Hello Everyone! I've had this Buick for many years now (since highschool); and i'm finally able to get her looking pretty again. she had some damage in the left rear quarter i had repaired, the rest is surface rust. i replaced the waterpump, carb, spark plugs, hoses, thermostat etc. It has a 340 engine with around 48k original miles runs great. I'm the 3rd owner. I'm planning on having it painted later this summer and am looking for assistance finding someone who can refoam the dashpad or something that i can replace the dashpad with that's tasteful. along with locations others have placed stereo speakers and a radio receiver to fill the original radios slot; the original owner didn't get any additions no clock, radio, ac, nothing. Also looking into an engine swap since the 340 was only made for 2 years i feel if something when seriously wrong a swap would be the way to go since parts maybe hard to find for the original engine. any advise keeping the car prime and making it reliable would be much appreciated.
Ok; - first off, Welcome aboard! Nice to see another full-size car owner around here! Your first move should be to buy a factory chassis manual, and if you want a factory body manual. You'll find them indispensable. Next; the dash panel is interchangeable between 1966-67 full-size. Your best bet is to find one at a wrecker. They are pretty hardy, both of mine have no cracks. They're fairly easy to take off, the toughest thing is to carefully pull the side bolsters away from the sill areas without cracking it. The instrument clusters are interchangeable too, but with limits. The smaller engine came with a 2 speed Turbo 300 automatic whereas the bigger engine came with a 3 speed Turbo 400. So watch the shift quadrant when you find one. Clocks were available in Wildcat and Electra. You'll find that the cover where the clock is located is held on by 2 small bolts. The wiring for the clock will be hidden in your main harness. The biggest differences in the dash are the knobs and the covering on the bezels. Electra had real wood panels, Wildcat used brushed aluminum, and LeSabre had black max-tac. Radios are still available, there was a stock AM, AM/FM and if you're lucky you'll find an AM/FM with a stereo box. 66-67 were interchangeable, and that design was only used for those 2 years. Nothing else fits. Custom stuff tends to look stupid just because of the dash angles. 8-track players were underdash and available in 67. Now; regarding that lovely little 340. There is nothing wrong with that motor, and parts are no harder to find than a 430 or a 350 SBB are. The 340 was a long lived and quite flexible little motor; I flogged one mercilessly for years and it never skipped a beat. Even had the factory 2 bbl on it still. They're a nice little motor and well suited to the car. The hardest thing to find on that motor is a driver's side exhaust manifold, they're all cracked. The 2 speed automatic is also pretty nice, provided the switch pitch in the torque converter still works. Otherwise it can be a bit slow off the line and a little sluggish on the highway. Doing a swap to a big block is expensive, you'll have to change out the front suspension and cross-members and the nose of the car might be a little short. Wildcat and Electra had slightly longer hoods and fenders than LeSabre did. So you're better off with the combo that's in it. I've had a few of these LeSabres, my last one was a 1967 that I bought as parts for my Wildcat. Two things happened; the car was useless as not much interchanged easily (except interior parts) and it was too nice to slaughter. So I ended up driving it as a winter beater for 4 years. They're good cars; - enjoy yours!
I'm in a bit of a quandry. I have the opportunity to buy a 1966 Buick Lesabre 400 convertible from an estate sale for a reasonable price. I also have an unused rebuilt 401, with some performance modifications, for a Wildcat project I've abandoned. I would love to replace the smaller, less powerful original Lesabre motor with the 401, but based upon the above, it wouldn't be a smart or easy switch? I had read that the 1966 Lesabre and Wildcat shared the same body...that the Wildcat was an upgraded Lesabre. Also what was the 400 designation of the Lesabre 400 meant to signify? As the 401 was referred to as the 455 because of its torque, was the same true of the Lesabre 400?
From what I understand the 400 stood for the ST400 transmission option that made it a Lesabre 400. As for swapping the engine id have to hand that to another reader of this thread for their input.
The motor swap would be difficult, you'd have to weld up new mounts, the transmission would be different, and there is a size issue. LeSabre shared the body of Wildcat from the firewall back, but not forward. The Wildcat had a bigger nose and an altogether different crossmember, it was built on the larger wheelbase. The "400" designation was applied to LeSabres that had the TH 400, 4 BBL carb on a 340 motor.
