That kind of bickering drives people away. Not a very gentlemanly thing to do. Sure we all have our brand loyalties, but I think that in the interest of Hot-Rodding, nothing is truly sacred. You use what you need to get to your goals. Technically, the LSX engines are not strictly Chevrolet, as they are put in every GM line (even Buick). I do wish Buick still made their own stuff, but these are the times we live in.
After reading the last few comments this came to mind: People who live in glass houses should not be throwing stones. And also, Some people need to sweep off their front step first. Just saying! Keith
The LS is the SBC of the 2000's.. cheap, readily available and great speed part support. Regardless of the technicalities of the GM usage, there can be no argument that this motor was created to replace the latest version of the pushrod SBC which was introduced in 1955. As such, it's wide application has created junkyards full of them, and has spawned an entire aftermarket of it's own.. Exactly like the SBC did in the 60's thru the 80's. To build a serious one, they are expensive, just as any engine is, but most of these swaps have a junkyard shortblock or complete engine. Already, when I go to car shows, if it has an LS in it, regardless of the make of car, I don't think it's interesting.. the latest bellybutton.. But it's your car, put what you want in it, but if you come on V8BUICK.COM, and expect a lot of love for it.. well, good luck with that.. JW
I certainly wasn't expecting any love with my original post. Actually, I'm surprised it took nearly 5 months for the first "this is a Buick site" rant. I guess winter is over in the Ozarks and 72Stage1 is cranky after his long hibernation. Must have insomnia too considering he's on this forum at 2:35 am. If that's not the definition of trolling. Same for Cadillac Ronnie. I started this thread to point out, for anyone interested, that I used certain parts in the swap and they worked perfectly and fit like a glove. I certainly will not bash Buick on this site or any other. The 455 I had was great. Loved that motor. But I was ready to upgrade and it made sense, both economically and time consideration, to pull the trigger on an LS crate motor. I ordered the motor and within a week or two it was installed and running. Full disclosure: I am not a Buick guy but more of a GM guy, particularly when it comes to first generation A-bodys. If I could have purchased a Chevelle or Lemans at the same price I may have gone that route. But this car was available at the right price so I bought it.
I work for DOS and am 15 times zone away from the "Ozarks" as you said....lol.....that was funny BTW.....but I just can't stand it when guys bastardize their cars, there's nothing cleaver or smart about it.................my 2 cents.
I have a friend that is finishing an LS3 installation in a 56 Vette which no longer had its original 265. It is a wonderful project and he is doing a beautiful job including the addition 4 wheel disc brakes and a modern frame and suspension. I admire his work and Bill's work on his 64 Buick. But, my taste in cars and modifications is very broad relative to some.
I can appreciate one putting a reliable motor in their car,but I will stick with my old school looking Stage 2 headed motor...
Sorry for the gratuitous Ozarks crack. You came out of left field spitting some serious fire so I had to take the low road. Seriously though, if I didn't bastardize this car it wouldn't be fun to drive. I literally couldn't give the original 300 short block away. Same for the ST300. I even offered to deliver it up to 100 miles. No takers. I wouldn't dream of tearing apart a numbers matching GS, SS, GTO, or 442. The beauty of this car was it had no serious value to anyone but a Buick purist (and they never seem to be around when it comes time to sell) so I had no problem tearing it apart. Aftermarket suspension, 5 speed transmission, 4 wheel disc brakes, 3.73 rear. That's what has made it fun to drive. I don't take it cars shows so I'm not looking for trophies. The hood rarely comes up. On the weekends I drop the top, grab the wife and go for a cruise to the some of the coastal towns around here. It's a driver and the people who give me the thumbs up don't give a crap what's under the hood. I must say though the LS3 with a cam, long tube headers and straight through mufflers sounds pretty bad ass at 6,700 rpms.
I wouldn't call something with a bunch of electrical sensors that can fry out at any time and leave one stranded more "reliable" in my book! Especially if in its an LS junkyard swap with sensors with hundreds of thousands of miles on them ready to fail! The 2 sentences above sound like a contradiction but if you do a crate swap and buy new sensors, those will be of a lessor quality import sensor with the junkyard ones being worn out factory ones so............................ What reliability compared to the super simple easy to diagnose and fix mechanical systems on the old cars?
Would have to absolutely agree 100% about the st300 trans behind a sbb 300 is a total turd. Swapping to your manual O/D or even a 200R4 with better rear gearing wakes that little 300 right up. The cash you spent on that swap, you could of made that little 300 into a 362 cid with a stroked sbb 350 crank and gave it coil on plug ignition, roller cam, roller rockers, forged pistons, nascar take out rods, TA Aluminum ported Rover heads, custom intake with fuel injection of your choice, your TKO trans for around the same as that LS cost and you could of probably have made more power with the sbb! The above dare to be different sbb recipe isn't for everyone though but would be WAY cooler than a me too swap.("you swap an LS in your car, me too!") But hey, the LS swap is more of a paint by numbers swap that doesn't need any outside the box thinking that most people can't or don't want to do. I can see the appeal with this swap, the LS series of engines is a good platform with a lot of aftermarket support that's makes it super easy to do these kinds of me too swaps. Enjoy your car the way you want to.(would of been a thumbs up guy but this new site platform doesn't have that choice anymore)
Its not what you did so much as you bring it here for some reason with some sense of glee, and I think 99% of us are Pure-ists in that, we love Buicks in Buicks and Fords in Fords and so on........Now go swap a LS into a Mopar and you'll make friends...LOL..........As to your choices and your car, you like it, you built it, all good from me, but at the same time if you come on this forum come with some thick skin and expect opinions not matching your own........No venom intended............Love, Ozark Mountain Man......
Wow! This from the guy that was going to put a Caddy engine in his Buick because he thought it was going to be affordable. Then a thread asking advice for a first time home buyer and thanking all the Buick brothers for their help. Also a thread wanting guys to post some of their favorite worship songs. Three non Buick related threads. Come on man, we all need to support each other. We can't, and don't always agree with each other on everything, but the friendship we are all here for should come first. I enjoyed reading all of Ronnie's threads I mentioned above, as well as Bill's LS swap. I doubt any of us live eat and breath Buick 100% of the time. It's ok to talk about stuff besides Buick sometimes too.
I think it's funny how people slam an engine they've never worked with. In my opinion, there are two types of classic car guys, the purist: who shuns anything not original, and the hot rodder: who just wants to have fun. Too broad? So is shunning someone who made their own decision about their own car, for all the right reasons (for them). There are people at both ends of the spectrum. The guys who spends an inordinate amount of money to recreate a car to look like it came of the showroom when brand new...impressive to see the detail & commitment, but (in my opinion) a total waste if it's not going to sit in a showroom. I think cars were made to be driven & enjoyed. To say that someone can't join in the reindeer games simply because they took a different path is silly. Yeah, I used to bristle when I'd see a fox body mustang with an SBC or LSX, but bang for the buck, those engines are hard to beat. It wasn't until the 90's that the aftermarket finally caught up with small block ford engines, to offer heads that could flow equal to STOCK GM sbc heads...then finally outflow them. I think we can all agree that it takes a lot of work and commitment to keep a classic roadworthy and reliable. Last time I checked, most of us were here because we enjoyed the performance of the classic Buicks of the 60's & 70's. Sadly that was killed off and only resurrected for a short time with the Grand National program. Imagine what we could have today if Buick would have stayed in the game and kept building game-changing cars like the GSX & GN? We'll never know... Buick performance represents such a small section of the aftermarket community, especially these days. Kenne Bell has passed the torch, so has Poston, and it seems like TA Performance is the only game in town now, catering to an ever shrinking group of enthusiasts. As time goes by, there'll be less and less classic Buicks, and less and less enthusiasts like us. Anything that keeps these cars on the road, and turning heads is good to me. I don't care what you put in your car-it's YOUR car. I love the lines of the Skylark body more than the Cutlass, Chevelle, and Lemans/Tempest...As much as I love Buick iron (and still keep going) if I had to start over with another base Skylark, I'd be doing an LSX swap too...Nothing like having your cake & eat it too. For what it would cost me to build a 455 to last making big power, EFI swap it, and retrofit a modern overdrive transmission, I could have 2 ready to run LSX swaps...making equivalent or more power, but with none of the problems that can be the Achilles heel of the Buick engine. I'll still keep my GS Buick powered, even though it's a GS350 with a 455 swapped in, simply because at this point it's cheaper for me to keep what I have going than to start over. If I bought another non-GS, I'd probably swap it for something more modern. It would be cool to have a GN swapped 63-64 Special or Skylark...
The "other bench" would of probably of been the better section for these kinds of threads. To me "high tech for old iron" would be adding FI or coil on plug or some kind of new tech to an old engine(old iron). Even adding an O/D trans to an old engine would be adding "high tech to old iron" IMO. The old cars themselves aren't "old iron", the engines in them are/were. Either way in whichever section this was in I would still of read the thread regardless. His car, his choice and I would rather see an LS swapped in Buick than a sbc.
Op, I like the car and the pics I have seen of offbrands car. I don’t understand why other people feel the need to be negative about it. It’s a sweet build and I like to see pics and read about other peoples builds. Purists are the reason I stopped posting and reading on this forum years and years ago. I have only recently come back to lurk. I love Buicks, have a stage 2 455 in my 65, and have a Buick tattoo, but I can’t imagine belittling somebody else about how they like their car...
