Whats diiferent between the two. I understand the bolt patterns are different for the trannys?? Anything else?
Buicks are heavier and longer. And speed parts are expensive. Even free they are no bargain. But some people will pay good bucks to be different. If you want to run a Buick there is only one word of advice I can give you, "nailhead."
....or a 455" if you want a performance engine, but yeah, parts are gonna be expensive for anything non SBC!
I've always been told Buick 350's are lighter than Chev's. but like every other engine on the planet, more expensive to build
FRom what I've seen a stock Buik 350 will wax a stock Chevy 350 my buddy had one in an old Skylark It was the baddest stock engine I've ever come across.
the main difference is the block. The heads are different. The front timing cover houses the oil pump, distributor, water pump, & fuel pump. They are sweet runners. I had a 72 lark convertible. I wish I still had that sucker.
They both originally use Rochester carbs and the air cleaners might swap. The alternators might swap. Some of the sensors might swap. If you change the gear out, the distributor may swap. The intake serves as a valley cover on both motors. They both use the same types of transmission, but the cases have different bolt patterns. A Buick 350 has a rocker shaft like a 235 Chevy 6, the heads are completely different; the bottom end is supposed to be stouter. The distributor is in the front and so is the oil filter. They're an outgrowth of the 330-CI replacement for the 215 aluminum motors, I think, I know the 66-67 version is a 340 and the 68-81 is a 350. They're so different you could be asking what the difference is between Rosie O'Donnel and Paris Hilton. Which is like night, and gay. But anyways.
Fat Hack did a tech write up on the small block Buick http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4658
A buick 350 is much like a Pontiac 350, as they are essentially a wide block. Also if you look at the head exhaust ports the two center ones are very close together. I have a 1969 Buick 350 in my truck, and can't wait to drive it as it is rated at like 365 ft lbs of torque. I should be smokin' the tires for blocks!
Fat Hacks write up on them is great. Yeah they are different and speed parts are not cheap, but you can run one very mild with the proper gearing and get killer performance. My wife has one in her Skylark convertible and it'll smoke the tires with ease. the crazy thing is it'll consistantly average 18mpg and about 22 on the road with the 2:73 rear gears If I was building a custom and had the chance to grab one I'd do it in a minute. Bill
The different divisions of General Motors each had their own engineering teams, They each designed an engine that totaled around 350 cubic inches. They went about that task in their own way.
They're really not a bad engine, they just suffer from speed parts availability. Intake-wise, all that fits a Buick 350 is a Buick 350. Other than that, if you can live with a nonadjustable valvetrain, I wouldn't hesitate to use one. As another poster mentioned, they make good torque. A friend had a '71 Skylark in the late '70s, and even with stock light rear end gearing, it would fry the tires for as long as you wanted to keep your foot to the floor.
Right....when Buick resurrected the V6 in '75, they increased the bore by .050 so that they could use the existing 350 pistons in it.
The small Buick (215, 300, 340, 350) has closer bore spacing than any other SB engine at 4.24" (except the Ford 4.6), but the deck is about 1" taller than a SBC.
Curious though... Will a torque converter from a Chevy turbo 350 work in a Buick 350 transmission? As the transmissions obviously have a different bolt up pattern to the engine block. I'd love to buy a stall for my turbo 350 on my Buick, and if GM stalls are GM stalls that means I can pick one up for cheap.
Yes it will. The bolt pattern for the BOP is different than the Chevrolet. All the other parts should work. I would avoid getting an adapter kit and get a BOP pattern TH350 from the junkyard and rebuild that or just swap cases.
A Pontiac is a Pontiac is a Pontiac. From the 1955 287 to the last 1981 301, all use the same basic block, with running changes through the years. Even the 4-cyl Tempest motor used in 1961-63 is a derivative of the Pontiac V8 with one cylinder bank lopped off. Some of the larger CI Pontiacs have smaller crank journals, and the 1958 and older motors also have different journal sizes. Only the 301 is much different from the others (deck height, thin-wall casting) and even then the distributor, oil pan and front cover will swap to other Pontiac blocks. A 350 Pontiac is the same physical size as a 400 or 455, and they're not much different size-wise than a Chevy small block. About the only things a Buick 350 and a Pontiac 350 have in common are the same things as with a Chevy - carbs, electrical gear, and so on - and they share the trans bolt pattern. But it is easier to find performance stuff for the Pontiac motor, since most of the things that will fit a 389/400 or even a 455 (1965-1977 motors) will fit on the 350.
should be pretty easy here, but not so easy there... http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1017953,pgname,Engine
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