Whilst on another junkyard date with my fiancé, I stumbled upon a Ford F1 with a peculiar v8 swapped in that I couldn't identify. The lady examined the block, and found it to be aluminum. Yall, we found a Buick 215 v8.
The 215 aluminum brock was used in the Buick Special in 1961. I think Pontiac & Oldsmobile both used the aluminum V8 from 1961 -1963. HRP
Depending on how much they want for it, I'll get it just to have. These are pretty rare these days I'm sure.
The valve covers are Olds. The Buick version looked more like a nailhead. Subtle differences, most guy don't even know they are two different engines.
The Olds version used their own heads whereas Buick had their own that looked nailhead like. Short blocks are the same although the pistons may be specific to the heads used.
I ended up with around seven of the 215's by buying C list piles for a couple hundred dollars. I assembled one runner so far and working on another that will be a 300 cu in using a 300 crank. Plus a Rover which started as a 215 cu in but grew to 300cu in plus in England. It is a neat little engine and fit the Ruby which is what prompted the accumulation.
We went to another junkyard and things only got crazier. I quite literally fell to my knees before this automotive royalty.
had a friend of a friend who hated American cars. he bought a new Rover with the Buick motor. he had no idea until I mentioned it, but I made sure to point it out every time I could so he would remember. his only American car he ever owned was a Vega, maybe he should have put a 215 in it.
2 door version of one just 5 miles south of me. About the same shape. Sitting way down in the dirt. Pretty sure whole botton is bout gone. A 48 convertible just 3 miles south of that. Not for sale. (Uncle was murdered in it in the early 50's. )
No offense to your friend, but if someone picked a Vega as the only American car they'd buy, there's nothing I can call them other than an idiot.
If that's the order it happened in it makes sense, but the mental image I got was of someone refusing to buy American cars for decades, and then finally settling on a Vega.
Mickey Thompson attempted to qualify a 215 Buick engine and a 215 Oldsmobile engine in his rear-mounted engine cars, at The Indianapolis 500. *Neither "Qualified"
Back in the 60s, Repco-Brabham sohc V8 formula 1 engines were based on the Buick-Oldsmobile aluminum block, however they were much modified and that was the only part of the engine used for the F1 engine. The heads were 2-valve sohc crossflow, the crankshaft was EN40 billet steel, and single plane. One of the most unique features was the dry sump system, which used a two stage pump, and the oil pan/sump was cast with a passage that was the oil pickup for the sump. There was a shuttle valve system that moved front to back under braking or acceleration that opened the appropriate port in the pan for where the oil would be. Only using one return pump section saved them a few horsepower. It was also successful, winning the title in its first year of racing.
Buddy of mine in his Vega going down the highway. Think the guy next to us is yelling you have a flat tire, what he really said was the car's on fire. Common for the Vega.
The Jalopy Journal
