350 with 4.00 bore and 3.48 stroke). They also offered a 301 (4.00 bore X 3.00 stroke), a 350 (3.80 X 3.85) and a 401 (4.35 X 3.38). The engine could very well be a Chevy 350, but the guy your friend bought the car from may know it came out of a 78 Buick, and not know that Buick used Chevy engines in some of their cars. If you could post a picture, it would make it easy to identify.
Of Chevy, Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac, Buick was the only engine with a front mounted distributor.
The dist was in the back and it was looking like a 350. I will have him send me some pics. I'm not really and engin I.D. guy so I appreciate it guys. I'll get some pics.
Good tip. Also, easy to spot, Pontiac dizzy goes directly into the block. Chevy goes through the intake. Most Pontiacs have the CID cast into the front side of the block on the driver side.
Here's some pictures of this pile. I'm thinking pontiac but will ave to go look at it my self to check for the peices you guys explained to me.
It's definitely an Olds of some sort. Pontiacs took oil through a hole in the valve cover. Olds is the only GM V8 that had an oil fill tube sticking straight up out of the front.
I agree with Heathen. It's an Oldsmobile. Buick used them in '78, could be a 350 or a 403 (which was still considered a small block in spite of it's displacement). The Pontiacs had the fuel pump down low on the driver side; Olds was on the passenger side, up high. Pontiac also did not have the connector between the thermostat housing and the water pump. Buick distributor is in front, as someone already mentioned. When you tear it down, measure the bore. If it's 4.06, you have a 350 Olds; if it's 4.35, you have a 403.
didn't buick also stamp the size of the engine at the back of the block right behind the intake think for some reason they were the only ones Al looking at it tho think it's an olds engine
it's an olds, the oil filler is a dead giveaway....along with the bypass hose at the thermostat housing, the shape of the valve covers, the shape of the ends of the heads, the fuel pump location, the alternator bracket, etc. It's narrow so it is probably a 260/307/350, not the big one.
Olds big blocks had a 10.625" deck height and included 400, 425, & 455 engines. Olds small blocks had a 9.330 deck height and included 260, 303, 307, 324, 330, 350, 371, 394, & 403 engines. All of them have 4.625" bore centers.
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