i picked up a sbb that the guy tells me is a 350 . but then he said he pulled it out of a mid 80's car . as far as i know the 350 wasn't used in the mid 80's . i've looked high and low for block # and the one i've found is on the front right side . its 25L102273 . the intake number is B1249167-1 . the motor is blue . intake 2bbl . i'm having a tough time finding a list of id # for the sbb . can anyone tell me anything about this motor from these #'s . i want to be sure its a 350 before i drop it in my '55 .
how about some pictures? The 350 buick is a unique engine, we should be able to tell just looking at it whether or not that's what it is. The 340 looks like the older engines, the 400-430-455 are quite a bit larger, but look similar to the 350. The partial VIN 25L....indicates it's an engine from a Pontiac from 1975, built in Los Angeles. The intake casting number looks right for a Buick 350 but pictures...yeah, they tell us everything.
@cooter1 What @squirrel said…. PICS! I have had both 340 and 350 Buicks….good engines and light weight. Ray
really the big block buford is not that much bigger then the 350 which is a big block compared to the chevy and ford small blocks. hope this helps, and the last 350 buicks used was 81. https://www.teambuick.com/reference/casting_numbers_350.php https://www.teambuick.com/reference/ident_engine_where.php
External oil pump and 6 bolt valve covers . And blue paint suggest its a late 70’s buick motor. Likely 350.
Thanks guys. What would u suggest i do to it. New oil pump im told is a good idea. And i assume a better cam. Being late 70’s its probably neutered.
What to do to it, depends on what you want to do with it. How long do you want it to last? how much power do you want out of it? Is it really the engine you want? Do you have a transmission that will fit it? how much money do you have to spend on it? I can come up with a lot of questions, but no answers yet...until you answer the questions. (you might want to inspect the oil pump, and the cam, and some other stuff, but you can spend a lot of money fixing stuff that ain't broke, and still not fix the things that are broke)
its going into a 55 buick in front of a turbo 350 and a 3/56 ??i think, rear end . i just want descent power out of it . not massive , i won't be racing it . i don't like wasting money but i'll spend it if its worthwhile . i'm on the hunt for a 200 tranny for the overdrive , but will run the t350 if i can't find the other with the right bolt pattern .
I'd probably want to get it running and see how it sounds, how much it smokes, run a compression test, etc. first. You could dive in and overhaul it, but that can get expensive if it needs a lot.
Worked for Buick. The 350 had 3 weak points to keep an eye on. Head gaskets, harmonic balancer separation, and oil pumps in that order. Good luck finding a new harmonic balancer unless the aftermarket has started making them.
350 no dip between the center exhaust ports. want to make power , hope you have deep pockets. t/a performance for most and a few cam companies is about it on the 350. by the way i sent you a pm. http://www.taperformance.com/
The 2004r transmissions came with dual bell patterns, one pattern for Chevy, one is BOP, which is what the Buick 350 engine is. Also, what are your plans for the rear suspension, since you are probably going to replace the torque tube driveshaft? A couple of ways to go: 1960-72 Chevy trailing arm suspension, easy to install. 4 link triangulated. And another weird one is to install a suspension like I had in my 78 Skyhawk. It had a torque arm from rear end up to crossmember. Kind of like a torque tube, but an open driveshaft. The torque arm ran alongside the open driveshaft. Worked well.
I had one a few years older than that with a point style distributor in my 51 Merc in the early 80's because it and the 350 trans behind it came free from a buddy. I can't remember the exact reason that I pulled it out now. It ran the car down the highway at 70 all day long though. They aren't "Hot rod" motors and to me aren't worth spending a lot of money on except to do a standard rebuild but they are reasonably reliable. The big rub for me was that oil filter and oil pump wanted to be right where my crossmember was. You may have a battle on your hands there and you may be looking at a remote oil filter setup there. As the others said you are going to have to do a rear axle and suspension swap to run the open drive trans. There is no way around that. I'd get that part figured out before doing the engine-trans swap. A 5 on 5 rear axle that fits under the car right might be an issue. The 55 Pontiac or Olds rears are getting real hard to find and probably spendy from the guys who think they are the holy grail of hot rod rears. 77/84 caprices and Super 88 Olds and maybe some same year full size buicks "could have" a 5 lug rear that might be close enough to the Correct Wms to wms that you need (note the 2 barrel cars had a 5 on 4-3/4 bolt patten but it might be prudent to measure the wms to wms on the 55 before you start looking and know exactly what width you are looking at. one of those rears would mean cutting a lot of scabs off the rear axlee though. As far as actual later Buick engine ID you will have to snoop on Buick only sites. They have never been a popular engine swap engine for any appplicaton and there is little info on them outside of Buick groups. Then you may not find much as Brand and model specific guys for later models don't seem to know a lot except the minute details of performance models.
https://www.teambuick.com/#buick_350 https://www.teambuick.com/reference/index.php#engine_ident https://www.buickheritagealliance.org/index.php/restoration/identify/locate_numbers If you can locate the engine number stamped into the block you can determine the origins
Seeing how that is a metallic blue engine with hei it has to be 74-76. 77 and up would have been light blue.
Something about that motor is either non obtainable or cost prohibitive , wish my memory was better ... Guy here in town talked about rebuilding his & after some research said it simply wasn't worth the effort ?!
Good balancers are hard to impossible to find. The ring would separate and before you could catch it the engine would spit a rod out. They were kind of ballsy though.
you can get the damper rebuilt now...but yeah, that's a good indication that it's not a cheap engine to rebuild. That's why I suggested first getting it running and see what condition it's in, see if it's worth messing with. https://damperdoctor.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=316
I'm not familiar with smog Buick 350s, but I had a '69 Jeep pickup with a (factory) Buick 350, and it had a LOT of torque. Had a Turbo 400 in it... good combination! The Buick 350 has more torque and is lighter than a run-of-the-mill 350SBC. I like 'em!
lots of good info . i have a pontiac rear end that will work . and ill do a 2 link or 4 link . ill decide at the time . i have chevy motors but somehow feel like the buick should have a buick mill . but i can change my mind pretty easy if its going to be costly .
If you're going to go to all the trouble to put a Buick engine in it, then go all out and do up a nailhead...or a big one (like a 430)
@squirrel is spot on, see if it runs, check compression and is healthy. If it's a decent runner it will make a good driver. If you have to tear into buick 350 or rebuild, it gets expensive quickly. From what's shown in pics the balancer rubber ring is intact and not cracked, up close may be different story. Was pretty common to pull a 70's engine from a rusted car and drop into early mid 80's intermediate g body to replace the crappy v6's. Olds, pontiac, Buick 350 400 455 were readily available during the late 80's.
As far as being something other than a SBC, would an Olds 350 or 403 be worth considering? Or would they have their own fitment issues in a mid 50s Buick?
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