I have known about a Buick engine with low miles for a while and today the old guy who owned it priced it. 1973 motor from a Riv. It has been sitting since 1974 in his garage. Complete minus carb. BUT, his asking price is too high. He asked me $900! What would it be worth, so I can make an offer?
Chances are the seals are dry-rotted and the rings in not too good shape. Plus all the other stuff that could be wrong and God forbid they're might be rust in there by now. You'd probably be looking at a rebuild at the very least to not be smoking like a locomotive down the road. IMO he needs to cut his price in about half or so.
I paid $500 for my 35,000 70 SF motor, and I got the whole car with it!! It looked like a Riviera! Turned out the one head was cracked and the piston under the crack was cracked, the deck and cylinder wall was pitted. So, I guess I got screwed. That motor is in my 71 Skylark now.
Thanks for the input so far. I have gotten good deals on engine/car combos lately, but this being an odd ball with only 12k miles threw me a little. I assumed it would need to come down and get new seals, but hope it has no rust in it. He said it was turned over often each year, but you know how that one goes. I would have thought $500 tops.
First question I would ask is why did he pullthe motor in the first place? Only a year old and he pulled it to do what, put in a bigger motor????? :laugh: Maybe there was something wrong with it then........... :Comp:
This belonged to the old man's best friend who loved Buicks. He bought this Boattail Riv and didn't think it had enough power, so he put together another 455 with more compression and 70 heads with a cam and what ever was available at the time. The old man helped him pull this engine and install the new one. The Riv only got driven 3500 miles after that and became some kind of show car. I think he said it was sold 2 years back with less than 16000 miles on it. Anyway, the old man got this engine from his friend for helping install the new engine. He also has a 76 limited Buick with 11000 miles on it that he bought new. Wants $3000 for it. I may go talk to him on Monday. I'm sure I will not buy anything, but may enjoy the conversation.
I'd buy the 76 for that money, if it is decent. $3000 isn't bad for a car with no rust. I'd run the hell out of it, it'd be my new daily driver.
2 cents Personally ifeel its the way you start these old motors up.. fill the cylinders with oil, let them soak for a couple months apply 3/4 drive to crankshaft and rotate 1/4 turn each week. When you fire them up they may smoke for the first couple hours, as far as seals go if there neoprene they should be all right. Basically its the same argument that was presented in acouple threads where guys said that starting a motor every couple weeks was wearing them out? Its better to leave them sit and tighten up...go figure, offer 500.
