well i do have a slight ace in the hole my brother in law rebuilds diesel engines daily and has access to everything but the basic machine shop.
If it only smokes when you first start it,the valve stem seals may be the only thing it needs. You have to figure that it is a 40 something year old engine,and a ran engine that sits,the valve stem seals may have dry-rotted. If you set up the engine with a starter and a battery,you can do a compression test on it,and if it is good,spend the budget on a valve job. After the machine shop disassembles and cleans the heads,use your hillbilly enginuity to port the heads before they are re-assembed them,send them back for assembly,get them back and install. Put the engine in the car,and drive it like you stole it!
You said the engine runs good so why not just do a leakdown test and see if the engine is in good condition or not. If the leakdown test shows that all the cylinders are holding well then buy a complete gasket kit and do the following: With the engine on a stand and drained or fluids flip it upside down: - Remove the oil pan, then the windage tray and pickup assembly - Remove the rear main cap - Remove the old rope rear main seal (search for my rear main seal instructions on here in the sticky above) - Install the TA neoprene rear main seal kit - Clean the pickup screen well and put it back on with a new gasket and a THIN coat of "the right stuff" on each side - Clean up the oil pan and the oil pan sealing surface with brake-clean - Add the new oil pan gasket and re-assemble - Install new valve cover gaskets - Flip the engine over and remove the intake manifold - Add the new gasket and 4bb intake manifold - Drop on a Q jet from Everyday Performance (http://www.everyday-performance.com/) or find a core and rebuild it yourself but use the rebuild kit from Cliff Ruggles if you do - Buy some used headers - Buy new plugs, wires, cap and rotor Install the engine, bolt on the headers, fire it up and set the idle speed and idle mixture. Next find the power timing thread in the FAQ section and enjoy! With a tight budget just stick to the things that any used Buick 350 needs, new rear main seal, valve cover gaskets, oil pickup screen clean, new plugs, wires cap and rotor and a carb rebuild.
well it runs good after its running or it did it has been setting for a while. but when it first started it smoked a little bit. i think the valve seals need replaced. i dont think that would be a hard task. ill pull it down here in a few weeks see what it needs for that. id really like to shave the heads and home port it to get it up the power i want sean.
Just re-read the original post about water in the engine,why do you think that? Is it sitting outside without some sort of cover on it? And depending how long it has been there like that,the longer,the more expense it will take to resurect it. Anyway,if your considering using this engine,get it on an engine stand and check the water situation before anything. If it turns over,then do the comp. test,the heads will have to come off anyway after that so you can inspect the cylinders when they're off,then if the cylinders look good,refer to my first post. Hell,you might even be able to just put new valve stem seals on it if you want to be really cheap about it. But you won't know unless you see what you're dealing with. Goodluck,and Happy New Year!!!
like i said idk if it has got any water in it or not but it has been setting outside with carb plate on it. ---------- Post added at 05:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:38 PM ---------- http://lexington.craigslist.org/pts/3459355093.html or i can jump on this very short drive for me. is there a way i can check the engine without pulling it apart just to see if its even worth my time. another thing is want to do is a cam in this motor. i know i will need to add to my cost i figured that on top of the basic stuff ive been talking about. this is for the sound more than anything.
I just read Sean's reply,and I think you might have time to look at things before that one is sold.(unless someone on here sees it and snakes it from you) Unless you want to collect sbb 350s like Sean(LOL) you can check out what you have first,and if it turns out unsatisfactory,you can grab that one,and sell yours as a rebuildable core for $150.
If I were you, first Id put some clothes on.:laugh: Then Id yank the heads and see what I was getting myself into. If theres a lip at the top of the cylinders that you can catch a finger nail on, go buy that other 350. If the cylinders are good, go buy that other 350. At that price its just a good idea to have a spare. Either way the heads have to come off to port, lap, and seal. I would try and find a set of '68-'70 heads and do a hillbilly port job on them. Look for fair sized used cam. Check the parts section, they show up often. If you want higher comp pistons and your cylinders dont need bored, post in the parts wanted for a set of good used '68-'70 hi-comp pistons. And of course do the oil pump kit, re-ring kit, re-curve the dis., and a good carb. A hi-comp, cammed up, ported head, re-ringed 350 buick can be done for well under $1000:Brow: Even less if you skip the re-ring. But remember, you asked for cheap, not good. :beers2:
i worried about running and thats about it so yeah. i gotta wait on a little better weather before i can do anything. i cant stand it this cold even with clothes on. ---------- Post added at 06:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:46 PM ---------- would i be better with the oem 68 pistons or shave the heads. place here shaves heads for next to nothing. i know with 68 heads i need 89 or better gas. this car is my cheap beat on cruising car so cheaper gas is better.
