I'm looking for a buick 350 for a swap I will be doing. My question is what year should I be looking. This will be for a cruiser/st car. I got a lead on a 68 and a 72 engine. What will ethanol gas do to both engine. Thanks so much
I have a 72 GS 350 and I can only speak for this year but it runs good. There are very minor things you can do to get better performance to it. In stock configuration with total advance timing bumped to 31-32* I can do 15.5 in 1/4 mile. That may not seem like much to most but its respectable for what it is. Depending on gearing and headers with a TA performance intake and good carb the 350 is capable of low 14s. drop in a over stock cam and get more. Thats my two cents. Good luck!
All GM cars were built for unleaded gas starting in 1970 so the 1972 should have better heads with hardened valve seats, on the other hand will be detuned more for smog control meaning the 68 has more HP and better mileage. If you are planning to go thru the engine, and everything else is equal the 72 might be the better choice.
Thanks you guys so much. So glad anyone responded lol. I'm looking for something reliable like your 72 stangman. But, I will be doing a rebuild. Rusty 0'tool, thanks for your advice as Well. You guys take care and keep that rubber burning!!!
Watch your compression, varies by year, learn what heads to look for. A lot of the smog detuning came from cam and ignition, so if you're willing to swap those and recurve the distributor I'd say you can wake one up.
Thank you indyjps. Good info. Just what I needed. How does one know, besides on a spec sheet for example what an engines compression ratio? Is a there a formula?? Thank you
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