hello everyone. my name is charles. i am new to this sight, and desperately need some advice. i am 17 and the proud owner of an orange 1970 buick skylark. the 350 in is about to be FUBAR, and i am looking to put in a new motor. my first inclination was a buick 455 (of course), but the practicallity factor got to me(i dont have that much gas money, and it is my daily driver) Then i considered a new 350, but i want a little more "go" than that, and i would like the option of racing out the new motor in a couple of years possibly. i need to do a long block crate motor because i dont have the resources or know how to build from scratch. my other possibility is a pontiac 400, because all the the buick 400's i can find are really expensive. however, i dont know if buick headers will match up to the pontiac motor, or if the pontiac will even go into my car on the stock motor mount placements. if anyone has info/advice/experience on the pontiac, or info on where i could get a resonable buick crate motor, or (haha) some gas milage info on the 455 please let me in on it. i greatly appreciate any help. thanks.
Hi Charles The Poncho 400 should bolt up to your TH350 tranny. The motor mounts will probably not be the same. The good thing is that the frames for A bodies are generally the same for 68-72 and holes in the frame crossmember may well already be there for the Pontiac engine mounts. Fan shrouds and distance from the water pump to shroud, however, I really couldn't say, but it is important. Buick, Olds, Pontiac, Chevy, and Cadillac all made their own engines back then. The only engine that wasn't made by Buick in a Buick car back then, to my knowledge, was the L head six, which is a Chevy engine. What this means is that nothing interchanges between engines. I would not count on Pontiac heads to match up on the exhaust side to Buick headers or exhaust manifolds. Maybe they do, but I would not expect it. My 462 is a 455 bored 0.030" over to clean up the cylinder bores. I never intended it to be a gas stingy engine, I get 10 mpg around town. There are, beleive it or not, 455s from Buick with two barrel carbs and manifolds, which might help you in gas money, or you can simply disconnect the four barrel's secondaries so they don't open, I suppose. The 350 will not get you wildly better mileage, I should think. Especially if you give the engine a bit of a performance build. I don't remember what I got when I still had my 350. I don't recall being shocked at how low my mileage was compared to the smaller engine, though, when I put the 455 in it. TA performance will sell you a long block Buick 350 built to 1970 specs. their banner is on the home page, their URL is taperformance.com You can call them at 480 922 6807. they are in Arizona. Their 'stage 1' 350 long block is advertised at 325 hp and is a 10:1 compression engine with a fair sized cam, and includes GS350 heads, oil pump, and some other goodies. Of course, a manifold and carb and some other bits are your responsibilty to purchase seperately, but I think their price of 3295 dollars for the assembled long block is a fair price for what you get. Plus it has a one year warantee. they also sell used parts, maybe they have a used engine that is good? Check out the 'parts for sale' forum on the board here, and see if you can't find yourself an engine. Post your parts needs, including the engine, in the 'Parts Wanted' section. You may get lucky:TU:
thanks for the help guys. i really appreciate it. i had a list of all the parts that i would need for the 455, so i guess i will check that out again if the milage isnt significantly worse than the 350. i thought the pontiac would be a pain to do, and im gald i asked now. one more thing... do you know how much would the two barrel effect my performance on the 455 and/or how much it would add to the economy? also, i want to make this a street car that will cruise nicely and will be capable of long trips if i want to do that, but will also have the gumption to still be a sporty ride. any suggestions for 350 or 455 performance in this direction. also, with the 455, is a different tansmission neccessary? thanks again for the help. this is the first place that has really helped me out with my interest in buicks
thanks rob. the info is a great help. I never thought of the two barrel being worse...i guess i had always heard, from people who know about as much as me apparently, that two was more economical than four(makes sense i guess) my turbo 350 is in good shape as far as i can tell just from running it. it doesnt slip at all, and seems to run good (again i dont know too much about transmissions) i was gonna pull it and have it rebuilt when i do the engine anyways, so it should be alright if, like you are saying, it is strong. i was gonna put in a hurst floor shifter too (part of takin out the tanny) any suggestions here?
also....are there any performance options for my current 350 trans that will make it more worthy if i do decide to hop up the 455 a little bit?...or should i just go with a th400 instead?
Didn't realise that about the 2 barrel, gald you got some better info:TU: The TH400 is a great tranny. I used my TH350 on the same engine swap because the TH400 I had was a long tail tranny- basically, I'd have had to move the tranny mount crossmember back, and I wasn't prepared to do it! So I used the original TH350 in my 455 swap. Bolts right up, no modification needed. If you do get a TH400, the downshift switch is electrically operated, instead of the cable activated one you have now (there should be two cables on your gas pedal, one goes to the tranny). The TH350 is not designed from the factory to handle the torque a 455 can put out. Even so, my engine and tranny lived happily together from 1991 until 1996, until the tranny filed for divorce:grin: However, that was the original tranny in the car, and when it went, it was reverse that went. The car was and still is a driver, so I am guessing, but that was at about 175K miles, not bad life expectancy for a tranny that nobody took care of until I bought the car in '89. So I would say a healthy TH350 will live for some time mated to the 455 with little trouble. If you make some good power, the TH350 can be beefed up to handle it. Some racers here prefer the TH350 because it's lighter. As an aside, why are GM trannys so heavy? I can pick up a 727 T-flite for Pete's sake! If the tranny shop understands the TH350 will see about 500 lb/ft of torque, they can make it stand up to the power. I'd recommend a cooler for it, something I've yet to doou: As far as the floor shifter goes, it should be straightforward, same as about any other GM muscle car, but remember that you'll have a shift handle still sticking out of your steering columnuzzled: It'll look...odd.
heh, thanks for the info chris. im probly gonna look into whatever is cheaper (the th350rebuild or the th400 new) and go from there. as for the column shift...ill figure something out eventually...but ive always wanted the floor shifter, and unfortunately this car didnt have it, but was the right thing at the right time and i love it so....the column knob will just have to stay for now. one more thing....what were you saying about the tranny cooler....this is probably a dumb question, but i dont really know what you mean... thanks
tranny cooler the tranny cooler is a add on accesory that attaches to the front of your radiator. if you put one on you have to remove the lines that go into the radiator and plug those holes. than cut those lines and use rubber hoseing that comes with the kit or buy some its not that hard of an install