If all is good with the rotating assembly,then you can't get any better than next to nothing,unless of coarse its nothing. With a stock cam the torque curve comes in on lower RPMs,and with a boost of comp. should come on stronger. But,now your swapping on a four bbl intake and carb,this will raise your power band slightly because now you'll be introducing more air into the cylinders. Either way you may need the better gas, maybe Sean will chime in and tell you exactly what gas you'll need with which way you go. But don't foget about the push rods if you machine to much off you may have to go with adjustable ones.
Sean would know more than I do, but I think you would have to have the heads shaved to the point of intake-fitment issues and pushrod problems before you'll get any real compression change. Youll need at least 9.0 and right now youre lucky if you have 8.0, probibly closer to 7.5 Even 2brl '68-'70s had 9.0 comp pistons, and besides youll need more compression to run a bigger cam. Big cams have overlap, thats when both valves are open. The bigger the cam, the more overlap. Overlap kills compression, so if you start with low-comp and put in a bigger cam, youll get damned near no-comp. If youre not going to cam it, then trying to get higher comp is a waste of money, because by its self one point of compression is only worth around 5% more power:shock: Keeping an engine cool is the key to hi-comp vis-a-vis cheap-gas running.:3gears:
Fyi; my skykark with stock 2bbl and iron manifold produced 169hp at the rear wheels. Ta perf intake, 1inch spacer. Holley 750 dp tuned real good, timing at 34* total (i think that makes 27 initial) made 217 to the wheels. Very torquey. Also the compression eas excellent in the car but the bearings were all copper. I ignored it, cuz it was just a cruiser. I never put an oil pressure gauge on it because i just didnt want to know. Also the hp was at 3800rpm. I didnt want to blow anything by going higher. So there was probably another 20hp in it. The 4bbl makes a huge difference. Dont forget that with a cam, you need new lifters and pushrods. Can get to 400 to 500 quick. Try getting a used one to save.
He doesn't want to spend $$ on a cam right now,but a "head shaving cost next to nothing here",if he's going to take the heads off for a hillbily port job,then a "next to nothing head shaving" wouldn't hurt.LOL..
He said he wanted a cam. And without a bigger cam, the "next to nothing head shaving", is worth "next to nothing". A 5% hp gain per-point of comp is being generous, and adding in the cost of new pushrods and intake re-fitting... Id go with good used pistons. Theres a difference between cheep and bang-for-buck.:laugh:
To start with you said it smoked a bit on startup and cleared up, that is normal after and engine sits, seen it many times. Being the broke rednek I was as a kid I just rigged up a "run station" and started up the engien I was thinking about using and if it ran well I did my mods and dropped it in. Only remove the heads if you have to, the deeper you go the more it will cost. If you want to run on low octane fuel then just buy this 268 cam that is used but good, swap it in with the my suggestions about the rear main seal, oil pan and valve cover gaskets and drive it. raising the compression will raise the octane requirement of the engine. You can run a mild cam with the low compression, it is not optimal but it is better than a stock cam which is terrible. Trying to raise the compression properly without the $ is not going to work out well. Leave the bottom end together if you do not have the cash to rebuild it. Everyone is giving really good advice, the issue is your $ is low so you need to decide what your priorities are and go from there. http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?259506-Buick-350-camshafts-and-lifters
Hard to believe no one has suggested dropping a 455 in it o No: What's up with that, it always seemed like the solution to everything here :grin: Seriously, I know I have seen some good running 430s and 455s here for around $500 or so, and if you want more power it just seems like a no brainer to me, especially for the tire roasting fun factor. Seems like you'll spend way more than that trying to get a 350 to make the same power.
well i really dont want a 455 in it i want something that gets ok mpg but makes a little power nothing crazy. i plan to dd this. the cam is more for the sound than anything also cam was on top on me just going through it. sean so you wouldnt shave the heads and intake on the stock bottom end? i figured since i had them off go ahead and get it done. the shop shaves both the intake and heads both for little to no cost ---------- Post added at 11:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:27 AM ---------- also i saw the 268 and lifters for sale. just broke till the 15th.
It is a good idea to mill the heads and intake to gain compression however it adds another cost when you need shorter pushrods and you really should use a pushrod checker or adjustable pushrods to find out your length required. Plus if the deck of the block is not square then you are likely to have un-even lifter pre-load. How much can you raise the comrpession by milling the heads you may ask? You can gain enough to raise the octane requirement of the engine however this is likely not a good idea if you want to use the cheapest gas possible.
