I have a '76 Buick Skylark, with a '78 LeSabre 350 I am in the process of putting in. I am really thinking about putting in a ram-air manifold with a four barrel Carb of sorts in, but I have been having trouble finding such a manifold and carburator. Any ideas?
There is no such thing as a Buick "ram air manifold." I'm not real familiar with changes over the years on 350s, but probably any 68-80 four barrel manifold will work. The only issues may be with changes in the heat crossover, or AIR passages and coresponsing holes in the heads. These appeared on big block heads/intake in 72, but I'm not sure about small blocks.
No I mean that I want to put a new carb and manifold on from edelbrock or something. Edelbrock has a "ram-air" manifold and I have been trying to find one that will fit my 350. If I can't find one that will fit, I will get just a regular manifold and carb from edelbrock or holley or something.
I would not worry about getting an aftermarket intake john. Get an earlier style 350 intake. and bolt it on. There is limited performance gains between a stock intake and aluminum intake. :TU:
By the way, there is only one aftermarket intake for the Buick 350, made by TA Performance. Edelbrock does not make any intakes for Buick 350s. Like Phil said, just get an early stock intake.
Correct there are 2 intakes available. TA Stage1 350 intake and Poston S-Divider. I would still stick with the stock 4 barrel intake for his application. The Motor he has has the vacumn tree by the thermostat housing on the lower left side by alternator. It is a 4 brl intake but he is looking to clean up the motor in the looks dept. :TU: Nick, This Guy (John) lives down closer to you near houston if you do not know already. :TU:
Hey, its not just for looks! The carb's butterfly valves look corroded and the manifold has a bit of rust (or is it large amounts of grime and dirt?) and I dont know if it will cause problems. But yes, there is a bit of want for prettiness as well. Another question has occured to me though: I've seen a Camaro that was converted to TPI, and since I heard that it is the best out of the three, (carburation, TPI, EFI) could I mount a TPI to the 350?
It might remotely be possible to machine some spacers to get a TPI manifold to sit on a SBB. I don't know how the port spacing compares between a SBC and a SBB, but it might be doable.
cold air pkg This is easy and worth the effort. Just come from either the winshield wiper chamber or the core support with ducting and go the the air cleaner. Keep the internal heat in the manifold though. You need cool air coming in but enough heat to vaporize the fuel. dont go cooler than 160 deg with the thermostat. If the intake gets too cool the car wont run right on the street. Buick says the cold air pkg is worth 8% of the total hp of the engine. As for carbs, I would go with Holley and a good 4 bbl manifold. [tricked out]
Who lost you? Me or Doc? If I lost you, here is some background. In the 60s each GM division developed its own "350" engine. There is nothing in common between these engines, other that the displacement. Each has its own block, crank, pistons, cam, heads, manifolds, etc. Your buddy was able to put a late model TPI on his 350 because it was a TPI from a late model CHEVY 350 going on an earlier CHEVY 350. The heads on a Buick 350 are a lot farther apart than the heads on a Chevy 350. IF the intake ports are in about the same place (I don't know; I've never built a Chevy 350) then some machined spacers might fit between the narrow Chevy 350 manifold and the farther apart Buick 350 heads. The idea comes from the fact that the Buick 455 and the Mopar 440 have about the same port spacing, and there are spacers available to put a Mopar 440 manifold on a Buick 455. I suspect if it were as easy to do on a Chevy 350 to Buick 350 someone would have done it by now, but you never know. Either way, you buddy was able to put a Chevy mainifold on a Chevy engine. That does not mean you can put a Chevy manifold on a Buick engine... If it was Doc who lost you, he was describing how to build a ram air system, to get cool (not underhood) air into the carburetor.
actually it was Doc who lost me, but hey, The idea for the spacers to put a chev intake is a good idea and worth a try.
carb Lost, who lost, me ,him,you, what lost????? :laugh: No matter what carb you have if you get cold outside air to it there is a large boost in power. This power doesnt fade away. it is cheap horse power. and worth every penny invested. Also while we are on the cheap tricks, dont forget to recurve the dist. Costs about ten bucks or so for a kit and will greatly enhance the performance. Lost? :laugh:
Hmm...sounds good Doc, but the problem is I can't exactly picture it too well in my mind. Could you draw a quick diagram?
