Have a chance to get a 63 Lark with the 215 V-8 engine. Car has 90,000 miles and is in excellent shape. Load with air,p/windows,p/seats. I think it has every option that you could get on the car for that year. What problems due these aluminum engines have? I've heard that the casting weren't the best and that they had problems with heater cores pluging up with pieces of the casting coming loose from the blocks. Does anyone know about this? How about the head gaskets? Any problems there? o No: Any advice would be helpful. Thanks, Al
The biggest thing I'd be worried about is the shape of the alum block and heads and intake. There could be lots of water damage in any of those parts. That is something you will possibly only find if you do a teardown, unless of course you spot a leak. Jim Burek
First off about the 215's, they were the first mass produced All Aluminum V-8 engine. They were die cast engine blocks (pretty new technology for the early 60's) - They did have problems at the factory with shift, poor castings and problems machining the Aluminum/steel combinations. This is one of the reasons why GM drop the engine - Aluminum cost more than Steel, machining cost more, and the fact that it went into the lowest (economy) price cars Buick/Olds built - didn't help matters. Land Rover bought the rights to the engine in '65 and has been using it in the Highest priced line of cars/SUV's since '68 to present (I think that KIA has purchased the rights and assembly line as of late). Yes, they had problems in the early stages of production with chips in the radiator, heater cores - I have found that not to many cars that our 40 + years have the original core anyway. The biggest problem was with people that ran straight water in the engines - corrosion between mating parts head/block -suffered the most, and caused overheating problems, which wrapped the heads. If the engine starts, runs, shows no signs of smoke or lifter rattle don't worry what "I've heard" - 99% of the time it all happened 3 decades ago. Take a compression check and if good, go out and enjoy it! The 215's were way ahead of their time - look around at what the manufactures are building these days (domestic and foreign) - most of them around (3.5L) Aluminum V-8's and getting no better Mpg than that of what was made 40 years ago - with all the high tech improvements - (EFI, computer controls, 4 valves, OHC's) It was a Good engine then and still is a Good engine Now
Thanks Doug. I haven't heard the engine run, and I haven't checked the oil or coolant to see if one is mixed with the other, but of course that will be first on the list. The person thats selling the car owned a Buick dealer from 49 to 89. He took trade-ins on cars that he sold in the first place and if they were really nice he kept them himself. This was one that was traded-in in 1970 by the lady that brought it new and his dealer ship has serviced it since day one. I'll take a better look at the car and like you said a compression check and go from there. I see your picture is an early 60's Special or Lark. I take it that you are into these cars. If I pick this car up I might be keeping in touch with you on info about these cars. You hit it on the nose about the engines that they make how and the engines 30 to 40 years ago. Not much change for all the improvement that have been made. You just can't beat the way a well tuned older engine runs. Thanks, Al
215 I have an elderly neighbor that is a machinist extrordinaire. I went over to check out a Steam locomotive that he made to ride around on, and noticed he was swapping his airboats motor from a 215 to a vortec 4.3. He said the buick is still on its original bore and runs great but he wanted more power. ( we live in Ohio, how many hours can an airboat have on it here?)Said he would take 300 for the complete motor and had a shed full of misc parts. Not knowing anything about these would it be wise to go ahead and get them? They sure look like neat little engines that could be used for many applications.
I do LOTS of 215 and clone work, build stroker/big bore ones all the time. To test engines in yards for head gasket and water passage erosion faults, etc., I made plugs for all the water outlets, heater, water pump, outlet. I used hose clamps, soft plugs and short sections of water hose. I inserted the soft plugs into one end of a section of hose, then hose clamped them into place, added another hose clamp on the other end of the hose. This gave me a few seal-offs for the different water "holes" in the engine. On the outlet tool, I made two connections in the soft plug, one for a pressure guage, the other for a Schrader valve. I also carry a small air tank with regulator in my tool kit. I fit the hose close-offs and air the water passages up. If the pressure guage goes down, I know there is a leak from either a cracked block/heads, water passage erosion and/or head gasket blown. All this gives me a better overview of the engine I am now trying to get for even less money from the seller whom wants too much for it. Another note: Rover engines have sleeves that are fitted by drop-in after the bare block is bored, different from the sleeves that had serrations and were held in place for the GM 215's. GM 215's had the blocks poured around the sleeves during the casting process. If there is a slipped sleeve in a Rover block, the main reason for it is 99 percent a crack in the block behind the sleeve. Since the Rover sleeves aren't flanged on their tops, any reduction in tension on them from the block will let them slip in their own holder bores. The main reason for cracked blocks is engine overheating, fairly common on earlier Rover blocks.
Do the Buick 215's suffer from pourus blocks? The old Rover 3.9L do suffer from this..... Intresting That KIA has bought the rights to the old Buick/Rover block patten, what the hell will they be putting that in?? Landrover now use the newer OHC BMW block , but now Ford have there claws in it.... Even TVR dropped the Buick/Rover block as soon as BMW took over (Something about not having German rubbish in a British Car!) Now TVR make there own :laugh: R :grin:
