Hello all! I am new to the Buick world. I bought this '69 Skylark Convertible in December of '16 and spent all of 2017 driving the hell out of it. Its a 350-4, Quadrajet, TH350, Power steering and power drum brakes, Non AC, 8.2 BOP rear end with I think a 2.73 gear and a 1 legger. Well I've been fighting an ignition problem with it lately, and while goofing around under the hood I realized that I can turn the crank quite a bit before the rotor starts to move... so I think its time for the seal to be broken on this beast. As far as I know the valve covers have never even been off.. I was told it was parked in 1977 and sat until 2015. I bought it from the person who rescued it from the barn. It has well over 100k on it and as you can see by the picture, they were not typical Buick old geezer miles (I'm 25!) What are the tips and tricks to make a cool street rod out of this thing? I want to keep the Buick engine, and I'd like to continue using it as a daily driven muscle car during the car season here in Michigan. It needs a posi, and some gear that keeps it usable on the highway. I'd like to port the heads myself, put in a mild cam and give it a good exhaust setup. Thanks in advance! Ben
Welcome from a fellow Michigander Ben, Andy gave me your number and I tried to call, no answer so I left a message, sup?
Welcome to 69 Skylark ownership! You might have your timing chain cam gear nylon teeth busted.... That might be why distributor is slow to move. Does it still run? You might also look under the oil filler cap on the valve cover and watch the rocker arm movement to see if any delay is happening there. My original motor lost those nylon teeth on the cam gear at about 75k miles getting on the freeway. I replaced the timing chain set and no damage was done to the motor.
Welcome Ben Basso, I'm newer to this site than you are but have owned my 69 a while longer. It sounds like you already know what you want and that is good. Like YoDesigner, my timing gear decided to lose some teeth around 75k but didn't put them under the pillow. Mom was driving at the time and the car just farted a few times and rolled over to the side of the road. Luckily, no other damage was done. I will also keep my 350 and put some extra horses in it. Believe it or not, I decided to keep my 2.73 and put a posi from JD Race in to help it out. The gear choice will depend on what you intend to do with the car 90% of the time. For me, I'll be driving as a weekend warrior, to car shows and a few autocross events. I'm hoping to drive it to it's 50th birthday party in Bowling Green.
Welcome to the Stepchild Nation! That’s a good looking car. Smokes a little, though... It needs a new timing set, then some real guages so you can monitor temp and oil pressure. Then time it according to Larry’s sticky. Have a Buick guy go through the carb (don’t buy a parts store reman, they’re junk), and then think rear end. I have 2.93s in mine and that’s great for highway and country road cruising. Add or swap for a posi; if you swap rears or gears don’t go real steep if it’s a highway car. See you in BG! Patrick PS: You might want to buy another engine (maybe a 455 because more is gooder) and start building it. You may want to do a swap in the future.
