A buddy has a buick 215 aluminum mill.Were thinkin of pickin it up for one of the model A's were buildin at my shop.Does anyone know what bellhousin will fit?Like a 322 or 364?Or is it a strange one?Same as the flywheel,is it the same.Any info would be kewl.Thanx guys.......Shiny
Is it the same as the Rover engine we have over here? Do a search for rover and buick in the search engines and see what turns up. If it's not I'm dumb.
Parts for the 215 do not interchange with Nailhead stuff (264,322,364,401,425). The 215, 300, & 340 engines were in the same series, so most of that stuff should interchange. But the 300 & 340 weren't aluminum like the 215. And yes Ant, Rover purchased the design from Buick.
The 215ci was used also in jeeps "Kaiser's Dauntless V-6" as well I'm thinking 1963 to 1972. It was a odd fire engine with a counter balance flywheel. Great running motor and some speed parts are around.. The motor later became the buick 231 and shed its alum block. Parts do not interchange!!
So many horrible british looking rods are built with Rover/Buick engines it's put me off using one. Buick sounds so much better than Rover though
I used to have a 215. You lost me with the whole Dauntless V6 thing...but I sold the 215 before I got too deep into it. I do know you can swap heads from a 300 (Wildcat?) for better breathing. The heads are alum. and supposed to be a straight bolt on. Also heard the entire front end of the later V6 is the same - so timimg cover, water pump, and all of those bits interchange. They basically chopped off the two rearmost cylinders and recast the block. I've got a wad of paper with 215 info on it. I'll dig it out and give it to you raven. Off the top of my head I remember a swap with Chev. 6 cylinder pisons that raises the compression and greatly reduces rotating wieght...but you probably don't have any of that old six cylinder stuff laying around.
continentaljohn: I think he's talking about the aluminum V-8 they call teh "baby Nailhead". even though parts don't interchange, sounds like your talking V-6 More info can be found on ths thread from v8buick http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=191541#post191541
This may be of use and or interest http://www.aluminumv8.com and... The hot setup to use in this case is to swap the heads for those on a 1964 Buick 300, which is the same basic engine with a cast iron block and a displacement bump. The 300 heads are still aluminum, however, and will bolt to the 215 block. It is possible to drop the crank and heads from the 300 onto a 215 short block and get a 5.0 liter all aluminum V-8 that weighs about 310 lbs fully dressed. and The main problem is that the 215 uses a unique transmission bolt pattern, which is unlike than on any other GM engine. ***uming that your car has an automatic, any engine swap will require a matching transmission as well. This is not the case with the 4-spd, where you will only require the correct bellhousing.
The 300 and 340 have a different bell housing pattern than the 215 so none of that stuff interchanges. It's also different than the V6 used in Jeeps. Rover is the only interchange. Castlemaine rod shop makes adapter bells to fit it. http://www.rodshop.com.au/
Haha, let me know when you find a truck. I'll dig out the 215 info tonight. I've got printouts of a HOT ROD article where you can modify the engine to get 300hp from 300 cu in and it doesn't wiegh much more than 300 lbs. All of the stuff is still available to do it too. I never spent time tracking down a solution to the bellhousing problem. I seem to remember it being said that the factory stick housings were weak and easily cracked...don't quote me on that though. Just something to think about before you drop money on a used bellhousing.
sean you should go down to bristol motors on chatham st. talk to mat he has built a million of those motors. internally the buick is weeker than the rover. rover bought the motor and beefed up the block by adding an extea main journol. mat may have a british 4 speed trans or parts or no of some.
If you realy want to know about these engines go to yahoo.com and punch in tvr power.These guys are the end when it comes to making these motors go.i.e.320 hp, 167mph in the tvr griffith.the gearbox is the borg warner t5 and they have their own bell housing.The rover engine is much maligned by people over here much the same as the small block chev seems to be in the U/S i.e not exotic enough for some peole I guess.Years ago, me and my brother litrally picked up a cut out Rover V8 plus auto trans and all ancillaries and put it in the back of my van...try that with a Chev or the like.Tvr is right here in town and at least six of my hot rod buddies work there.If you require any specific info regarding parts feel free to E mail me.
Reefer, How can we email you when there is no address in your profile? I'm interested in a manual bell housing. r
Damn good info here.As usual,the HAMB frickin rules! Bri,thanx for the info bout Mat. Grimlok,you got the dates of that hotrod article? ........Shiny
also a shop in Michigan if I remember... called D&D fabriacations... makes and sells tons of **** for 215s and his catolog has a ton of great technical info in it. If you look at 215 stuff on ebay, most of it is either being bought or sold by Dan of D&D.
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