Hello, I have been a member of this board for quite awhile but thought this would probably be the best place to ask this question. I always see posts on this site advising the use of a Buick specific engine builder as opposed to any common race shop etc. I'm just curious, why is it so important to use a Buick shop instead of a gm/ford/mopar shop etc? As long as a machine shop has good machinery to do the work, and the knowledge to measure tolerances and what not, shouldn't they be expected to do a good job with a build? Thanks, C.J.
CJ , most shops never see a buick engine. They are basically a passenger car engine but with the external oil pump and inherent oiling problems it requires some better than average clearences. Buick builders that do this all the time like JW,AM&P and Wildcat already know all the little fixes to make your engine run and live for a long time. Ask your shop what tolerances they run on main and rods then end play and rod side clearences. Most shops that do a lot of hi power chevies run them with too much tolerance for a BBB. I even had a nuilder tell me that 005 was ok on a main. He stated that if he tightens it up his clients will spin a bearing and he just advises to go witha hi pressure and volume oil pump. Basically patch up for his poor machine work. Do a search and talk to some builders and see. I took clearences I got from here and had my shop use that as the target, not what they do with every 454 they do.
and the knowledge to measure tolerances and what not, shouldn't they be expected to do a good job with a build? as noted above, the ability to measure and machine to a certain tolerance is useless if you're building to the wrong spec in the first place. a 'good' spec for a Chevy is a bad spec for a Buick. this has nothing to do with 'poor machine work' and everything to do with differences in the Buick and Chevy designs. already know all the little fixes to make your engine run and live for a long time. this is a not inconsiderable point in and of itself. a Chevy/Ford/etc guy knows where to hone out oil passages or put in restrictors or put screens, etc. that is all knowledge that was gained from long personal experience and the example of hundreds of thousands of hours of engine run time and design by others. they don't have any of that for a Buick. this doesn't make them 'bad', it makes them inexperienced ... on a Buick.
The post that Tim found was identical to my question. Maybe they should post this topic in the FAQ section. Thanks.
C.J., That's not a stupid question; in fact, my wife has consistently asked the same question throughout the restoration of my 71 GS. The way I see it if youre going to invest a lot of money surround yourself with the experts, you'll save a tremendous amount of headache. My first restoration shop experience was horrible because I didn't invest the time to ensure the shop was right for the job. Luckily I woke up (quick) and the car is in a much better place now being done right. Same goes for the engine, tranny and anything else Buick related.. The message here - Stick with the people who know. Just my 2 cents. Mike
Yeah I just did a search in the 455 section and discovered I'm a little less than 3 hours away from Ruge Automotive in Eureka Kansas and he's gotten lots of good praise in the forum. So I guess when it comes time for a Buick related rebuild, I will look him up to do the work.
<hr style="color: rgb(159, 178, 184);" size="1"> <!-- / icon and title --><!-- message --> Uh oh, i hope i havent made this mistake!!!!Im from New Zealand and only new to Buicks, next time just get the Steven Dove book and have a Rover mechanic in NZ rebuild it. the British Leyland/Land Rover v8 which was in production from 1965 to 2004 are either direct metric copies ( the 3.5L ) or derivatives of the original SBB 215ci v8.
