Hi all, Yep, this is the same car with which I have currently some cold start problems (see The Bench). That I intend to fix during the summer, but this year I've already had my share of problems ... first, when picking up the car from winter storage, the heater core gave in and there were some overheating problems. While taking care of this ie. bypassing the heater core and drying passenger side floor flooded with coolant, the cold starts became very difficult. But, it's a man-made machine, I trust a man can also fix it somehow. But, at the same time I started wondering if I should spend some time next spring / early summer to do a bit more extensive overhaul instead of fixing small things constantly. If I am to replace the heater core, I think I will have to remove fender skirt and inner fender. But, I also have some sheet metal welded to inner fender / radiator support, as the original battery tray was rotten away. That weld needs to go, too. As the passenger side fender is out, why not do the same for driver side too and detach the radiator support for repairing it as well. At this point the front end would already be there out in the open, that would give me quite nice access to motor and all ancillaries. So, how about overhauling whole cooling system, fuel delivery, timing chain and oil pump...maybe even replace cam and lifters, too? I was thinking keeping the engine in the car during this operation and keeping heads on. As far as I can tell, the motor in the car is original and bare stock, only thing I've noticed being replaced is the carb, which is a remanufactured Q-Jet (IIRC). Of course I cannot say for sure about cam or other parts, but everything looks 'ancient'. Let's assume it is completely stock SP code Buick 350. - I think replacing timing chain and sprockets, timing cover and oil pump w/booster plate would all be almost no-brainers. - same goes with fuel pump and I was thinking dropping the tank and replacing pretty much everything except the original metal fuel line under the car (provided it is in good condition). That would mean new tank, fuel sending unit, fuel pump and new hoses. - cooling system would need a new heater core anyway, as current one is already leaking. So, new heater core, and while the radiator is removed, might be good idea to replace that as well, together with new hoses and water pump. Of course, as my car had A/C from the factory and I have all the parts in the car, it would be nice to overhaul that too, but that might blow up my budget. - Last thing I am thinking, should I consider touching the valve train? While heads are on, I cannot do anything about the valves, but would it be worth replacing the cam, lifters, pushrods and even valve springs, if new cam would require that? I already ran some Desktop Dyno simulations to compare few camshafts, to me it looks like TA-112 or Lunati 256/262 cams would provide quite a lot of low range torque...other cams I simulated were TA-212 and Comp Cams 268H. Speaking about cams, I think here I would need some advice from you as I think you have the experience here. And we're talking about stock '70 GS with stock TH350 and 3:23 rear. I would appreciate slightly more aggressive idle, compared to stock but I am not going to race it and I'd need enough vacuum for power brakes and steering. At most there might be just few stoplight to stoplight launches to give those 3.0 turbo-diesel Audis run for their money, other than that the RPM range mostly used would probably land between 1500-4000. Geez, this became quite a long post. But I hope you had the interest to read it and if you have any advices or if you think I am way off the track, let me know! I mean I am now trying to build up a decent plan and parts package that I could mail order during the winter and start working later in spring 2018. So, above are my considerations, let's use that as a baseline. Also I should mention that complete frame-off restoration has crossed my mind too, but at the moment I don't have the time, money or place for it ... There is one car garage, mortgage and one 18 month old kid (and another possibly on his/her way) ... I think you got the picture Also, since I am not familiar with most of the aftermarket car part manufacturers in US, all advices which manufacturers to avoid and which might provide most bang for the buck, all this would be highly appreciated. Comments or advices, the stage is yours. -JJ-
don't create a project out of everything. replace what is worn, period! throwing away hundreds and thousands of dollars in good parts is foolish.
436'd Skylark - good advice as I have a tendency to make a project out of everything But I was thinking this just because if I was about to replace that heater core, there is so some disassembly to do in any case. I kinda though why not take advantage of sheet metal disassembly and replace some parts that would be hard to access otherwise. -JJ-
replacing your fuel lines, tank, sender, and pump seems odd. anything wrong with these parts? leaks or fuel starvation issues? gauge problem?
I do have a minor 'leak' in the tank, at the filler neck root. No dripping, but when filling up the filler neck root area does get somewhat damp. Besides, I dunno how old those fuel lines are and considering the ethanol in modern fuels, who knows how long they will last anyway. -JJ-
ethanol doesn't hurt metal much at all. replacing the rubber lines at the tank and fuel pump is a good move though. the filler neck can be soldered. that's about 50 bucks.
Do a quality inspection of your car and replace or repair what's needed. The comps cam isn't that great I'm my opinion. The crower level 3 would work better. Get alittle more converter (22-2400 stall for small block rated). Get the core support and connecting parts repaired. Front cam bearing and oil pickup tube and passage upgrade. I would not get into the oil pump unless there is a problem of oil pressure after oil passage , pickup tube and cam bearing is done. A performance distributer recurve or performance distributer with electronic update is a decent idea. Everyday performance does have an electric choke conversion kit. And they do a good Quadrajet rebuild/ update and so does Quadrajet Power. Compression ratio is about 9.6 on that engine factory with the steel shim head gasket, replacement gaskets drop compression to about 9.2 . Get valve springs. They are 40 years old and worn out. Wanting them to hold up to a bigger cam ain't going to work well. Update front and rear seals from rope is a good idea.
