Quick Question..

[shorty138]

I'm a newbie here but I'mve spoken to a few you you and learned a lot..1 more quick question and this is just been botheirng me..What's the difference between stock, stage 1, and stage 2.?. What engines/cars do they apply to.?.

[bob k. mando]

What's the difference between stock, stage 1, and stage 2.?. What engines/cars do they apply to.?.

http://www.stage1registry.com/stage1info.html
http://www.taperformance.com/stage2.htm

technically, the stage 1 engine was 'stock', as it was available from the factory. the stage 2 was always dealer or customer installed.

the options were all for the buick big block and were never available for the small block. so you'll never see a 'factory' or any other flavor of small block Stage engine in a GS 350, and all of the Stage engines will have 5 bolt valve covers. the buick small blocks have either 6 (the 350) or 4 (the 340 and earlier) bolt valve covers.

these engines were available from 1969-74 (the 400ci in 69, 455 for 70-74) and were almost always in a mid-size buick such as the Skylark or Le Sabre, usually with the GS option package.

of course, after 30+ years there are no 'certain' bets for which model to look for when looking for these hens teeth in a junk yard. IF you find the engine in a car.

look for two digit engine codes ending in 'S'. the first digit is a year designator and can be 'RS', 'SS', 'TS', 'WS', 'XS' or 'ZS'.