430 swap into Wife's 67' Skylark and build.

Last month we picked up a 67' Skylark for my wife. It has a 300 s barrel 2 speed for motivation. Decent car overall but the engine is a turd and runs bad as well. I have been working on a fresh 455 to replace the one in my 66' Skylark and had planned to replace her 300 with it. Well that 300 is clattering so bad it is not really drivable other than to move the car. I likely will not have my new 455 together for a while as it seems to take forever to find an opening for machine work. So I picked up a runner of a 430 I plan to swap in. 68' 430 removed from an Electra. I am only going by the word of the previous owner on condition. He is in my local Buick Facebook group and offered the engine as I was looking for one. I only just got it unloaded yesterday and on a stand. It looks like it was rebuilt maybe back in the 80s or so. I have the top end opened up and off. Cylinders have pretty much no wear. It says 30 on the pistons so likely .030 overbore. I will do some measuring. Cam seems ok so that is a good sign it was getting oil ok. I will have a look at the bottom end soon. I thought I would check the casting numbers. It looks like the block casting number is 68'/69'. There are two different head castings. I am guessing one was cracked back in the day. It might have triggered the rebuild. One casting comes up as 68' one as a 69'. The castings look pretty much the same with the same shape runners and chambers. I will have to do a careful look for any cracks. I am not good at leaving stuff alone but I feel I need to at least do some oiling mods and add fresh gaskets. I have a couple timing covers cleaned, painted and prepped with new pumps so I will swap one of those on. I kind of feel like we should add a cam like a TA 284-88H as well. I do not want to get carried away with the budget though. I have a set of new lifters in my stash of stuff but would need to decide if I swap to push rod oiling and later rocker arms. I have extra push rods and rocker arms available. I will be sticking with stock cast intake and exhaust manifolds for this big block swap for now. The car will get my spare TH400. I only have a stock convertor and will have to use the stock 2.79:1 open rear for the summer till we can get to swapping in some gears and a limited slip. I have an idea of what I want to do to this engine before running but still need to see what the crank looks like before making a full plan. Maybe a set of rings and bearings will be in order too. Just thought I would share and consider any advice.
Greg

 

Here is the Skylark we picked up for my wife. It is a nice car. Just have to get rid of some of the ugly. The skirts came off right away and the wheels will go. Springs are chopped so bad the suspension is almost on the stops. Steering wheel was just ridiculous ugly billet piece.

 

Here is the ugly steering wheel that was on it. We swapped it for a nice black 64' Wildcat wheel. I already test fitted a set of Buick rally wheels. They will go on once I swap out the coil springs all around.

 

Love the color.......

 

Got to ask.. Whats the accessory switch for? I thought they were a convertible top switch....

 

We like the colour too. Apparently it is a colour from a new mini 2012 or so. While it is nice I would have prefered it was the original Aquamarine Iridescent that the trim tag says it should have been. I see the original colour underneath the car where I have chipped away some of the original undercoating.
Greg

 

I had to ask that one too. I had a post on a Facebook group. Turns out while it would have been used for the top on a convertible, it would have been to turn on the optional rear defrost. The defrost unit is missing but I can see the wiring that was there so that makes sense.
Greg

 

Via the camera it looks like Blue Mist Iridescent AKA Marina Blue... Still looks good on my screen...

 

Rear def never would came to mind. Thanks.. Almost hard to believe it still has the lighter...

 

Yea. I would guess it is likely close to the Blue Mist Iridescent. Looks from your profile you have a 67' Big Block swapped Skylark as well. Do you have any info and details on it?
Greg

 

Basically just what's in the sig... Other than that just a 1972 block 30 over,1109 heads mild port.. stock rods, wisco pistons, stock manifolds, PAE motor mount pads.. TA perf 6 qt pan, timing cover & oil kit, water pump.

FWIW and just a word of caution. I know you got the 66 with the BBB...Somebody on this forum was having clearance issues with the 6 qt pan and TA frame pads....

 

I have a stock 71' rear sump pan in my parts inventory along with 5/8" pickup I will use with this swap. I would think it should clear fine. I have the same pan in my 66' with Poston frame pads and have tons of clearance to the crossmember. I will order TA pads for this swap. Hopefully no surprises.
Greg

 

Following for more pics/progress updates

 

Besides the convertible top and rear window defogger, the accessory knob was also used for the power rear window on wagons.

 

Do the Poston frame pads move the engine back or up for header clearance? Any issues you had using them?

 

I do not know whether the Poston mounts were made to move the engine up or back. I bought them over 20 years ago. I would not be surprised if they raise the engine some. I have not had the TA ones to compare to. I was going to order TA ones this time around. We will be using exhaust manifolds for this swap so I am not super concerned about header clearance but we may swap in headers eventually. I did have clearance issues to the brake booster on my 66' with the Poston mounts. I used an 80' Turbo Trans Am Dual Diaphragm Brake booster to give me clearance and it works great. I am expecting to have to do the same on this 67'.
Greg

 

Thanks Greg - I looked at the 80' Turbo Trans Am Dual Diaphragm and it seems there are a few variations. Some are for front and rear discs. Do you know which part number you used?

 

IMG_7307 by avmechanic posted Nov 15, 2021 at 2:14 PM

IMG_7304 by avmechanic posted Nov 15, 2021 at 2:14 PM

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/aaz-54-71228

I pulled it in a wrecking yard years ago but I believe it was a rear disk brake car. This one looks just like it. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/aaz-54-71228.
Greg

 

Thanks!

 

We have made some progress both acquiring parts and on the engine. I have not had many days off the last 3 months so I did not get as much done as I hoped but progress is progress. I stripped down the 430 and it looks to be solid overall. Bearings all looked great and the crank is nice. The engine looks like it had a rebuild years ago. It has two different casting heads but they look to be in good shape. I am going to just lap the valves then run them as is. The engine was bored .030" over and has stock style pistons. Crank is 10/10. I will do a quick home hone of the cylinders and fit new rings. A fresh set of bearings will be added as well. I just finished all the oiling mods and I already have a couple of built up timing covers so will just one of those. The timing covers have oil gallery mods and new pumps with adjustable pressure regulators. We will be using the cast Iron intake and manifolds for initial install. My wife wants headers but they are pricey shipped to Canada so that will have to wait for a bit. I ended up finding a used set of Poston frame mounts for the big block swap so will be using them. I Had a set of Chrome 430 valve covers stashed away so she will get those for her engine. Cams were pretty much impossible to find as nobody has cores. I managed to find a Lunati PN. 10960702 227/233 @.050 268/276 adv. It is more cam than I had planned but I think we can make it work. I will just have to get moving on headers, more rear end gear, and convertor sooner than I had wanted. I hope to get to some assembly next time I am home from working away.
Greg