Ive found a nicely kept 1972 Buick Skylark for sale, and I'm interested, its a fine looking auto. I could buy it, straight out, but what concerns me is the lack of power from the '72 Skylark 350. From what Ive read Buick put emissions equipment on the 350 4 barrel, that reduced its power from 230hp (i like those numbers), to around 170hp (eh). I'm not big into spending a lot of money on heads, lifters, headers, and such for power that already is there. So, what I'm asking, Is there a way to scrap the emissions equipment (California Smog exempt year is 1975), and steal back at least 30hp? (I understand the compression was lowered for the '72 350 4 barrel as well) -Ace
power tuning the distributor and working over the Quadrajet will give you a lot of added power without much expense. Find the power tuning thread by Larry70GS As for the Qjet, up the jets and secondary rods a couple sizes. Throw a rebuild kit at it and make sure the secondary throttle plates are opening to a full 90 degrees. Tinker with the air valve vacuum break to open as fast as possible without bogging. goign to a dual exhaust will help too. just disconnect/remove the egr stuff and plug any open holes.
The 1972 Skylark 350 had the same horsepower as the 1971 Skylark 350 - the difference is that in 1972 the government rated horsepower net (with all working accessories) and not gross like in 1971.
The HP ratings are a little misleading because before 71 they did not include acessories . While I think a dual exhaust system will help. Maybe you want to find a car thats already had the HP bumped up. If you take your time and look you'll find somehting if that 72 350 isn't powerful enough.
A 72 engine was rated under the SAE net protocol wheres the pre 72 model engines were rated under the SAE gross protocol. There is maybe a 20% reduction if you use the SAE net method. So a 230 hp 71 engine rating would be about the equivalent as a 72 rated at 184 hp.
Have you driven the car? I think you will be surprised by the torque the car makes, the HP is nothing too exciting however it is torque that moves street cars. These cars were de-tuned big time, just with timing mods, carb re-jetting and dual 2.5" exhaust you can get about 30 hp gain without trouble. I have made 398 hp with a 155hp rated 77 Buick 350 engine with a some customizing, not a big deal.
What Sean said.... Check your compression, if your compression is good, tune the thiing and it will be tire smokingly amazing.
I have yet to drive it, I don't need a lot of HP, just enough to make me sink back into the seat when I lay the throttle down, and enough to smoke some tire. Thanks for the help and ideas! I like the twin exhaust idea the most, just for sound even.
Take the Buick for a ride. I'm sure that the Torque will impress you no matter what the HP rating is. The 350 produced mega torque numbers way down low every year. As far as bumping up the power, it's reasonable cheap to a point since there is very few aftermarket parts available for the engine without getting alot of custom made stuff. Bumping the HP up to the 1970 standards costs very little and is essentially just compression. A weekend of milled heads, thin head gaskets and power tuning would create something totally different.
Listen to this guy. I just talked to my machine shop and they qouted me 450.00 to deck, gasketmatch, and do a 3 angle valve job on the heads. For a bit more you could mill them down and bump up compression. This will give you great response, and make a little bit more power. Once you do that take it to an exhaust shop and put on some duals for sound, and a few ponies. If you decide you're happy great! If not....drop in a cam, posi, and gears and you'll be smiling for sure!
playing with the timing will have a huge effect too.. When I got my car, the 350 could not spin the tires from a stop. I had the distributor recurved by JW for $200 (with an electronic kit too to remove the points all under the stock distributor cap) Then properly set the initial and total timing and what a difference! I know leave 2 black marks :beer :3gears: Oh, I also put a couple gallons of 111 octane too :Smarty:
