I'm thinking of what to do for a power plant for the '33 Buick 4 door project. I've got that 348, but I'm not sure if I want to put that in this one or not. So is anyone building straight 8s these days? What is the performance potential on these? Inherent problems? I'd like it to be a little souped up and I think I'd like to run fuel injection on it. And back it up with a 6 spd manual. Is this even feasible? I've really no experience or knowledge of these motors so any help or links would be greatly appreciated. Another question, this thing might have the original front axle in it. Does anyone know if there are parts available for these? Thanks! Comments, questions, advice and great blues recommendations are always welcome!
My car's got the origional straight 8 in it. I seriously doubt it has ever been rebuilt in it's 52 year existance, and except for the fact that it leaks oil and has "more blow by then a semi truck", (to quote my husband), it runs like a champ. Join some inline message boards, they can point you in the right direction for hop up type stuff.
Don't know much about Buick straight eights,but I've seen a couple powering old sawmills which would indicate that they make a bunch of torque. Also remember looking over an old Buick ambulance in a Connecticut scrapyard years ago with factory dual carbs-Very Cool!
My 263 runs great...even better the more I drive it. I've got too much carb on it right now, but it does excellent at higher cruising speeds (80-90 mph). Performance? Hahaha, you can shave the head and get a little bit more compression (maybe up into the 7.0:1 range!), put a two carb intake on it, make a header...and it'll still be slow. Don't go straight 8 if you're looking to build a fast car.
I had totally forgotten about inliners international. That's probably a good place to start. Thanks for reminding me Kristy! Weld, I think the dual carb manifolds would be a must. And I'd like to do fuel injection too, so no idea how that would work out. Fat Hack mentioned the flathead Pontiac 8 as being a very reliable motor, so maybe that would be an option too. I do love flatties!
Sweet running engines. May not be fast,but lots of power. I do have a factory dual carbs and cast iron headers with progressive linkage from a 41.
Yeah, I guess I'd better think how fast I'd like this thing to be. With gas above $2 a gallon, I'm getting concerned about even being able to drive it! What kind of gas mileage do these old straight 8s get? Under 10? Crestliner, if I go this route I might be interested in your carb setup and exhaust. I'll definitely keep it in mind!
Mine gets about 10 mpg city with the two 94s jetted small, and about 15 mpg highway. It's in a big heavy assed '53 Buick, so you may get better in a lighter car. As far as reliability goes, I've owned two, one of them I drove from Houston to Las Vegas without a hitch and it was my daily driver there. Ran great although the Dynaflow had no reverse. My current one I would drive anywhere. And it backs up! I want to build a T-touring with a Buick 8 in it one day, just for the hell of it.
Found this; it is an ancient article and might not be any good now-a-days. But it is still a good read. http://www.buicks.net/racing/l8_performance.html
Duesenberg, Miller, Alfa Romeo and Bugatti all made overhead cam straight 8's, many of them supercharged, and were the performance cars of their day(s). Packard, Olds, Pontiac, Hudson and Chrysler all made flathead 8's, but I think only the Packards were considered to be fast cars (Hudson went faster with 6's). I think Buick's OHV straight 8 was a pretty uncommon layout. The factory Century models, with the biggest displacement engine in the smaller body, were very fast cars. A warmed-over '37 Century coupe that I remember used to turn over 90 at the San Fernando drags, and was street driven. It used 6 carbs on a log manifold! I believe it's possible to build a powerful Buick for your '33, and it would certainly be distinctive. Other than the '41 2-carb manifold, though, you won't find off-the-shelf speed equipment for it. Seems to me that there's still at least one team running a Buick straight 8 in a Deuce 5-window at El Mirage. Anybody on the board familiar with this car? And Ed Hegarty, in the bay area, has (or had) a buddy who built hot Buicks. He might be able to share some speed secrets.
Y.H.' The Buick staight 8's Had a reputation as an extremely reliable and long lasting engine. Not a real quick reving mill but loaded with torque. In the 30's GMC trucks ran Buick staight 8's and the old Flxable buses ran them too. A year or two ago at the Portland Roadster show there was a Bonneville roadster that ran a Buick that set many records that lasted for years ( may still stand). They manufactured the straight 8's thru 53 of various sizes. With all that torque and in a light car I would think you could run a pretty high rear end ratio and still get off the line pretty well and get reasonable milage.I'm talking a driver here, not a drag racer. FWIW, I've always heard that the Pontiac straight 8's were pretty wimpy and wouldn't stan any abuse. Ted
Hey CC, thanks for the article. Very informative and interesting. Especially since I'm just learning about the straight 8s. 50Fraud, thanks for the info. I'd love to get one of those exotic 8s but the chances of my finding one are probably almost as slim as me being able to afford one! But it sure would be cool to run a Duesy! I'm thinking that with about 7.5:1 being about as high compression as the old Buick 8s will go (I would probably use an OHV) the way to go might be multiport fuel injection with a centrifigal supercharger. Or maybe even turbo. Lots of custom manifolding to do with this setup. I was basically thinking the headers would have to be custom too. I wonder what an eight into 4 system would sound like with open pipes? This engine sounds like it's going to be a huge project besides requiring cubic $$ so maybe I'll have to run the 348 while I build up the 8. I really think this car should have a straight 8 in it, though. It just seems like the right thing.
Wow, I didn't know that GMC used Buick 8s in their trucks, that's kinda cool. And another place to look for them in the junkyards too. As for being easy to find, I've run across 2 or 3 in classifieds recently. Maybe even the Hamb classifieds, I can't remember. There's one in the Cruzin News for $650 that's fairly closeby but that seems a little steep. It says it's a 'runner' so I'm assuming it's a 'POS' and in need of a complete rebuild. I'm continually amazed at what people think of as good parts when they are trying to sell.
[ QUOTE ] Mine gets about 10 mpg city with the two 94s jetted small, and about 15 mpg highway. It's in a big heavy assed '53 Buick, so you may get better in a lighter car.(snip) ________________________________________________________ My father often told of working in a gas station in the mid '30s. He said big Buicks (probably late '20s models)would come in and if the owner left it idling while being filled he could actually see the gas dropping in the filler neck after he shut off the nozzle. Fortunately gas wasn't $2 per gallon then.
Hey 3bytheknee, that gas story sounds rather scary! Especially with current gas prices. Are there any cool hot rod happenings in the Sonora area, besides Tues evenings at the Junction in the summer? I'd like to meet some of the local rod crowd this summer I think. I live at Cherry Lake so it's a bit of a commitment to run into town after work, but Sonora is the closest town! Where do you run your train, Tuolumne City? I've seen that small gauge track out there that crosses Tuolumne Rd. Nice rigs!
I get 15 MPG and a good amount of torque. Unfortunatly my Buick weighs like 4000= lbs and is slow as a slug. But it is super smooth power and it loves the highway. Besides that is is just cooler than conformity....
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