I am doing a 350 build right now and I have mine under 900. First I took the block, crank, pistons, and pushrods to a machine shop and they said everything checked to spec. So I polished the crank myself, hone the cylinders myself, had the machine shop press in new cam bearings and freaze plugs, I then washed the block and painted it. This was almost free because I did most the work myself. Now is when the money comes into play. I got a rering kit from flatlanderracing.com, Voodoo 67000 cam and lifters, arp connecting rod bolts and recondition the rods, oil pump rebuild kit, rockers and retainers, timing cover, 4bbl stock intake, and all new fluids. I put the rod bearings and main bearings in, I put the cam and lifters in, and I cleaned up my heads with a wire brush and put new valve seals in. It really can be done under $1000, you just want a clean shop and be willing to get a little dirty. Good luck
your only about 4 hours from me. but i can find that local due to all the police cars. its when i get back in the mid 80s and back i have problems.
With a good used motor I don't see why 300+hp can't be done cheap. You need headers, a good exhaust, a well built qjet, decent ignition system. Shave the heads and throw in a ta212. Thats very oversimplified but really I don't see 300hp being an issue. I make 260 now and I haven't even touched the motor itself. If you want to keep that 7.5 in there to save some money I have a set of 3.73s Ill sell you cheap. I also have a 2004r core out of an 85 monte SS
Many moons ago I had an 80 LeSabre 4 door. I put in a 70 Buick 350 2V engine (9-1 comp). I swapped a cast iron 4 V intake, a 800 cfm Q jet, recurved distributor (use power timing thread as suggested here), put a shift kit in the TH350, and a Caprice 8.5 w 3:42s. Stock manifolds with single exhaust. Its best time was 15.25 at a fast track, but mostly 15.50s. It would do 1.99 60 fts tho! Those 60ft times made for one great 1/8mile car. You cant get much cheaper than not getting inside an engine. Big car rears are cheap. Shift kits are cheap. Distributor kits are cheap. Q jets are cheap.... ---------- Post added at 05:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:44 PM ---------- http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.p...hompson-Raceway-OH&highlight=lesabre+Thompson
where are you located? the 7.5 is 26 spline open carrier. posi for it is harder to find and cost more than caprice rear with oem posi unit. so it would be a better option for me to get a posi caprice rear and redrill the axles for the small bolt pattern or run adapters. if i can find one with the oem posi and 323 gears i wont really need to do anything to it other than bolt it in. if i can find a whole junk 9c1. ill get the springs, sway bars, rear and prob even take the 700 trans, cross member, and drive shaft and run it in my car.
ok dokie new question? if i shave the heads do i need to buy adjustable pushrods? can i just buy 2 and buy some the length i need or better yet could i just measure somehow what i need?
Because of factors such as the deck of the block not being decked square, valvestem heights that might varry, etc your best bet is to either use adjustable pushrods all around or buy 2 and ckeck each of the 16 to see what length you need to order. If you are not willing to do that then just do not mill the heads.
ok is there a way i can do the measuring to see what i need without spending the extra coin for the adjustable one? cant i check with a staight edge to see if everything is straight? ---------- Post added at 07:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:56 PM ---------- well 2 are 10 bucks so i can swing that ---------- Post added at 07:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:03 PM ---------- i figure ill port and shave the head while its out of the car
With many engines we can adjust the lifter pre-load using adjustable rocker arms however the stock Buick valvetrain is not adjustable. With an engine that has an adjustable valvetrain the only reason to change the pushrod length is typically to correc the "geometry" which is a totally different topic vs. lifter pre-load. This is because the lifter pre-load can be adjusted with the stock valvetrain on other brand engines. The geometry has to do with the angle at which the rocker arm contacts the valve stem. For your application it is the lifter pre-load you need to concern yourself with. This is why we need to either: 1. Keep the pushrod length stock which means no head or block milling 2. Use adjustable pushrods or adjustable roller rockers to fine tune the lifter pre-load after milling. Then you can order custom length pushrods or leave the adjustables in place. If you have two adjustable pushrods you can adjsut them to get zero lash on the lifter and then another half turn for pre-load. The trick is that pushrods are not measured from tip to tip as the rounded ends are taken into account. What I have done in the past is used 16 adjustable pushrods, got them all adjusted so the engine ran great without any ticking and then labeled them 1-16 then removed the pushrods and sent them to a company that makes pushrods and they sent me 16 new pushrods all labeled to match the adjustables. They sent back pushrods that were 2 different lengths as one bank of the block was slightly taller than the other as I did not deck and square the block. I did this so I had the durability of a non adjustable pushrod, but many people run adjustables without any issue. Also keep in mind that down the road 60,000 miles it is likely that the valvetrain will be worn a bit and sometimes this causes some valvetrain chatter. If you have adjustables it is easy to adjust this chatter out, without buying new pushrods. This is all info for an engine using stock rockers and a block that is not blueprinted (deck squared). When using a blueprinted block, roller rockers and other high end parts and machine work the variables on required pushrod length and valvetrain wear become less of an issue. More details from Jim on how to set the lifter pre-load: This is when using lifters with a little oil on the sides but NOT submerged in oil or pumped up before install.
well if im going to have to buy them all i guess id be better of just saving up and buying a whole set. the cr bump port and cam is all i want to do to it. ofcourse i could by the two and if i get noise down the road i could buy the adjustables though. how much would i save over the adjustables with the custom length ones.
Not sure how much I paid for custom length pushrods but it was not much less than adjustables if I remember correctly.
new question...........like nailheads is the dual plane any help on the oem 4bb intakes on a 350 or am better to leave it stock.
oh i know that. not what i was asking does cutting the 4 holes diveders down to make it a dual plane help with power? on nailhead it is commonly refered to as the doc dual plane mod. nailheads gain 4 tents in the quarter by this mod.
Don't ever see Doc in the sbb section,try asking in the Nail Head section,he's usually thr first one there every morning.
oh i know it works in the nailheads which i have a nailhead too. idk if doc has tried it on a 350 or anyone has.
