Mine too Too me, its a much simpler manifold, no convoluted passages for the air/fuel to navigate. Fuel/air goes into plenum, valve opens, manifold says "here, suck this"
Put in a 373 gear or a 411 gear and you will be turning 3 grand at 55 mph. Do you want to go there... if so then you need a 4 speed auto to keep the rpm down to 2200 rpm. 342 is your best option with that cam. 2200-2400 stall will work best. If you want to put the cam in first Put the cam in add some headers and a 2.5 dual exhaust and you will be ok. Everyone puts a cam in first who on here puts in a gear first or a TQ convertor first No One. That cam is not that darn big go with it, put in a new timing chain and gears. You usually put that in first when doing a cam so you might as well put the cam in with it. Once you pick the cam you want you think how you want it to run and build around it. I don't see what is so hard about it either way you pick it you have to build around it. When you pick the cam first you NOW know what you need to buy to build around the RPM the CAM runs at. That includes gears, Torque convertor, intake and the carb and there ain't nothing wrong with using a 650 carb, gee, the only thing that is going to happen is it might run 2 tenths slower in the 1/4 mile, big deal. Put in gears convertor and headers and what not you are going to put in a bigger cam so now which one do I need you can pick 4 to go with the set up, so what makes the difference. doesn't matter which way or what goes in first, just make sure you figure out what is going to go with the parts you bought. It really don't matter, do what budget allows. Then build on it I never did one oil mod on my engine and ran it over 10 years running the crap out of it before I really had it rebuilt by a race shop, had 150,000 miles at the time Sure, if you want to do it right you have the heads ported with larger valves and get the comp. up to at least 9.5 use better pistons do the cam bearing in the front or all of them, open up the oil passages, get headers, exhaust, 3000 stall and 373-411 gears then add the 4 speed auto, yeah you can do all of that. Don't forget the boxed lower control arms to handle the extra hp Do one thing at a time and go to the next one, Put the cam in and if you want faster put the gears in, you want more put in the TQ convertor, it just goes on and on and on. I run a 350 and have been for 40 years I know it well.
Be careful seeking advice...everybody has a different opinion and if you take it as gospel it can get confusing and you'll end up frustrated. Despite what a lot of people say...there's no black magic necessary to make a Buick 350 run well. Compression, headers, cam, intake, gears and stall. The one thing that I've learned is timing and carb selection are crucial. Most here love the Q-jet, I'd say ditch it and go with a double pumper (mechanical secondaries) or go EFI (expensive).
at least four dollar signs, more than likely you may even end up in the low five dollar signs area. trust me I am there now..... Listen to these guys on here for sure, more buick knowledge here than you will find anywhere else. also you cant compare our engines to a chevy small block so the things work on a chev dont work for us...
One last thing, when I put the Comp Cam 268 in my engine in 1983 there was nothing else done, no head work, no stall, nothing, just headers 4 bbl and dual exhaust. I went from doing 100 mph on a stock 2bbl motor maxed out, to doing a 100 mph in second gear with the 4 bbl 650 dbl pump Holley, headers and cam, 256 gears too. Yeah it costs $$$$. Ever price out LS motor parts, no less than the 350 Buick. So any part on a 350 Buick will make it go faster, don't sweat it.
How much power do you think my car will make with long tube headers, 9.5 compression, TA intake and Holley 750 carb
With your cam and tuning (distributer recurve, jetting of carb) I would think 260-280 hp range. Maybe alittle more. Big valves, bowl porting, higher compression would put those numbers higher. Personally,I suggest following sime proven combinations to reach the power you’re looking for. Obviously, matching the trans and rear to the rpm range engine likes best.
