Would an early 70's olds rocket 350 be a suitable engine for a 65 Buick Skylark? I would like to put a turbo350 transmission in as well. Is this close to a "bolt in"? I have seen the later Buick motors in these cars.
where did the engine that was in it go? That is the most suitable, and is going to be the easiest as well. Or do your own Gran Sport and put a 401 Nailhead in there. Not saying that the Olds is not a good engine, it is. Just that it'll nickel and dime you putting it in there. Not knocking your idea. But the V6 was a peppy little engine and got decent mileage as well, it can also be replaced with a later V6 as well for more power. And I'd go with a 200-4R instead of the TH350, get yourself a little overdrive for highway cruising.
The original v8 is in the car. I believe its a 300. It says "355" on the air cleaner. Backed by a Powerglide. I have a nice running 350 Olds that I am looking to put into something. Thanks zman!
If you knew had access to an Olds Cutlass or F-85 that you could rob motor mounts and other stuff off of,it should be a breeze. They use the same cassis,at least to '68,I think. Otherwise it's probably time to fire up the welder.
Well the 300 should be a standard BOP bellhousing pattern, so if you were looking for a transmission upgrade that's easy. If the 300 is a good running engine I'd probably just do a 200-4R swap into it. Maybe save the Olds motor for a Hot Rod. The "355" on the air cleaner refers to the torque rating.
If the engine matches the "355" on the air cleaner lid, it's a 4 bbl engine with 11:1 compression (factory rating, anyway), and is a fairly rare piece.
Awesome guys. Using your input, I think I will stick with the original Buick 300. I had a Cutlass with the 350 and always liked the performance, economy of that car.
These are great engines and cars. I got one for a dailey driver and its got Damn near 300 thousand on the clock. I put a th350 in it with a 74 camaro shifter. I get about 14-15 mpg. after I put a 500 cfm Edelbrock on it. The Rochester 4g was just awfull. Try finding a carb kit and floats for it.
May I suggest you make your way over to www.v8buick.com, and click on the small block forum over there. Those guys take their SBB's seriously! The 4V intake on the 300, along with the 11:1 pistons make that engine very desirable. Tho you might want to look into converting the carb so you can use E-85 in it. It'll make the high compression much more livable. Be advised tho that your also going to have to replace ALL the fuel lines to use E in that car... Probably a good idea to do that anyway. If you do choose to swap it out, a later 231 V6, or a 350 buick V8 is a bolt in. There's an amazing amount of versatility and power to be had in the 350 SBB. Do a little research on it. Also, take very serious the suggestions that you toss that powerglide into a lake, and upgrade to a 200R4... For lack of a better way of explaining it, going from a PG to a 200 is like adding 50 horsepower and getting 20% better mileage. Well worth the time and investment.
It should be the aluminum headed engine if I recall. They used the aluminum heads one year in the 300 series engine. That would be the one to have you can run higher compression on pump gas. The '70s Olds engine unless it is the monster would be 350 cubes. They were a good engine but not something to aspire to. The little buick would be the engine of the two to own. None to be had here either never has been any. It will be getting even harder to find now that the Fed has cut the subsidy to it manufacture.
Not here either. I had my '88 TurboCoupe running on it for about a year. I really liked being able to give it more timing and boost, but I had to drive about 20 miles round trip to get it.
you didn't say if the buick was in running order. so to answer your question, the olds swap should be easy. if i had a running olds i would use it over the cost of the rebuild on the buick
Fair enough... There's been a HUGE push here in the Louisville area to E-85. Seems like every other station on the block has a big yellow sign advertising E. And I drive a truck cross country... I've seen it popping up more and more out there. Dont be surprised if Ethanol shows up in your home town next. I still stand behind my assertion that it's worth investigating if you plan to drive a high compression vintage engine on the street. Sorry for going off topic
I think you are close enough to on topic myself. I think that ethyl alcohol is less caustic than methyl alcohol although I would prefer methenol myself. it burns better and you don't make it out of food.
I've been waiting for it for about 6 years... have plans for when it arrives. You mean feed corn is food, well for animals it is, but not for us.
I wouldn't hold my breath. They have been trying to do the ethanol thing since the '70s that I know of maybe before that. Every time the Govt drops its subsidy it falls by the way side. Methanol is made from wood, saw dust if free, ethanol is made from corn a cash crop. Which one makes more sense. The only good thing about ethanol is that if you don't want to burn it in your heap it is good to drink.
Actually you got that a little twisted. Ethanol can be made from lots of different things, pretty much any biomass.. It is NOT made from corn only, it's just that the corn lobby had their way and that is the direction that was pushed. Switch grass and sugar cane are about the best, though any bio mass can be used at this point with the right enzymes. Grass clippings, tree leaves, trash, you name it. Just saying.... And for the record every crop is a cash crop, that's why they grow them.
Just to get this thread back on topic and to correct some mis-information... The GM intermediates used the same frames from 1964-1967. All are drilled for all the motor mounts for the various division's motors. The Buick motor uses the same BOP bellhousing bolt pattern as all GM non-Chevy V8s. The 1964 Buick 300 was the only one with aluminum heads. The 65-66 motors used iron heads. The Olds is a bolt in if you use the correct frame mounts and motor mounts. The frame mounts from any 1964-68 Cutlass/442 (with any Olds V8) or any 1969-72 Cutlass with a 350 will bolt to your frame. Use Anchor P/N 2261 motor mounts with these frame mounts. The original trans in that Buick is NOT a Powerglide. It's a Super Turbine 300. Other than having two speeds, it has NOTHING in common with the Powerglide. It was also used by Olds and Pontiac. The Buick version has a switch-pitch torque converter. The TH350 will bolt in place of the ST300. Assuming you have a short-tail TH350, even the driveshaft remains the same. You will need to fabricate a bracket to hook up the kickdown cable.
Except those that don't... There are plenty of GM V-8's that aren't BOP. They were all BOP by I believe 67 though...
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