My dad purchased a 1964 Buick LeSabre back in 2007. He passed away from lung cancer on August 18, 2011. I got his car out the day after he passed and cleaned it up. It had been sitting for 2+ years while he was sick. There isn't a whole lot of documentation on the car so I started to dig around. I'm now more puzzled than ever on what exactly I have. The VIN comes back as a 1964 LeSabre that was built in South Gate, CA then the rest is the sequential serial#. That doesn't help me with the engine and transmission or other options on the car. This is where my battle began. When my dad got the car, it had the "310 Wildcat" sticker on the air cleaner. It is a stock 4bbl intake and had the correct 4bbl Rochester carb on it. From my reading that would make this a 325, not a 310. The transmission is a 3 speed and not a 2 speed. My dad and I were under the impression that everything on the car was stock. Now I don't know what to think. Any help from fellow motorheads that can straighten this out for me?
I believe that was when Buick named their engines on the torque rating, so the 310 is how many ft. lbs. of torque it produced. I think it is a 300cu inch engine.
"tobeck": Please put your name in your signature, we are all here on a friendly first name base :TU: And don't forget to introduce yourself (and your Buick) in the Wet behind the ears?? section of the board :Smarty: The 310 Wildcat is a 300 CI small block with a 2 barrel carburettor. There was no "Wildcat 325" engine, maybe you mean the "Wildcat 355" (4 barrel 300 CI) ? Look for the engine numbers on the block to make sure that it is at least a 300 engine :TU:
the 64 300 ci engine came with alluminum heads and intake the 2 bbl was the 310 wildcat the 4 bbl was the 355 wildcat it is possible the breather was changed or that someone added the 4bbl intake and carb the 310 was a low compression engine the 355 was the high compression engine i am not sure about the trans but in 64 they came out with the st400 it was a 3 speed trans but most shifters were carried over from the previous year and only showed drive and low(2 speed)one year only hope this helped scott ---------- Post added at 08:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:17 AM ---------- i found this information also Under the hood, the 401-cubic-inch V8 was replaced in LeSabre sedans and coupes by a smaller 300-cubic-inch V8 designed for the upsized Special/Skylark intermediates that replaced the aluminum V8 in those vehicles. In standard form, the 300 was rated at 210 horsepower with two-barrel carburetor and 9 to 1 compression ratio for use of regular fuel. Optionally available was a 250-horsepower version of the same engine with four-barrel carburetor and higher 11 to 1 compression ratio mandating the use of premium fuel. The LeSabre Estate Wagon came standard with the larger 325-horsepower 401 V8 from the Wildcat and Electra 225 models. Replacing the old Dynaflow-based two-speed automatic transmission were two new Super Turbine automatics. The two-speed Super Turbine 300 (shared with the intermediate-sized cars) was available with the standard two-barrel 300 V8 while the three-speed Super Turbine 400 (shared with other big Buicks and Rivieras) was standard with the 300 four-barrel and optional with the standard engine as well as the 401 in the Estate Wagon. The standard transmission with the base 300 two-barrel V8 was a three-speed column shift manual and a four-speed manual was available as an option with either engine. The new ST300 transmission carried over the variable pitch torque converter from the Dynaflow that had been used since the mid-1950s, while the first year for the ST400 featured a fixed-pitch converter. so according to this the 3 speed trans was standard with the high compression 4 bbl engine scott
